Compare: Assassin IV vs Phantom Spirit 120

Design and Aesthetics:

Assassin IV

This cooler boasts a clean and modern design that sets it apart from other air CPU coolers available today. The entire cooler is tightly put together, which can make it a bit tricky to figure out how to take it apart into its different parts. The middle fan is hidden seamlessly without any visible gaps around it. It comes in an all-black design with DeepCool's signature textured radiator, adding a stylish and modern touch to any setup.

Phantom Spirit 120

The Phantom Spirit 120 is a step up from the no frills clean look of the Phantom Spirit 120 SE and has two 120 millimeter fans, subtle Thermalright logo, and a flat textured design on the heatsink top. Other than the fine details. Additionally, this cooler look is also in line with other coolers from Thermalright with slight tweaks to the cooling engineering the primary differentiating factor.

Install Notes:

Assassin IV

Installing the Assassin IV is made easier with its smooth setup process. However, because it's small and designed with a lot of details, getting it installed correctly might be a bit tricky if you don't follow the instructions they give you. This cooler uses a bracket that's almost the same as premium coolers and attaches to the motherboard in a way that's like the AK620 model. Figuring out how to put the cooler onto the brackets might be a bit puzzling because its design is so seamless and neat. The top metal mesh that covers the fan sticks on with a magnet, so you can easily access and remove the middle fan during installation. Then, you can attach the cooler to a two-point system and put the middle fan back in place. However, this cooler doesn't put it's fan in the front like most other coolers, so the exposed fan faces the rear. One neat thing is that the fans are already connected, so you only need one plug to turn on both fans and the cooler's LED DeepCool logo. There are additional brackets to potentially add a third fan to the front of the cooler.

Phantom Spirit 120

This cooler has a similar installation components as many of the mainstream Thermalright designs, which is one of the easier installation setups. However, it also faces an issue regarding uninstalling this cooler, where the cooler is unable to slide/twist off the cooler to break the thermal paste seal. This might be necessary if the thermal paste has a strong hold between the cooler and the CPU.