In order to test the DeepCool Assassin IV we used the following test system:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• Thermal compound: Noctua NH-T1
• Case: StreaCom BC1 V2 Bench Table
• Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI with 1807 BIOS
• Memory: 2x16GB AddLink Spider X5 DDR5-6000MHz (EXPO Profile)
• PSU: be quiet! Dark Pro 13 1300Watt
• Main Storage: Samsung 980Pro 1TB
• VGA: MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X 24G
• Operating system: Windows 11 x64 + latest motherboard/AMD chipset drivers installed (DirectStorage enabled drive)
• Software: OCCT Enterprise Edition (2 sec interval monitor)
• Ambient room temperature ~ 23 Celsius (with AC climate control) - Environment Temperature measurements: Precision Gold N09AQ Envirometer Meter

Before starting our tests, we performed via the Asus Armoury Crate Fan Expert Software an optimization of the installed CPU fan in order to get optimum results. All test results were performed via a climate controller room at ~23 Celsius for all tested CPU coolers, at the same position of the room.

We performed four tests depending on the CPU TDP load that can be set under

Bios-> AI Tweaker-> Precision Boost Overdrive->AMD Eco Mode->

• cTDP 65Watt (real 90Watt)
• cTDP 105Watt (real 145watt)
• cTDP 170Watt (normal AMD 7950X operating)
• cTDP 222Watt (via PBO at auto)

while we set the following voltages for all tests.

• CPU Core Voltage: Auto
• CPU SOC Voltage: 1.25V
• CPU VDDIO / MC Voltage: Auto
• Misc Voltage: 1.10V

Via the OCCT software, we performed the Stability Test->CPU Test 15mins duration, with the stock OCCT settings, for the 65Watt / 105watt tests:

• Instruction Set: AVX2
• Data Set: Large
• Mode: Normal
• Load Type: Variable
• Thread Settings: Auto

, while for getting the normal 170watt TDP

• Instruction Set: SSE
• Data Set: Large
• Mode: Normal
• Load Type: Variable
• Thread Settings: Auto

and finally for the 222watt TDP, we used

• Instruction Set: SSE
• Data Set: Small
• Mode: Extreme
• Load Type: Steady
• Thread Settings: Auto

We tested the CPU cooler at both Power and Quiet mode. This changes the operating speed of the installed fans, by dropping the maximum RPM speed from 1700rpm down to 1350rpm and reducing overall noise from 29.3dB(A) to 22.6dB(A)

Tests Disclaimer: Despite placing CPU voltages manually, the motherboard may supply the CPU with slightly different voltages, resulting in some cases higher temperatures that also result in higher working temperatures. Your conclusions should be an overall judgment for both Average temperatures and maximum working frequencies. Our results are valid with the above test system and using other variations may result in different results.

Starting from the low 65watt TDP, the DeepCool Assasin IV showed very good performance and the average Tctl/Tdie temperature was around 56.74 Celsius, which is close to what the be quiet! Dark Rock Elite delivers. The quiet mode does drop noise but also increases overall temperatures by almost 2 Celsius.

While absolute temperatures are one indication, the average working effective clock of the CPU is another important metric, since higher working speeds, mean that the system will be able to sustain higher overall clocks and therefore performance. At this test, the DeepCool Assasin IV in both modes was higher than other CPU coolers by almost +100MHz, indicating better performance during this test.

Passing to the 105watt TDP (AMD preset), the DeepCool Assassin IV stays slightly below the competition, in performance mode, and again the quiet mode gives around 2 Celsius lower.

Again the DeepCool Assassin IV seems to have higher running average effective CPU clocks, compared with other CPUs.

How about a full 170-watt TDP that is the stock voltage for the AMD 7950X processor? The performance was somewhat lower than we expected, since the DeepCool Assassin IV managed to have an average 77.15 Celsius Tctl/Tdie, when other CPU coolers had down to 72.84 Celsius.

The average effective clocks at this TDP weren't very good was well, since both are quiet! and Noctua CPU coolers had higher clocks.

We did notice that the average CPU package power was higher for the DeepCool Assassin IV, which may also resulted in higher running temperatures.

Finally, at the maximum TDP of 222watt, we do see performance differences in favor of the be quiet! and Noctua products at both the average CPU temperature and average effective clocks.

Again the DeepCool Assassin IV had slightly higher average CPU package power, which again may resulted in higher CPU temperatures.