Cooling

DeepCool AS500 Air CPU Cooler Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Although pending specific confirmation from a retail listing, DeepCool has advised us that the AS500 air cooler will hit the market with an MSRP of around £54.99. So in terms of mid-tier air coolers, the price is roughly about what we would expect.

Given the excellent ARGB lighting, however, lighting that isn’t merely restricted to a fan, DeepCool has clearly put a lot of time and effort into the aesthetics here that, in our opinion, not only make this look a lot better than most of its competitors but in terms of performance, it’s pretty much just as good (if not better) than anything else you could find in this price range.

Overview

Although there is no ARGB lighting effects to the fan, what DeepCool has done here in terms of aesthetics is both very nice and pleasing on the eye. Put simply, I fail to see that even the most ardent RGB haters out there would have too much of a problem with the AS500. More than that, however, this isn’t just all about aesthetics. DeepCool has produced a perfectly competent and, in terms of acoustic performance, truly remarkably cooler here. In fact, given that this cooler is on the relatively small side, it clearly adds even more to the already impressive performance figures it gave in our testing.

Yes, the temperature results are not market leading. Nor would you expect them to be for an air cooler of this size. When you take into consideration that amazing acoustic performance, however, DeepCool has hit another one out of the park here!

Should I Buy One?

It’s our belief that DeepCool has attempted to meet a lot of consumers air-cooling desires with the AS500 and, in many instances, they have not only met them, but exceeded them to a remarkable level.

As we said earlier in the review, many have the misconception that air coolers have to be big to be good. In addition, regardless of what a manufacturer attempts, they will always be less visually appealing than AIO coolers. For us though, the DeepCool AS500 manages to meet every possible remit you could have and, if we’re being honest, it’s actually managed to surprise us by being a lot better than even we anticipated it to be.

It isn’t perfect, and nor would you expect it for a cooler of this size or at this price point, but put simply, taking all the events of the design as a whole, the AS500 isn’t good, it’s great!

Pros

Really strong aesthetics with the ARGB light on or off
Good CPU temperature control at stock or overclocked levels
Amazingly quiet performance. Barely audible at all times!
Competitively priced
Easy to install
Good support and functionality for those with or without sync capable motherboards