Great Value, Kirkland, Signature Select, Husky — house brands, copied or repackaged products sold under a store’s own label as an affordable alternative to name brands, have a long and storied history of retail. But perhaps no company has embraced the idea as completely and ruthlessly as Amazon in the digital age. The corporation’s Amazon Basics brand will sell you everything from diapers to dining sets, and now it’s expanding into desktop PC components.
The first individual computer part to get the Amazon Basics label is a CPU cooler, a small number that sells for $26.99 in the US. It boasts a relatively compact design for full-sized desktops, with four heat pipes and an RGB 2000RPM 100mm cooling fan. It is compatible with the latest Intel and AMD CPU sockets: LGA 1700, 1200, 1156, 1155, 1151, 1150, plus AM4 and AM5. There is even an installation video available for both motherboard types, with and without the RGB headers.
Amazon
Eagle-eyed readers may think the design looks familiar. As noted by Tom’s Hardware, the cooler appears to be a rebadged version of the Cooler Master H410R, or a basically perfect copy of the design, minus some cosmetic badges and about 10mm taller. Neither move is unprecedented for Amazon. The company previously went directly to white box manufacturers in China for rebadged products, similar to retail store brands around the world. And obvious copies of branded products are also commissioned, as in the case of Peak Design’s EveryDay Sling bag.
While the Amazon Basics Computer Cooling Fan is less than half the price of Amazon’s H410R, it’s not the only option in its price range. Single-fan coolers from Arctic, Be Quiet, Thermaltake, and Zalman meet or beat its price, as do many entries from the usual weirdo brands that are only available on Amazon and other drop shipping sites. We may or may not see Amazon offer an additional variety of PC components under the Amazon Basics brand – which may be decided by some very complex internal sales algorithm that we don’t need to know about. the human.