Performance
All tests were performed on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, which is the best-selling gaming processor in the last few months. There are multiple reviews with high-wattage processors, so we decided to make this review slightly different. Additional components include the ASRock B650E PG ITX motherboard, Nvidia RTX 4070 Founders Edition graphics card, Corsair Dominator Titanium 48GB DDR5-7200 memory kit, and Corsair SF700 700W SFX PSU.
The mixed load test is a PCMark 10 pass, so a simulation of various popular applications used daily. The maximum load test is an AIDA64 Stability Test, run with CPU+FPU. It causes the maximum power usage in calculations based on AVX instructions.
Let’s take a look at the results.
The 7800X3D CPU has 120W TDP. We could say it’s not so much, so the main challenge is keeping the maximum boost frequency for as long as possible. This is possible only on the best-performing coolers, as even though many coolers are rated at 200W or higher, not all can keep this CPU at low enough temperatures so the frequency wouldn’t drop.
On the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, we can also see a very interesting behavior. The CPU, under the highest load, reduces the voltage so much it actually runs at lower temperatures than in mixed load tests.
All coolers, except for the AN600, could keep our CPU at the maximum frequency of 5.04GHz on all CPU cores. A significantly smaller AN600 still delivers surprisingly good results. On this cooler, only the best cores kept the maximum frequency all the time, while others were dropping 1-2 ratios down.
Since most coolers on the list have comparable performance, the main difference between them is the fan speed. The ASSASSIN IV had the lowest average speed – around 1000 RPM. Noctua was close to 1200 RPM, while Scythe had about 1100 RPM. This is how the automatic speed adjustment works on these coolers. On the other hand, all these coolers also have comparable average noise in mixed load tests and gaming. Fan RPM spikes were the most audible on the ASSASSIN IV, so for daily usage on CPUs below 200W TDP, I recommend the quiet mode, which will give us the best experience.
Above, you can see how our CPU was acting during mixed load tests. Everything was at auto settings, and the CPU nicely boosted all cores up to 5040.9MHz and kept them at this frequency for as long as required.
The CPU can be overclocked using asynchronous bclk. For that, it doesn’t require higher voltages, so the wattage is also close to the reference. Since our motherboard doesn’t support asynchronous bclk, then we can’t show the overclocking result in this review. However, you can count on about 5.3-5.4GHz and thermals, not far from what you can see in our comparison.
The ASSASSIN IV gives us a mix of high performance and exceptional aesthetics. It’s hard not to recommend it. It’s a bit expensive, but it’s an investment as it supports multiple current and probably future CPU sockets, while the AM5 socket is expected to stay with us for longer.
