DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm CAPTAIN 240 AIO CPU Cooler Review

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Conclusion

We have thoroughly looked at and tested the Captain 240, but how did it hold up? Well, let’s have a recap and see where it stacks up against the competition.

The performance of the Captain 240 was not quite what I would have hoped for. While I know the Captain focuses more on aesthetics, performance is still key and, unfortunately, it is lacking. When looking back at the benchmark results, the Captain 240 was beaten by not only almost all the other AIO coolers, but also quite a few air coolers got the best of it. However, the Captain 240 still offered adequate cooling for an overclocked 4770K at 1.3V even if it was not quite as good as we would have hoped for.

Onto the design, aesthetically speaking, the Captain 240 is rather nice thanks to the unique pump it has. The Captain is designed more so to be a visual cooler and that it surely is, the red hard tubing on the outside of the pump is a nice effect and the pulsating light on the top really helps set it off. As said, it still would have been nice to see a bit more red, maybe on the radiator somewhere? Just something a bit extra to go with the pump and fans.

As for the technical side of the design, the Captain seems to be a few years behind and this is most likely what has affected the performance it has to offer. While the pump seems to be on point, the tubing is rather thin as is the radiator. When I got it out of the box I couldn’t help but to immediate think it resembled that of some AIO coolers from around 3 years ago or so. DEEPCOOL are on the right path, they just need to up the anti a bit and all will be well.

Normally I am not a big one for putting a price on value, but in the case of the Captain 240 I do feel it is overpriced for the performance it has to offer. Looking back at the benchmark results and some of the air coolers that beat it performance wise, cost half the price! However, the Captain does look quite nice, though not nice enough to require the price tag it has when considering the performance. Even just knocking $10-$15 off the price would make it a much better value in my opinion.

When all is said and done, the Captain 240 is more than capable of cooling your CPU, even if it does get beaten out by air coolers at half the price. The aesthetics of the Captain are impressive and if you can find one cheaper than the current RRP, it may become better value for the money.

• Bronze Award – While the Captain series of AIO coolers are visually pleasing, the performance of the 240 is a few years behind that of the competition. When considering the performance it has to offer for its asking price, it really is not all that good value for the money, considering you can get much better AIO coolers from competitors for the same price.

I would like to thank DEEPCOOL for sending the Captain 240 in for review and hope they update the series in the future to offer a bit better performance.