Performance
Installation is certainly unique, with the Assassin IV using a traditional backplate and thumbscrews here, but then…
You take the top off the CPU cooler, it’s magnetic, so it pops off easily enough.
Then you can lift out the interior fan by squeezing the two clips together.
It slides out easily enough, easier than I expected actually.
You also need to put the Intel/AMD brackets on the pegs, and there are some thumbscrews to hold them; you can tighten them with the screwdriver too. The teeth on the screwdriver seemed to be designed so that if you try to over-tighten, the screwdriver slips out the screw, which is either a happy accident or a genius design.
I don’t have three hands, so here’s me pretending to be using the included screwdriver to reach through the gap in the cooler and tighten it to the bracket on the motherboard, even though I actually did it a minute prior.
Then the fan can be slid back down, like putting a hard drive tray back into a NAS.
Pop the cap back on and you’re done, that really was an interesting process, and the end result looks awesome!
Stock Temperatures
Now, there was a rumour that this was a Noctua beater, and honestly, that’s not as hard as it sounds anymore given Noctua is running a product that’s at least a decade old now… for now at least, but as you can see, it’s 2c cooler, and that’s quite an achievement for an air cooler. Now, the Hyper 622 is cooler still, but as you can see in the acoustics results below, it’s running a lot harder to get there.
Stock Acoustics
However, the Assassin IV matches the 39 dBa of our D15S perfectly, so yes, that’s pretty damn impressive. Keep in mind the IV has two fans, vs the D15S which has one, so that explains the cooler, but two fans are rarely as quiet as one.
Overclocked Temperatures
Pushing the heat up didn’t seem to phase it either, quite the opposite. Now, I had heard that the IV wasn’t going to beat Noctua here, and in some scenarios or methodology that may be true, and I’m eager to see other reviews, but from my testing, it’s doing very well indeed. Again that pesky Cooler Master cooler is cooler, but again, look at the acoustics, lower the fan RPM and it doesn’t stand a chance.
Overclocked Acoustics
OK so Noctua do hold the lead here, but let’s be honest, that’s still extremely impressive. I don’t doubt Noctua will be sitting at 41c with a dual fan and match that performance too, but I’m going to re-re-test the D15 range soon with new fans, as mine are a few years old and I want to be certain.
