Cooling SFFn CPU Cooler Shoot-Out

[MarcParis]

Maybe I missed this new release of scythe but I found this scythe shuriken 2 cpu cooler (with optimised fans orientation for am4 platform..
58mm tall

I didn’t find official webpage on scythe website..
Ps : here is link on jp scythe website : https://www.scythe.co.jp/product/cpu-cooler/scsk-2000/

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Maybe I missed this new release of scythe but I found this scythe shuriken 2 cpu cooler (with optimised fans orientation for am4 platform..
58mm tall

I didn’t find official webpage on scythe website..
Ps : here is link on jp scythe website : https://www.scythe.co.jp/product/cpu-cooler/scsk-2000/

I just finished testing it yesterday

 

[ignsvn]

I just finished testing it yesterday

How does it perform?

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

How does it perform?

https://infogram.com/92mm-comparison-1h7j4dpx9w0x4nr?live (only intel results showing at the moment)

Not bad The fan's sound comparable to the Noctua's but i'll need to collect recordings.

 

[ignsvn]

https://infogram.com/92mm-comparison-1h7j4dpx9w0x4nr?live (only intel results showing at the moment)

Not bad The fan's sound comparable to the Noctua's but i'll need to collect recordings.

Thank you.

Correct me if I'm wrong, performance seems to be (almost) similar to ID Cooling IS-40v3?

 

[MarcParis]

https://infogram.com/92mm-comparison-1h7j4dpx9w0x4nr?live (only intel results showing at the moment)

Not bad The fan's sound comparable to the Noctua's but i'll need to collect recordings.

Thanks for sharing your tests.
However graph is a bit difficult to read...colour gap remains tiny. I don’t know if you can add number on starting point..

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Thank you.

Correct me if I'm wrong, performance seems to be (almost) similar to ID Cooling IS-40v3?

That seems about right, however I want to retest the IS-40 v3 because I cannot remember the orientation of the heatpipes when I tested it. I would not be too surprised if it is still close in performance because:
A) the fan is 5mm thinner, so that accounts for 1/3 of the height difference
B) the fan runs at a bit higher speed
C) same number of heat pipes, just a thinner radiator

Thanks for sharing your tests.
However graph is a bit difficult to read...colour gap remains tiny. I don’t know if you can add number on starting point..

When you say numbers you mean the recorded temps or something else? I had tried to put numbers in there at the beginning but they end up overlapping each other alot. I would suggest if you know what coolers you want to look at, you can click the little dots next to the cooler name on the left and remove (or add) them from the graph.

 

[MarcParis]

When you say numbers you mean the recorded temps or something else? I had tried to put numbers in there at the beginning but they end up overlapping each other alot. I would suggest if you know what coolers you want to look at, you can click the little dots next to the cooler name on the left and remove (or add) them from the graph.

In fact i was not meaning values themselves but index of lines.
Target is just to distinguish clearly which line refers to which setup.

 

[MarcParis]

That seems about right, however I want to retest the IS-40 v3 because I cannot remember the orientation of the heatpipes when I tested it. I would not be too surprised if it is still close in performance because:
A) the fan is 5mm thinner, so that accounts for 1/3 of the height difference
B) the fan runs at a bit higher speed
C) same number of heat pipes, just a thinner radiator



When you say numbers you mean the recorded temps or something else? I had tried to put numbers in there at the beginning but they end up overlapping each other alot. I would suggest if you know what coolers you want to look at, you can click the little dots next to the cooler name on the left and remove (or add) them from the graph.

Well forget my comment... I was looking at your graph using my ipad (chrome).
Now on computer your graph is clear and perfect as you can highlight each setup...

Thanks for your job...and I saw that you add AMD temp also..

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

My testing will be stopping for a couple weeks as I'll be staying at my parents and not bringing my testbenches. However, I will be bringing my coolers and audio recording equipment so I can get sample sounds of them!

Recently Added:
Intel 95W - ID-Cooling IS-30, Scythe Shuriken 2, Shuriken 3

AMD - ID-Cooling IS-30, Scythe Shuriken 2, Shuriken 3

Intel 65W - ID-Cooling IS-30


Coming Later -
- Thermalright AXP100 Full Copper
- Thermalright AXP100RH
- Raijintek Pallas
- Coolermaster Geminii M4
- Akasa Nero LX2
- Jonsbo CR-101
- SoPlay SP4L
- Titan NC25TZ
- Zalman CNPS9500A

After this batch is done I will be out of coolers on hand to test and will need to get more. If you have suggestions on what you'd like me to focus on, please reply back in the comments!

I also plan to return to making videos to cover the coolers individually (more review type format) as well as other topics.

 

[MarcParis]

@IntoxicatedPuma is it me or NH-L9a with 25mm fan is performing great? (similar performance as NH L9x65 with 25mm fan at 1200rpm)
https://infogram.com/amd-dashboard-1h7z2lzyjodl6ow?live

On AMD, NH-L9i (not even a) with 25mm (total 47mm tall) fan is beating C7 (47mm tall) above 1000rpm...not bad at all.
However for noctua, NH-L9x65 performance is really depressing.

 

[Phuncz]

@IntoxicatedPuma awesome work and very commendable that even travelling you keep on testing !

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

@IntoxicatedPuma is it me or NH-L9a with 25mm fan is performing great? (similar performance as NH L9x65 with 25mm fan at 1200rpm)
https://infogram.com/amd-dashboard-1h7z2lzyjodl6ow?live

On AMD, NH-L9i (not even a) with 25mm (total 47mm tall) fan is beating C7 (47mm tall) above 1000rpm...not bad at all.
However for noctua, NH-L9x65 performance is really depressing.

It's hard to say definitely. I am updating the graphs to show more detail by incrementing at 100rpm intervals (previously I was posting at 200rpm increments and rounding the fan speed, so 1501 rpm w/66 C and 1699 rpm w/66 C showed as the same data point). I can say that most of the 120mm coolers are in their own class away from the 92mm fans, but the L9x65 with NF-A9 performs pretty close to the 120mm coolers. I want to retest it however, because at the highest fan speed the temperature does not continue to decrease, while similar coolers like the AR06 and Shuriken 2, the temps continue to drop as the fan speed exceeds 2000rpm.

Overall the L9i did pretty well. I would say the Cryorig was a result of poor fan performance, but even with an A9x14 the temps actually increased

Let me just throw out a list of top performing coolers (meaing: nothing the same size or shorter performed better than them) This isn't completely indisputable because alot of coolers performed within 2C of each other (L12S & Shuriken 3 cough cough) which is within the margin of error, but this is a rough idea of what coolers are standouts and performed better than anything smaller. In addition the specific application (case) may cause different results.

Intel
27mm - Thermaltake Engine 27 (69.7C @ 2570 rpm)
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (66.0C @ 3287 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i stock (53.0C @ 2606 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40v3 wA9x14 (49.7C @ 2647 rpm)
47mm - Silverstone AR11 w/A9x14 (47.0C @ 2534 rpm)
58mm - Silverstone AR06 w/A9x14 (44.3C @ 2583 rpm)
67mm - Alpenfoehn Blackridge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (41.7C @ 2553 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.7C @ 1808 rpm)
70mm - Noctua NH-L12S stock (40.3C @ 1733 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 w/A12x25 (38.7C @ 2051 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (37.0C @ 1993 rpm)

AMD
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (54.7C @ 3339 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i Stock (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40 v3 (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
47mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge A9x14 (47.7C @ 2649 rpm)
57mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 Stock (46.5C @ 1546 rpm)
67mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 A12x25 (45.5C @ 2037 rpm)
68mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (42.4C @ 2539 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.9C @ 1764 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 A12x25 (39.0C @ 2073 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (38.9C @ 2077 rpm)

 

[rocklobster]

It's hard to say definitely. I am updating the graphs to show more detail by incrementing at 100rpm intervals (previously I was posting at 200rpm increments and rounding the fan speed, so 1501 rpm w/66 C and 1699 rpm w/66 C showed as the same data point). I can say that most of the 120mm coolers are in their own class away from the 92mm fans, but the L9x65 with NF-A9 performs pretty close to the 120mm coolers. I want to retest it however, because at the highest fan speed the temperature does not continue to decrease, while similar coolers like the AR06 and Shuriken 2, the temps continue to drop as the fan speed exceeds 2000rpm.

Overall the L9i did pretty well. I would say the Cryorig was a result of poor fan performance, but even with an A9x14 the temps actually increased

Let me just throw out a list of top performing coolers (meaing: nothing the same size or shorter performed better than them) This isn't completely indisputable because alot of coolers performed within 2C of each other (L12S & Shuriken 3 cough cough) which is within the margin of error, but this is a rough idea of what coolers are standouts and performed better than anything smaller. In addition the specific application (case) may cause different results.

Intel
27mm - Thermaltake Engine 27 (69.7C @ 2570 rpm)
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (66.0C @ 3287 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i stock (53.0C @ 2606 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40v3 wA9x14 (49.7C @ 2647 rpm)
47mm - Silverstone AR11 w/A9x14 (47.0C @ 2534 rpm)
58mm - Silverstone AR06 w/A9x14 (44.3C @ 2583 rpm)
67mm - Alpenfoehn Blackridge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (41.7C @ 2553 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.7C @ 1808 rpm)
70mm - Noctua NH-L12S stock (40.3C @ 1733 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 w/A12x25 (38.7C @ 2051 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (37.0C @ 1993 rpm)

AMD
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (54.7C @ 3339 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i Stock (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40 v3 (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
47mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge A9x14 (47.7C @ 2649 rpm)
57mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 Stock (46.5C @ 1546 rpm)
67mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 A12x25 (45.5C @ 2037 rpm)
68mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (42.4C @ 2539 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.9C @ 1764 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 A12x25 (39.0C @ 2073 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (38.9C @ 2077 rpm)

Solid work! Wish I had this data in front of my when I was shopping for a bigger CPU cooler a few weeks ago. I really liked the ID-Cooling IS-60, it's a beefy low profile cooler but is let down by the fan. They could ship it with a larger 25mm fan and have a new product on their hands to compete in the taller range with Scythe.

 

[MarcParis]

It's hard to say definitely. I am updating the graphs to show more detail by incrementing at 100rpm intervals (previously I was posting at 200rpm increments and rounding the fan speed, so 1501 rpm w/66 C and 1699 rpm w/66 C showed as the same data point). I can say that most of the 120mm coolers are in their own class away from the 92mm fans, but the L9x65 with NF-A9 performs pretty close to the 120mm coolers. I want to retest it however, because at the highest fan speed the temperature does not continue to decrease, while similar coolers like the AR06 and Shuriken 2, the temps continue to drop as the fan speed exceeds 2000rpm.

Overall the L9i did pretty well. I would say the Cryorig was a result of poor fan performance, but even with an A9x14 the temps actually increased

Let me just throw out a list of top performing coolers (meaing: nothing the same size or shorter performed better than them) This isn't completely indisputable because alot of coolers performed within 2C of each other (L12S & Shuriken 3 cough cough) which is within the margin of error, but this is a rough idea of what coolers are standouts and performed better than anything smaller. In addition the specific application (case) may cause different results.

Intel
27mm - Thermaltake Engine 27 (69.7C @ 2570 rpm)
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (66.0C @ 3287 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i stock (53.0C @ 2606 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40v3 wA9x14 (49.7C @ 2647 rpm)
47mm - Silverstone AR11 w/A9x14 (47.0C @ 2534 rpm)
58mm - Silverstone AR06 w/A9x14 (44.3C @ 2583 rpm)
67mm - Alpenfoehn Blackridge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (41.7C @ 2553 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.7C @ 1808 rpm)
70mm - Noctua NH-L12S stock (40.3C @ 1733 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 w/A12x25 (38.7C @ 2051 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (37.0C @ 1993 rpm)

AMD
30mm - ID-Cooling IS-30 (54.7C @ 3339 rpm)
37mm - Noctua NH-L9i Stock (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
45mm - ID-Cooling IS-40 v3 (51.4C @ 2564 rpm)
47mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge A9x14 (47.7C @ 2649 rpm)
57mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 Stock (46.5C @ 1546 rpm)
67mm - ID-Cooling IS-60 A12x25 (45.5C @ 2037 rpm)
68mm - Alpenfoehn BlackRidge w/A9x14 & A12x15 (42.4C @ 2539 rpm)
69mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 stock (40.9C @ 1764 rpm)
79mm - Scythe Shuriken 3 A12x25 (39.0C @ 2073 rpm)
125mm - Noctua NH-U9S Dual Fan (38.9C @ 2077 rpm)

Thanks for explanation.
Maybe it's the rpm rounding but nh-L9x65 looks very bad, on similar performance as nh-l9i+25mm fan. (AMD)

Similarly (AMD) Alpenfoehn blackridge (reversed fan) is reaching 47,4°C at 3000rpm...don't know what fan you are using..

Coming back to IS-60, it's performing way better than AR06...whereas you put AR06 ahead at this height on Intel...weird..

I guess, at the end, we should be able to recommend a specific cpu cooler depending on height and constraint on other components (RAM, MB, etc).

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Thanks for explanation.
Maybe it's the rpm rounding but nh-L9x65 looks very bad, on similar performance as nh-l9i+25mm fan. (AMD)

Similarly (AMD) Alpenfoehn blackridge (reversed fan) is reaching 47,4°C at 3000rpm...don't know what fan you are using..

Coming back to IS-60, it's performing way better than AR06...whereas you put AR06 ahead at this height on Intel...weird..

I guess, at the end, we should be able to recommend a specific cpu cooler depending on height and constraint on other components (RAM, MB, etc).

Regarding the L9x65 and L9i, I would say it's possibly a testing error (ex: cooler orientation) but when compared to each other, both the AMD and Intel graphs show basically the same results. It is surprising (to me at least) that installing the NF-A9 on both coolers dropped temps about equally (when compared to the same RPM) as the stock NF-A9x14 HS fan. I tested the Shuriken 2 with both the A9x14 HS and NF-A9 fan as well and they show the same change in curve when comparing the same cooler with different fans.

The fan on the Blackridge is the stock fan, but flipped around and pointed the opposite way. On both AMD and Intel it performed much better when reversing the fan direction. I tested it in this way because others had found the default position was not ideal. Although, it may be worth retesting the 47mm coolers, because the Cryorig outperformed the Blackridge on Intel but not AMD. And most surprisingly is the AR-11 totally destroyed both on the Intel bench (doesn't come with an AMD mount so can't test it there).

The IS-60 performed better than the AR06 at the same fan speed, but I wasn't looking at fan speed, only at the lowest temperatures. If you are looking at the same fan speed, then yes, the IS-60 destroys the AR06.

I'll try to put together a chart which provides a more qualitative analysis of the results. For anyone reading this and wondering which to get: If you value quietness you basically can't go wrong with a 120mm fan cooler when compared to one with a 92mm fan, but just keep in mind that generally those 120mm fans are limited to 2000 rpm or less, while the 92mm fans sometimes will spin up to as much as 3000rpm to offer better performance.

 

[MarcParis]

Regarding the L9x65 and L9i, I would say it's possibly a testing error (ex: cooler orientation) but when compared to each other, both the AMD and Intel graphs show basically the same results. It is surprising (to me at least) that installing the NF-A9 on both coolers dropped temps about equally (when compared to the same RPM) as the stock NF-A9x14 HS fan. I tested the Shuriken 2 with both the A9x14 HS and NF-A9 fan as well and they show the same change in curve when comparing the same cooler with different fans.

The fan on the Blackridge is the stock fan, but flipped around and pointed the opposite way. On both AMD and Intel it performed much better when reversing the fan direction. I tested it in this way because others had found the default position was not ideal. Although, it may be worth retesting the 47mm coolers, because the Cryorig outperformed the Blackridge on Intel but not AMD. And most surprisingly is the AR-11 totally destroyed both on the Intel bench (doesn't come with an AMD mount so can't test it there).

The IS-60 performed better than the AR06 at the same fan speed, but I wasn't looking at fan speed, only at the lowest temperatures. If you are looking at the same fan speed, then yes, the IS-60 destroys the AR06.

I'll try to put together a chart which provides a more qualitative analysis of the results. For anyone reading this and wondering which to get: If you value quietness you basically can't go wrong with a 120mm fan cooler when compared to one with a 92mm fan, but just keep in mind that generally those 120mm fans are limited to 2000 rpm or less, while the 92mm fans sometimes will spin up to as much as 3000rpm to offer better performance.

Thanks for your feedback.
I guess it is always welcome to have several pairs of eyes checking large quantiy of data..

Yes I already noticed AR11 performance...it received also good press reviews.

I guess we should focus on cpu cooler height leading to best cpu cooler by case (at least for a start) :

• 40mm for NFC S4 Skyreach/mini (ok, ok nh-L9a/i is the already best for this case..)
• 47/50mm for Dan a4/Form-D T1 (GPU 3 slots)
• 55/57mm for SM series
• 65mm for Loque Ghost S1
• 70mm for Form-D T1 (GPU 2 slots)

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

I agree, I've been looking too much at finding ways to present the data to actually think about what the data really shows.

I was also thinking to start preparing a chart for each case, the one thing I want to find out is how some cases may be affected by different fan setups and actually test in the case. For me, the open air bench I test on now provides a good benchmark to compare the results when testing in a case. So ideally, I'd like to get ahold of those cases, then test with the coolers in those cases and see how much the cooling is impacted by their design. Probably will be awhile before I get to that point though

 

[MarcParis]

I agree, I've been looking too much at finding ways to present the data to actually think about what the data really shows.

I was also thinking to start preparing a chart for each case, the one thing I want to find out is how some cases may be affected by different fan setups and actually test in the case. For me, the open air bench I test on now provides a good benchmark to compare the results when testing in a case. So ideally, I'd like to get ahold of those cases, then test with the coolers in those cases and see how much the cooling is impacted by their design. Probably will be awhile before I get to that point though

Well based on my experience s4 mini or Sm 550, results in top-down cpu cooler inside this type of case (sandwich style with clear split area for gpu and cpu) are very similar to open bench table.

Some motherboard like ASUS strix x570-I are putting a lot of constraints of small cpu cooler due to massive heatsinks all around cpu socket.
Some basics need also to be reminded like heatsink fins orientation to ease exhaust.

To be honest, aim for a match between C7 and nh-l9i/a with 25mm fan...this will interest quite many people..

 

[StonedTablet]

Anyone test the Jonsbo HP400(37mm)?