Performance and noise

To test performance of the coolers, I run Prime95, Small FFTs and monitor the CPU temperature with HWiNFO64. The gaming test is performed by running the CPU heavy game Ashes of the Singularity. Noise is measured the length of a Biro Pen from the cooler with a Noise meter app on my Moto G5 smartphone. It is not the most accurate test of noise but should give a rough indication of how loud these coolers are.

Conclusion

The DeepCool Gamer Storm Captain 120 EX is a pretty standard 120mm AIO. The cooler itself is well built and looks visually stunning in my opinion (I’m sure some people will disagree though), but doesn’t really overwhelm me with its performance. Don’t get me wrong, it is not a bad performer by a long shot, but doesn’t really outperform the Corsair H75 with its slower and smaller pump. This is most likely due to the radiator being the bottleneck and both coolers feature the exact same dimensions and fin density. The Corsair H75 just features two fans in Push-pull rather than one, so it does have an advantage. The H75 is also more expensive.

I think the biggest weak point of the Captain 120 EX is the supplied fan. In my testing the fan is quite loud at max RPM and when testing in “out of the box” mode, it only barely outperforms the popular Noctua NH-U12S heatsink but is considerably louder.

However, when we switch the fans from the H75 and use them on the Captain, the cooler performs much better. It is both cooler and quieter in push-pull mode. So I think overall this is a decent performer let down by a mediocre fan. I personally love the Captain for its looks – it really completes my build look. But at the end of the day, if you’re not too bothered with looks, and really like a quiet build, it may be worth looking at the ever-so-slightly cheaper Noctua NH-U12S instead of any 120mm AIO.