DeepCool GamerStorm Castle 280EX CPU Cooler Review

Installation

Starting with one of the more fundamental aspects of the installation, the manual provided for the DeepCool GamerStorm Castle 280EX is good both in terms of the information it provides and the ease of understating.

There are, of course, and as with all AIO liquid coolers, some fiddly aspects. For example, fitting the mounting bracket to the pump head isn’t exactly ideal work for my pudgy fingers. As such, having a magnetic screwdriver is definitely your friend here.

Mounting

If you have any experience in AIO liquid coolers, then you’ll feel right at home here with the DeepCool GamerStorm Castle 280EX. In all honestly, I only had to consult the manual once and that was only for confirmation of what I was doing anyway. It’s a really intuitive design that doesn’t err from what we could reasonably call the ‘standard’ method seen in most (good) AIO coolers.

In addition, with DeepCool providing you with a manual RGB controller, if your motherboard doesn’t have RGB sync headers, you’ll have no problems getting the best out of this through a simple SATA port.

Overall Thoughts

From out of the box and onto our system, the DeepCool GamerStorm Castle 280EX took us roughly 15 minutes to install. This is generally standard for an AIO of this type and, if you’re familiar with these designs, most of your time is taken with the more involved aspects such as mounting the pump head bracket and attaching the fans to the radiator.

While you are provided with a good manual, if you’re familiar with AIO coolers then you shouldn’t really need to consult it too much. This is, of course, a testament to DeepCool keeping the design as simple (and familiar) as possible.

In a nutshell, however, whether your experienced or new to AIO cooler installation, the DeepCool GamerStorm Castle 280EX shouldn’t prove difficult (beyond the usual factors) and, as such, would be highly suitable to beginners or experienced hands!