Unboxing of the ASSASSIN IV VC VISION dual-tower air-cooled cooler with equalizer plate

DeepCool's new ASSASSIN IV VC VISION features dual towers, dual fans, and seven heatpipes with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 300W, and is equipped with a small digital monitor and dual-mode fan speed switch to enhance the practicality of all aspects. The heatpipe contact surface uses a heat spreading plate to optimize the lateral heat conduction effect, so that each heatpipe shares the waste heat evenly, solving the problem of the Intel Core Ultra and AMD AM5 hotspot not being in the center, which leads to the uneven sharing of waste heat by the heatpipes!

DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION Specifications:

Intel Feet: LGA2066/2011-v3/2011/1851/1700/1200/1150/1151/1155
AMD feet: AM5/AM4
Size: 147 x 144 x 172 mm
Weight: 1780 g
Number of heat pipes: Ø6 mm x 7
Copper Base: VAPOR CHAMBER-ENHANCED
Usage: 140 mm FDB Fan & 120 mm FDB Reverse Fan
Fan size: 140x140x25 & 120x120x25 mm
Maximum RPM: 1800 RPM & 1700 RPM (± 10%)
Maximum airflow: 61.25 & 58.06 CFM
Maximum wind pressure: 3.76 mmAq & 2.1 mmAq
Power Requirement: Small Screen USB 2.0 9-Pin / Fan PWM 4-Pin
Includes cooling cream: DeepCool DM9 MASTER 4g

Additional monitoring small screen DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION Thermal Plate Air-cooled Unboxing

In the past, I have never unboxed and tested the DeepCool products from Kyushu Windshen, and I have only seen my friend test the ASSASSIN IV (ASSASSIN 4) launched in 2023, and at that time, I had a slight impression that the cooling performance was quite unexpected.

The DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION is based on its predecessor, with additional features such as a vapor chamber and a small processor-monitored screen to differentiate it from its predecessor.

∆ DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION.

∆ Basic product specifications.

 

The DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION air cooler measures 147 × 144 × 172 mm (L × W × H), which is a huge size in all aspects, especially the height of 172 mm, which is incompatible with most mid-tower chassis, so if you want to install the ASSASSIN IV VC VISION, you'll need to pair it with an ASSASSIN IV VC VISION. Therefore, if you want to install the ASSASSIN IV VC VISION, it is necessary to use it with the lian li lancool 207 Or an air-cooled optimized chassis like the Fractal Design Torrent.

The front of the tower still continues the matrix fin set design (which looks a bit like a chessboard to me), and the cooling fins and heatpipes of the entire cooler are all blacked out, with the overall specification being dual towers, dual fans and seven heatpipes, with seven heatpipes of Ø6 mm in diameter.

The height of the ∆ ASSASSIN 4 VC VISION is 172 mm.

The bottom of the 140 mm fan in the center of the ∆ is a little beyond the cooling fins, allowing some airflow to help dissipate heat from the motherboard's VRM heatsinks after blowing through the heatpipes.

 

The DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION comes with two pre-installed fans, a center-mounted 140 x 140 x 25 mm FDB fan with a maximum speed of 1800 RPM and a maximum airflow and pressure of 61.25 CFM and 3.76 mmAq.

The 120 x 120 x 25 mm FDB fan on the back is a reverse fan blade, so gamers can use it by default without having to adjust the fan mounting mode, with a maximum speed of 1700 RPM and a maximum airflow and pressure of 58.06 CFM and 2.1 mmAq.

∆ The center 140 mm fan can be seen without the magnetic cover, and there is an indication of the direction of airflow on the upper frame of the fan.

∆ When mounting the tower on the fastener, the center fan must be pulled out to lock the nut. The fan is fixed using the modular drawer design by pressing both sides of the snap inward to pull it out upward.

∆ DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION is equipped with a 120 mm reverse bladed fan at the rear air outlet.

 

ASSASSIN IV VC VISION is equipped with a dual-mode fan speed switch on the top of the cooler. On the left side (two dots on the diagonal) is the Quiet Mode, which will limit the speed of the two fans to 1450 RPM (140 mm) and 1350 PRPM (120 mm) to get a lower speed effect through the limitation of the power supply of the cables connected to the cooler. This reduces fan noise, and for better cooling performance, you can switch to the Performance Mode on the right (4-point square) to provide more fan speed limits.

∆ Fan Speed Dual Mode Switch, Quiet Mode on the left; Performance Mode on the right.

∆ The whole air cooler needs a PWM 4-Pin slot and a USB 2.0 9-Pin slot for power supply, the PWM cable of the fan itself can be shortened a little bit, and then lengthening the tapping cable will be better for the whole cable.

 

One of the most important features of the DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION, in my opinion, is the use of vapor chambers on the contact surface of the heatpipes and the processor IHS, and the TDP (Thermal Design Power) of the DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION is listed on the official website of Kyushu Fanshen as 300W.

The author personally thinks that using a vapor chamber is a good idea, because the Intel Core Ultra's hotspot is a bit more to the north, while the AMD Ryzen 7000 / 9000 is a bit more to the south, and it's not possible for a cooler manufacturer to always come up with an offset bracket for a new platform, so perhaps using a vapor chamber is a more efficient way to deal with the problem. It may be more efficient to use a heat spreader plate.

∆ Pre-applied protective film.

∆ The vapor chamber is abbreviated as VC.

∆ Homogeneous plate thickness at a glance.

 

The Digital Mini Display is packaged separately in the box, and is held in place magnetically with metal contacts for power and information transfer, but remember to connect the cable to the USB 2.0 9-Pin slot on the motherboard and download the DeepCool software for the Digital Mini Display to be officially displayed.

The ∆ digital mini-screen is packaged separately.

∆ Fixed by magnetic attraction and powered by metal contacts for power supply and information transfer purposes.

∆ The small screen bulges out a bit when you install it, which is not so satisfying for people with leveling compulsion.

 

The small screen displays CPU temperature, utilization, power consumption, frequency, and other key information. Next to the temperature is a thermometer that changes color and scale with the processor temperature, green below 80°C, orange from 80 to 90°C, and red above 90°C.

On the official website, it is indicated that the CPU temperature is based on CPU Package (Intel) or CPU Tdie (AMD), however, when I tested the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with HWiNFO64, I found that it is still based on the CPU temperature, not the CPU Package.

∆ The small screen can display several key information such as CPU temperature, utilization, power consumption, frequency, etc. No other information can be set to be displayed in the software.

∆ There is a DeepCool logo in the lower right corner of the small screen that glows, and although it's a dual-tower it won't block the memory when installed.

∆ The actual processor display temperature or the CPU temperature.

 

Additional accessories include: third fan mounting bracket, thermal paste scraper, L-shaped screwdriver, Intel mounting reinforcement backplate, snap-on kit, DeepCool DM9 MASTER, and thermal paste cleaning pads.

If you feel that the two fans that come with the DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION are not enough, you can use the third fan mounting bracket to install a third fan in front of the tower, but the author personally feels that it is more of a hassle than it is worth, because the original tap cable is only a 2 to 1, so the extra fan will have to be mounted separately in another fan slot, and the extra fan will block the memory because it is mounted above the memory, rather than sacrificing the advantage of the original memory support. Because it is installed on top of the memory, it will block the memory, but sacrifice the original memory support advantage, in my personal opinion, the incentive is really too little.

∆ Accessories at a glance.

 

DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION Cooling Performance Measurement

The DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION dual-tower air cooler was installed on a barebones test platform with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor and an ASRock Z890 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard, with the fan slots set to run at full speed in the motherboard's BIOS, and the test scenario was as follows The actual test was conducted in a closed room in Taipei at 20°C with an air-conditioning unit coming soon, and is for reference only as it is difficult to control the ambient temperature in a normal room.

We used AIDA64 FPU to simulate the temperature data under extreme load conditions, while HWiNFO64 was used to collect and record the maximum temperature and power consumption of the CPU package. The thermal paste was applied in a nine-dot pattern and then smoothed out with a spatula.

Testing Platform

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (Power Delivery Profile_ASRock Extreme Mode)
Cooler: DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION (full speed)
Motherboard: ASRock Z890 Steel Legend WiFi (BIOS version: 2.22.AS01 [Beta])
Memory:Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5 RGB 7200 MT/s 16GBx2
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition 8GB
Operating System: Windows 11 Professional 24H2
System disk: Kingston NV3 2TB
Power supply:MONTECH TITAN PLA 1000W
Case: STREACOM BC1 Benchtable V2
Graphics driver: GeForce Game Ready 565.9

 

Since the official website of DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION has already stated that the TDP (Thermal Design Power) is 300W, the author firstly manually adjusted the Power Delivery Profile to ASRock Extreme Mode, and left the other settings unchanged. The rest of the settings: XMP_on, Fan_Full Speed.

In ASRock Extreme Mode, with the Core Ultra 9 285K automatically overclocked by the motherboard, the CPU Package temperature reached a maximum of 91 °C in one hour of AIDA64 FPU; the CPU Package power consumption was 243.9 W, and the CPU temperature was a maximum of 87.5 °C. The CPU Package temperature was a maximum of 87.5 °C, with the Core Ultra 9 285K automatically overclocked by the motherboard.

• CPU temperature is measured by the diode in the slot to measure the internal (core) or external (case) temperature, but there is no way to know exactly whether it is the internal or external temperature that is measured, and most monitoring software uses this item to display the CPU temperature.
• CPU Package temperature is recorded by all digital temperature sensors (DTS) in the package as the average of the maximum temperature over 256 milliseconds, which is the CPU temperature observation value recommended by HWiNFO64, and is used as a benchmark for overheating and downclocking of the CPU.

Results of an hour-long AID64 FPU test under the ∆Power Delivery Profile_ASRock Extreme Mode profile (AIDA64 accidentally pressed Restart so the test time reset).

 

Then, by using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU) to free up the PL1 / PL2 power consumption limit, let's see how the fully freed up Intel Core Ultra 9 285K works with DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION, the actual test after 20 minutes, the CPU Package temperature reached 105°C; the CPU Package power consumption was 310.1 W, and the CPU temperature was 104°C at the highest. After 20 minutes of actual testing, the CPU Package temperature reached 105°C; the CPU Package power consumption was 310.1 W, and the CPU temperature was 104°C at the highest. With more than 300 watts of power consumption, it's only natural that overheating and downclocking would occur, and the author then touched it a little bit to find out that 280W would be the upper limit of the platform in hand.

Results of a 20-minute AID64 FPU test in the ∆Manual Liberation Power Consumption profile.

 

In addition, under the manual power consumption setting, the author used the FLIR ONE PRO Thermal Imaging Camera to observe the heat pipe temperature during the AID64 FPU testing process, and the author unplugged one of the memory sticks for the convenience of photography, otherwise the heat pipe could not be photographed at all.

As I personally tested and summarized what Thermal Grizzly boss der8auer said on overclock.net, the hotspot of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is more to the north (close to the processor's power supply slots), so using a thermal imaging camera, we can clearly know whether the vapor chamber is working or not. So using a thermal imaging camera, you can see whether the vapor chamber is working or not.

The heatpipes on the south side (near the graphics card) measured 29°C, the one in the center of the processor 30°C, and the one on the north side (near the processor's power supply slot) 30.4°C. It seems that the heat spreading plate is really working well to make each heatpipe share the heat of the processor evenly, and the difference in heatpipe temperatures between the two farthest sides of the heatpipes is only 1.4°C.

∆DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION vapor chamber practical observation with FLIR ONE PRO thermal imaging camera.

 

Conclusion

DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION is one of the products that I am looking forward to mass production at COMPUTEX 2024! For me personally, the digital display small screen is more of a cosmetic feature, but what really attracts me is the use of a vapor chamber, especially now that the heating points of the two consumer platforms are not set in the middle, and the various brands of coolers have been launching all kinds of "offset fasteners", the vapor chamber is really a more direct solution.

The small digital display can show CPU temperature, utilization, power consumption, frequency, and other key information, so that gamers can know the current status of the processor without having to monitor it through software like MSI Afterburner, but it seems that DeepCool has not yet added the ability to customize the monitoring display items in the software, which sums up the feature as follows: What should be there? It's not hard to see, but it's not customizable.

The modular fan bracket and the ability to expand the installation of a third fan are additional features that I think are not bad, and the configuration of the Quiet Mode and Performance Mode dual-mode physical switch allows users to switch the fan speed limit at any time, to choose between low noise and performance, but when I tested on the bare test platform, the Performance Mode full-speed setting of 140 mm fan has a noticeable abnormal noise, I personally can not accept this sound. However, when I tested it on the barebones platform, the 140 mm fan in Performance Mode at full speed had a noticeable abnormal sound and noise, which is unacceptable to me personally, and I look forward to DeepCool optimizing this issue in the future.

The dual tower, dual fan, seven heat pipe specification also adds a small digital display to bring the height of the ASSASSIN 4 VC VISION up to 172 mm, and when choosing a chassis, be sure to pay attention to the "air-cooled heatsink support height" specification, and since there is such a budget for the DeepCool ASSASSIN IV VC VISION, there is no problem in spending more money to choose the air-cooled optimized chassis, right? It's not a problem, is it? However, it's also good that the fan mounting position of this dual-tower air-cooling design completely avoids the memory, so there will be no conflict in memory installation, appearance, and height compatibility.

If you are using the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with the ASSASSIN IV VC VISION at the default power consumption of around 250W, the maximum temperature of the CPU package can be suppressed to 91°C, and no overheating protection will be triggered during the test, as long as the chassis has a good thermal planning, even if you use the Core Ultra 9 285K for a long period of time with high load, it should not be too hot. As long as the chassis has good thermal planning, even if the Core Ultra 9 285K is used for a long period of time with high loads, overheating and downclocking should be unlikely.

But if you want to challenge the cooling limit of this air-cooled tower, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K can probably free up the power consumption wall around 270~280 W, and if you go higher, you'll have to manually unlock the temperature wall.