This is a first for us at PCGuide, today marks the first time we have ever reviewed a APNX cooler. This is an air cooler with a seriously stylish demeanor, not to mention it’s the most affordable cooler we have ever had, but that’s not to say it is bad in any way. The APNX hasn’t been around for long, in fact, it was only made available in October of 2023 but since then, it has taken the budget end of the CPU cooling space by storm.
- Cooling Method: Air
- Noise level: 16.1 – 32.8 dBA
- Material: Aluminum
- Fan size: 120mm
- Max fan speed : 1800 rpm
- Thermal paste: Not included
This is a fantastic bang for the buck cooler that is easy to install and does a decent job at keeping the 14600K cool. There’s not a lot of thermal headroom available to upgrade CPUs, however, so that is something to consider. Overall, for the price, this cooler does well.
- Very affordable
- Looks cool
- Very easy to install
- Limited potential to upgrade beyond 14600K
- Fan is integrated, so if the fan dies, you need a new cooler.
The performance of the APNX is not exactly top-notch, but what can you expect coming from a relatively unknown $40 cooler? There is a lot of value to be had here, we’ve just paired it with a pretty beefy 14600K that has been known to get hot on occasion.
Why we gave this cooler a 4
This cooler, the APNX AP1-V is fantastic for the price, however, if you’re looking for longevity, this might not be the cooler for you. For starters, it struggles to cool the 14600K when under heavy load, despite boasting it’s 245W TDP. Also, the fan is built in, so if that fails, you’re looking for a new cooler.
But what the AP1 does great is being a budget cooler, with plenty of headroom to cool the more budget lesser generation processors. There is definitely a place on the market for this cooler, had it not been for the fan, it’d have probably gotten a 5.
To cut a long review short, we like the APNX cooler, it’s sleek and stylish, affordable, and performs well enough, especially for its price bracket. There’s not much performance headroom for upgrading to anything more powerful than a 14600K, but you’re in AIO territory there anyway. This cooler is roughly on par with the NH D15 from Noctua, although much louder.
What’s in the box?
The AP1 features everything you need to mount it to nearly every motherboard socket in use today. There’s not really much to talk about here, as the assembled design of the AP1 means there aren’t many moving parts. We’ll talk more about that in the design section. Here’s everything included with this APNX cooler:
- 1X APNX AP1-V cooler
- AMD mounting hardware (AM4, AM5)
- Intel mounting hardware (LGA 1151, LGA 1200, LGA 1700)
- Universal mounting bracket
- Quick start guide
Design
The design of the AP1 looks very clean and minimalistic, which is something we have come to appreciate here at PCGuide. The fan is actually integrated right into the shrouding of the heatsink, meaning there’s no fan to fiddle around with during installation.
The cooler comes in either black or white, this helps the cooler integrate into any build aesthetic. It’s always a fantastic choice to build your CPU cooler in white too. However, the minimalistic design makes customization of this cooler a breeze, you can easily paint it to whatever color you want.
The single-install universal mounting bracket means you don’t have to mess around with installing your own mourning hardware, no matter what platform you are on, you install the same bracket. Doing this is as easy as 6 screws and the cooler is fully mounted.
The heatsink design is fin-dense, with 8 6x5mm diameter heat pipes to carry heat away from that copper cold plate, this cooler is rated at 245W TDP, despite it only being an air cooler, that is a pretty bold claim.
Performance
The performance of the cooler is fantastic for the price you pay, but before we get into the specifics, we need to outline the test bench we used to benchmark the AP1.
| Component | Name |
| CPU | Core i5-14600K |
| Memory | Corsair Vengence @ 6400MHz |
| Motherboard | Crosshair Dark Hero Z790 |
| GPU | RTX 4070 Ti Super |
| Power supply | ASUS ROG Thor 1000W |
| Case | Cooler Master Masterframe |
We used the Core i5-14600K because it’s a good middle-ground CPU, and it belongs to the current generation. This lets us benchmark all the coolers we test and have something to compare them against. To answer the question of why we don’t use the best of the best, in terms of CPUs, it’s so the air coolers are given a chance.
Idle cooling performance
| Idle cooling performance |
|---|
| CPU temp 30°C (core temp average) |
| CPU temp 40°C (max temp) |
| throttle 0% |
As you can see, the AP1 managed to keep things cool and calm for the duration of the idle test. Well it wouldn’t be a very good cooler if it didn’t now, would it? If a cooler can’t handle the heat at idle, then it certainly won’t handle any kind of load on the processor whatsoever. But for this cooler, idle performance is absolutely fine, with temperatures never exceeding 40 degrees.
Aida Stress test cooling performance
| Aida Stress test cooling performance |
|---|
| CPU temp 75°C (core temp average) |
| CPU temp 94°C (max temp) |
| throttle 0% |
Here’s where things get a little hotter. The Aida stress test is designed to push your CPU way beyond the normal use case, forcing it to generate an extraordinary amount of heat, the perfect test for our air cooler. Despite it being just an ordinary air cooler, it manages to keep the temperatures below 94 degrees, even during spikes. The average temperature is pretty stable too, hovering around 75 degrees for the entire duration.
These temperatures are high, and the spikes are boarding on the Tjmax, but you have to remember that this is an air cooler, and this particular benchmark is designed to hit the CPU hard.
Blender cooling performance
| Blender cooling performance |
|---|
| CPU temp 75°C (core temp average) |
| CPU temp 86°C (max temp) |
| throttle 0% |
Blender is a 3D modeling software that can really get things going in the temperature department. Normally, we leave the rendering to the GPUs, as they are really good at linear processing, however, this affords us a good opportunity to see how our cooler wards off the temperatures generated by this workload. The CPU never reaches more than 86 degrees, even during spikes, hovering around 75 degrees the whole time, which is about what you’d expect for an air cooler.
Handbrake ToS benchmark
| Handbrake ToS cooling performance |
|---|
| CPU temp 75°C (core temp average) |
| CPU temp 91°C (max temp) |
| throttle 0% |
Finally, we have the Handbrake ToS test, this test involves encoding a 4K 6GB video down to 1080p and measuring the performance of the cooler as we do so. Encoding is yet another task that can get CPUs a little hot under the collar. We are getting a little close to the throttling temperature again, with spikes reaching 91 degrees, and average temperatures hovering around 75 degrees, which is okay.
This cooler performs about what you’d expect for a high-end air cooler, except it isn’t that high-end. The price of this cooler is extremely affordable, and its non-modularity makes it perfect for those who want an easy cooler installation. The AP1 can compete with the likes of Noctua on air cooling performance and still be this affordable, how is that possible?
What do these benchmarks mean?
We cast a very wide net with our benchmarks, as everyone uses their CPU differently, we include a wide variety of benchmarks to encompass that fact. From everything from video encoding to 3D rendering, we put the CPU through its paces. This, in turn, creates heat, which is a perfect opportunity for the cooler to prove how good it is.
We are looking for the lowest temperatures possible, this is indicative of a good CPU cooler. Another area to look at is the max temperature metric. That doesn’t hold as much weight, however, as temporary spikes can often muddy the actual numbers. Sustained highs are recorded.
If this cooler does well in all of the benchmarks, we would consider this to be a well-rounded cooler and good for day-to-day usage.
Price
The price of the AP1 is incredibly reasonable, coming in at around $49 as of the time of writing. Amazon price tracker, Camelcamelcamel, reports an all-time low price of $49, as it’s not that old and already pretty well priced. Don’t let that discourage you from checking large sales events such as Prime Day or holiday sales for a better price, however.
Alternatives to the APNX AP1-V
-
Noctua NH-D15
- Cooling Method: Air
- Material: Aluminium, Copper
- Max fan speed: 1500 rpm
- Noise level: 24.6 dBA
- Fan size: 140mm
- Thermal paste: Included
-
ASUS ROG Ryuo III 240
- Cooling Method: Liquid
- Noise level: 36.54dBa
- Material: Copper, Aluminium
- Fan size: 120mm
- Max fan speed : 2,200 rpm
- Thermal paste: Included
If the APNX cooler doesn’t tickle your fancy, we have a couple of suggestions that might fit your needs a little better. If you’re looking for better performance from a quieter cooler, you might want to take a gander at the Noctua NH-D15. If you’re looking for an AIO, you might want to consider the ASUS Ryuo III 240, this cooler copies the minimal-esq aesthetic (for an Asus cooler) and brings a load of cooling performance with it.
Conclusion
We really like the AP1 for its simplicity and affordability. If you ever need a CPU cooler that can play the part for very little money, then this might be the CPU cooler for you. However, we wouldn’t recommend running anything more powerful than the 14600K, as its thermal capacity is almost filled by this CPU, and there’s not much more thermal headroom to support further performance.
- Cooling Method: Air
- Noise level: 16.1 – 32.8 dBA
- Material: Aluminum
- Fan size: 120mm
- Max fan speed : 1800 rpm
- Thermal paste: Not included
This is good news for those on a budget though, considering you are confined to the mid-tier of processors, it makes sense to get a cooler that is properly utilized, you will, however, have to upgrade your cooler in the future, if you want a new CPU. So that is something to consider.
