**A Comparison of Two AIOs: DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R and Cooler Master Q300L**

In this article, we'll delve into a comparison of two all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers, the DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R and the Cooler Master Q300L. We'll examine their features, performance, and value to determine which one is the better buy.

**Pump Failure: A Concern with Liquid Cooling**

One potential issue with AIOs like these is pump failure. The pump is a critical component of an AIO liquid cooler, responsible for circulating the coolant through the system. If the pump fails, it can cause irreparable damage to the cooling system and potentially lead to catastrophic consequences. In order to mitigate this risk, DEEPCOOL has incorporated Anti-Leak technology into their CASTLE 120R. This innovative feature includes a bladder that expands when the fluid gets too hot, helping to prevent leaks and ensure reliable performance.

**Performance Comparison: A Closer Look**

When it comes to performance, both AIOs deliver impressive results. However, our data suggests that the DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R performs slightly better than the Cooler Master Q300L. This is likely due to its more efficient pump design and superior cooling capabilities. But how do these two AIOs compare when it comes to actual performance? In this section, we'll take a closer look at the specifications and benchmarks for both systems.

**AIO vs Air Cooler: Which is Right for You?**

When deciding between an AIO and air cooler, there are several factors to consider. One of the main differences between these two types of coolers is noise level. Air coolers tend to be quieter than AIOs due to their smaller size and lower fan speeds. However, this comes at a cost - air coolers often perform worse in hot environments and may require more maintenance over time. On the other hand, AIOs are generally quieter than their air-cooled counterparts but can be more expensive.

**Competitive Advantage: Price**

When it comes to value, both AIOs have their strengths and weaknesses. The DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R offers impressive performance at an affordable price point of $50, making it a great option for those on a budget. However, its competitors - such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition - offer similar performance at slightly lower prices. In our testing, we found that the Hyper 212 performed about 90-95% as well as the CASTLE 120R.

**Conclusion: A Closer Look**

After conducting extensive testing and analysis, it's clear that both the DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R and Cooler Master Q300L are high-quality AIOs. However, our data suggests that the CASTLE 120R is the better buy. Its impressive performance, quiet operation, and affordable price point make it an excellent choice for those looking to upgrade their cooling setup.

**The Verdict: DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R vs Cooler Master Q300L**

In this article, we've compared two all-in-one liquid coolers - the DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R and the Cooler Master Q300L. We've examined their features, performance, and value to determine which one is the better buy. Our data suggests that the CASTLE 120R is the more impressive AIO, offering superior cooling capabilities at an affordable price point. However, its competitors - such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition - offer similar performance at slightly lower prices.

**A Fun Experiment: Comparing Two Similar Products**

In this article, we've followed a different approach than usual by comparing two similar products that are essentially the same price point. This has allowed us to experiment and see what's causing things to behave the way they do. While this may not be the most conventional approach, it's provided valuable insights into the performance and value of both AIOs.

**Stay Tuned for More**

In conclusion, we hope you've enjoyed this article comparing two all-in-one liquid coolers - the DEEPCOOL CASTLE 120R and Cooler Master Q300L. We'll continue to provide high-quality content on cooling solutions, so be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for more articles like this one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en1Which one's the better buy,2a $50 air cooler or the $50 AIO?3It's a good question and part of the reason why I wanted4to make this video is because I noticed that DEEPCOOL5at the time of preparing to film this one,6was running a good sale on their CASTLE 120Rs.7So this is a 120 millimeter all-in-one8liquid cooling solution for your CPU.9It supports up to AM410and I don't believe the latest Intel CPU's yet,11although I'm sure it would be very easy12to add that support to a later revision of this,13But it's very compact, it's very sleek14and still quite effective.15And that's why these are great16for mid-towers and ITX builds.17Those CPUs that have mid to low TDPs.18Now off to my left here is the Scythe Mugen 5,19but more specifically the Black Edition of the Mugen 5,20which means that it looks freaking awesome.21Check out this shot I took here.22This is actually our test bed, our test rig that we used23for both of these coolers24and this thing just, it just blends in so nicely.25I am such a sucker for black tower coolers.26I like the Be Quiet! Ones,27I like the Hyper 212 Black Edition,28there are a few others that come to mind, but yeah,29this one from Scythe is just,30they really nailed it in the aesthetics department.31But how a cooler looks is often not as important32as how it performs and that's why this video exists.33I think you will enjoy it.34I think you'll be surprised by the results as well.35Stay with me.36Ridge Wallet makes sleek compact wallets good37for up to 12 cards plus room for cash.38Choose between over 30 designs, including Burnt Titanium,39Brushed Carbon and this cool typography texture.40I've been repping Ridge Wallets for several months now.41And in my opinion, there's really no substitute42for something that's compact, portable, and efficient.43Best of all, you'll enjoy durable materials44and a lifetime warranty for peace of mind.45No wonder they're backed by over 40,000 5-star reviews.46So check them out via the link below47or visit ridge.com/salazar and use code Salazar,48that's S-A-L-A-Z-A-R to save 10%.49We're gonna jump right into50the meat and potatoes of this one starting first51with a side-by-side comparison of specifications.52And remember that these coolers are totally different53in terms of philosophy, how they get rid of heat,54how they move it and relocate it from one area to another.55Obviously the CPU is what's generating the heat56and you need some sort of medium57to move that heat away from the source.58AIOs often used water or glycol solution59and tower coolers typically use60either copper or nickel plated copper heat pipes.61The Mugen 5 has six of these62along with a fairly large aluminum fin stack63whereas the CASTLE 120R here,64oh, everything's a bit more compact.65So you have closer spaced aluminum fins,66but then again, you also have quite a bit of water67to absorb a lot of that heat.68Water has a very high heat capacity69so it takes a lot of energy to raise water70by a single degree Celsius, assuming a fixed volume.71The two variables we're looking to isolate here72are sound and temperature,73and we're gonna use AIDA6474to create a very sustained load,75a very constant sustained load on the CPU.76We'll also put a load of course, on the FPU,77which is a part of the CPU,78depending on how you categorize that,79the cache, the RAM and the GPU.80We'll also stress a disks just because why not?81So this system for both scenarios,82will for all intents and purposes, be under a full load.83It's important to note that the graphics card84really doesn't get super stressed in AIDA64,85but it will be generating some heat86and that could play into our results here.87My train of thought here was that most folks88who buy products like these89are probably gonna game at some point,90they're building a custom PC, but what they do with it,91I mean it's of course, subjective.92Are you gonna do things that only stress the CPU93or only stress the graphics card?94So I think it's important to stress both at least somewhat95so that we get a fair representation under most scenarios96where both will come into play.97Gaming, for instance, is one of those98where you're probably going99to have a heavily stress CPU and GPU with few exceptions.100Something else to add, both of these products include101its own 120 millimeter fan.102And while it would be easy to just fan standardize,103which means do you use the same fan in both scenarios,104I don't think that's a fair representation105of the average builder with this kind of budget.106If you're spending 50 bucks on a cooler,107specifically a 120 mil AIO.108I think this is, I mean,109this is as small as it gets for the most part.110You can buy smaller than this, but they're very niche.111You're probably not gonna spend 30 or 40 bucks extra112for a super optimized, very quiet fan.113So I'm going to use the ones that are included in the boxes,114the Mugen 5 we'll be using the Scythe fan115and for the 120R we'll be using the DEEPCOOL fan.116I'm not gonna take up too much time117talking about our test bed here,118you can find the specifications in the video description119if you wanna buy anything that's included in this rig.120We do have a Ryzen 5 2600 in here,121a B550M motherboard from Asus.122We have a 6600 XT from GIGABYTE123and a 500 watt power supply from EVGA.124The case is a Cooler Master Q300L.125Airflow is subpar if I do say so myself.126It's not optimal, but because we're only127using one fan in either instance,128I think that it's still a level playing field.129So let's get into those numbers.130Let's start with temperature,131I was sure to run each of these tests for an hour,132and this really isn't as important for air coolers,133which usually heat up and saturate themselves fully134after I don't know, 10 or 20 minutes,135but AIO it's important136you let these run for at least 30 minutes,137but I always go for an hour just because,138especially for the larger AIOs,139you're gonna want that water140to reach a thermal equilibrium,141otherwise you'll be seeing temperatures142that don't really reflect what143the true state of the CPU is long-term.144You can see in AIDA64 both CPU diode145and package temperatures reached 76 degrees peak.146So this is peak temperature here.147It's as hot as it ever got148for the entire one hour or so run.149And if we juxtapose this with the air cooler run,150you can see the temperatures151were actually pretty much the same.152About 77 degrees Celsius in the Mugen 5's case.153So for all intensive purposes,154I mean a one degree Celsius delta,155within the margin of error I would say.156One other thing to note, while again,157temperatures were more or less the same.158I noticed the CPU clock speed159in the Mugen 5's case was slightly lower160than that of the CASTLE 120R.161So after an hour had passed under full load,162the CPU was throttling frequency back163to 3,650 megahertz or so in the Mugen 5's case.164Whereas in the 120RS case frequency165is about 50 megahertz higher.166Now this isn't something you're likely167to notice in real-world usage,168but it is a slight advantage toward the AIO.169And again, this is what the exact170same fan curve for both scenarios.171Now remember that each of these fans is different172that's just a consequence173of whichever cooler you decided to go with174though they are both 120 millimeter fans and PWM controlled,175they do both have different operating RPMs.176So as CPU temperature increases,177we would expect that our normal fan curve will kick in178and try to make up for that excess heat179being dumped into whatever cooler is at play.180And that is why it's also important to measure sound181or in this case apparent loudness with our sound meter.182It doesn't really make sense to call the AIO the winner,183if, while it is slightly cooler, it runs louder.184So of course, right, there's that trade-off there185that you have to keep in mind.186And that's why, again, we whipped out the sound meter187and measured both of these coolers188after an hour long burn-in each.189It goes without saying, of course,190all of these tests were run191with the left side panel installed,192including this audio test here.193And would you look at that?194And the Mugen 5 five, yes was slightly hotter,195but it was also slightly louder.196And this was something I could distinguish myself,197I could tell very clearly that the tower was louder.198It also had a higher pitch than the DEEPCOOL fan did.199Another thing I wanted to look at was operating RPM.200So the Scythe Mugen 5 fan201was actually operating at around 1200 RPM202and the DEEPCOOL fan was operating around the same.203So this comes down to just fan design204and where the fan is located in this case as well.205'Cause you have to remember that the Scythe fan206is located right in front of the tower,207more or less in the middle of the chassis.208And the DEEPCOOL fan is located more toward209the backside of the case where you would expect210natural exhaust fans to be placed.211Now, obviously this isn't representative212of all tower coolers out there,213and that's not what this video is seeking to do.214There are many tower coolers I could name that are quieter215than even 240 millimeter AIOs under the same load.216So keep in mind that this is217a very product specific test we're running here.218And again, I felt like it would be fun to match these two up219because they were the same price220when I decided to make this video.221So with this data in mind,222the CASTLE 120R at 50 bucks is a better buy223than a $50 Mugen 5 Black Edition.224That's not really what I expected225and the AIO operated quieter and it kept temperatures lower.226This only being a 120 mill radiator here,227I figured that because it was smaller, more compact,228it wouldn't be able to withstand as much heat229and it would result in higher package temperatures.230But the opposite was actually the case,231which again is not what I expected.232I went into this thinking that233because the Scythe Mugen 5 had the larger heat sink234by apparent size, and we're not talking fin density,235it was just a larger heat sink in general.236I assumed that it would be the better cooler237and that it would run quieter as well238but the opposite is true.239So let's try one more thing because why not, I'm curious.240If we swap fans, that is if I put241the CASTLE 120R's fan over the tower of the Mugen 5,242will that make up for the delta?243If it does then that suggests the size advantage244is not as good for these kinds of scenarios245and maybe even this kind of case,246but if it doesn't solve the issue,247then it's likely that the Scythe Mugen 5's heat sink248is just not prepared enough to handle249the thermal load of a 2600 as well as the 120R's.250I would be fairly surprised251if that was the case, because again,252this radiator is just so small and so compact,253but maybe fin density is playing a bigger role254than we thought in this case.255So let's remove this fan, should be fairly straight forward,256disconnect it up top here257and just kind of sorta slide it on out.258There we go.259And we'll recycle the mounting clips260for our DEEPCOOL fan here.261Should just snap into place.262There we go.263And one more down here.264Reconnect it to the same fan header265to make sure that these cables don't get snagged266while we're running these tests and we'll be on our way.267So, with everything else exactly the same,268save again, that fan swap,269package and diode temperatures reached 76 degrees Celsius,270which is identical to the temperatures271we got with the CASTLE 120R.272All of these temperatures273are within one degree Celsius of each other274so we can chalk most of this up again275to the margin of error,276but the DEEPCOLD fan does seem277to be slightly more effective at moving air.278That said, if we look at our sound test,279the sound profile of this cooler with the DEEPCOOL fan280is pretty much the same as it was with the Scythe fan.281So not much of an audible difference here.282Both were quite loud by comparison,283using the DEEPCOLD fan with the DEEPCOOL AIO284was actually the quietest of the three scenarios.285I wanna stress again,286that this is a very product specific test.287My goal here is not to show that liquid cooling288is better than air cooling or vice versa.289Personally, I've done a lot of both.290And while I do see some benefit using AIOs,291especially larger AOS or larger radiators292in those all-in-one liquid coolers.293In the long run, they still have294an extra failure point, that being the pump.295There's a potential for leaks as well,296and that could damage other components.297Whereas in the case of most air towers,298you just got to worry about a fan dying.299And if that happens well for one,300it's gonna be pretty obvious.301And for two, it's not really gonna take much else with it.302Save possibly your CPU if for whatever reason,303it doesn't thermal throttle304and shut itself down to save itself.305Now, if I personally had to choose between these two,306I'd say it's very build dependent.307For a build like this in the Cooler Master Q300L,308I'd choose the 120 mil AIO.309I think it's a bit sleeker, it looks nice in here.310And of course we have the space for it,311but you also have to take into account312the fact that this can leak.313The pump can die,314and that can be problematic in the long run315and the failure rates of these are quite low316because the only moving component is the fan.317The other side of this is that for $50,318I mean, this is one of the cheapest AIO's319you can buy for 50 bucks.320That is a win in DEEPCOOLs case, I think.321That's the competitive advantage that it has322apart from some of the other smaller technological feats,323if you wanna call them those,324the Anti-Leak tech is actually pretty cool.325A little bladder in there expands326when the fluid gets too hot327'cause the fluid in here does slightly expand328when it reaches the thermal equilibrium329so that stuff's in here and that's cool and all,330but I think the real selling point here is the price.331It's one of the cheapest AIOs you can buy.332Whereas in the Mugen 5's case, it gets a bit more dicey.333I personally think that a $50 price tag for this334is a bit of a, it's kind of a letdown.335If you're gonna spend 50 bucks on an air cooler336you could probably justify spending337a tad bit more than that.338And if you can justify spending a tad bit more than that,339you're probably looking at Noctua or Be Quiet!340or some other very premium, very quiet341air cooler, air cooler brand, I should say.342And they make plenty of good stuff in the 60 to $80 range.343This ventures awfully close to that price territory.344You also have to consider there are cheaper counterparts345to this, that perform almost as well.346In my testing, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition347performs about 90 to 95% as good as this.348And that's another thing you have to consider is that349you have cheaper options that perform nearly as good.350They might not be as quiet351because again, smaller heat sinks.352The fans have to work a bit harder.353I think what Scythe's done here,354they've made a really good product.355It's just a tad bit expensive at 50 bucks.356You're venturing into again,357that higher end air cooler territory.358And you're also venturing into AIO territory.359And even a 120 mil AIO could keep up360and even out perform slightly an air cooler like this.361So that's where I have to leave it.362I didn't expect to conclude it this way.363I thought that the CASTLE 120R would fall a bit short,364frankly, but that wasn't the case.365And I have to follow the data.366Our data suggests that the 120 mil AIO is the better buy.367Well, that was a lot of fun,368like we don't run a lot of these tests anymore,369it's because so many channels370are doing the same thing nowadays371and at this point I just defer to them.372It's too much to keep up with and we don't have373an entire team that can run all these benchmarks.374I have to do everything myself here.375So I'm just already kind of376on the back foot in that department.377That said whenever I see a decent deal,378and I think it's worth juxtaposing two products379that are again, essentially the same price.380I think it can make for a fun video.381We can kind of experiment a bit and see what's what,382what's causing things to behave the way that they are.383And yeah, hopefully you enjoyed this one as much as I did.384If you did be sure to give this one a thumbs up,385I would appreciate that.386Consider subscribing if you have not already387and stay tuned for more of the good stuff388here on the channel.389My name is Greg, thanks for learning with me.\n"