Retail behemoth Amazon has been making its own Basics branded items for many years. They’re usually just less expensive versions of popular items it sells. Amazon designs them, has a third party manufacture them, and then slaps its label on the finished product. Though we’ve mostly watched this phenomenon from afar, Amazon is now entering our world by offering its first CPU cooler. As its name states, it is basic and relatively small for a tower design. One interesting ripple is it appears to be a rebadged Cooler Master product.
The cooler is named Amazon Basics Computer Cooling Fan and sells for $26. (Long-running personal peeve: when people treat the words “CPU” and “computer” as the same thing.) It appears to be a replica of a Cooler Master H410R RGB, as noted by Tom’s Hardware. Both coolers have four copper heat pipes and a modest aluminum fin stack. Both coolers also feature a 92mm fan as well. Amazon says the PWM fan runs between 600 and 2000rpm, with a maximum noise level of 29.83 dBA. It also includes an RGB control cable in case your motherboard doesn’t support changing colors via software.
(Image: Amazon)
It features direct contact heat pipes and is 4 inches tall. That’s short for a tower cooler, as a Hyper 212, by comparison, is six inches tall. Because of its small size, Cooler Master’s version is marketed towards small form factor (SFF) PCs. It lists mATX and Micro ITX builds as recommended form factors for it. Amazon does not mention what kind of PC it is designed for, but we all know this thing won’t be taming a Core i9-13900K any time soon.
The how-to video included in the listing shows it’s a Cooler Master product.
Though it looks exactly like the Cooler Master product, the instructional video in the listing seems to prove it. It gives credit to Cooler Master, as you can see above. Though that makes sense, given the similarities, we’re unsure why their prices differ. The Amazon version costs $26, with the Cooler Master is selling for $68. That’s a surprisingly high price for a basic air cooler, but the formerly affordable Hyper 212 is also $52, which is excessive. We can remember buying these for $30, though it’s been a few years.
Regardless, we’re curious if Amazon will expand its offerings in this category. Perhaps it’ll drop an Asetek AIO next. We note it already has several PC gaming products under its Basics brand. Those include a gaming mouse, desk, keyboard, and chair. So far, it seems to focus on accessories for your gaming setup. Now it’s selling actual components, though, which is a change.
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