Performance
Now it’s time for some tests. Test platform has about the same specification as is used for most my reviews and base is Intel quad core CPU overclocked to 4.2GHz. Fast enough for everything and easy to achieve frequency for most, even less experienced users. After all it’s overclocking platform and unlocked processor designed for overclocking.
In the table you can see couple of performance steps so reference Intel cooler and lower performance third party coolers. There is also higher performance water cooling which much more expensive and takes much more space than Scythe Ninja 4.
As we can see, Scythe Ninja 4 performs great leaving all smaller cooling solutions far behind. On this not so demanding setup, Ninja 4 can already show 9 degrees difference between smaller tower coolers. However more users wish to find out if performance can be close to water cooling kits.
Recently there are many All In One water cooling kits on the market. I couldn’t get one on time for this comparison but I used custom water cooling kit which contains double 360mm radiators so really large cooling surface. I was surprised that Scythe Ninja 4 was not much worse in all tests. Difference is about 3-4 degrees what is barely visible and let to overclock lower wattage processors about as high on both cooling solutions. We have to remember that Scythe Ninja 4 is much smaller ( even thought it’s huge for a air cooler ) and less expensive cooler. Considering achieved cooling results, I can clearly see that Ninja 4 can replace most popular AIO water cooling kits.
Because of low processor wattage, I was focusing mainly on the medium and low fan speed so about 800-1100 RPM. It was still quiet and performance was barely different than at higher fan speed. I assume that much higher processor power will show larger difference. On the other hand, Intel i5 6600K or i7 6700K which generate almost as much heat, are one of the most popular enthusiast and gamer processors lately. If you are looking for Intel 1151 platform then you simply won’t find anything more demanding and Scythe Ninja 4 will deliver both, high performance and quiet work.
Below you can see one more photo of the Ninja 4 on ASUS Z170 motherboard. As you see it’s really large. In case of issues with memory, you can install fan higher. There is also option to install fan from the other side of the heatsink.
