Performance
The Scythe Shuriken 2 cooler’s performance has been tested on the AMD Ryzen 5 4650G processor and ASUS Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard. There is nothing unusual in the test rig, so everything else can be skipped. The CPU works at automatic settings. It wasn’t overclocked as it simply can’t pass automatic boost frequency regardless of voltages or cooling (assuming that temperatures are still close to ambient).
All tests were performed in the open PC case. The ambient temperature was about 23-24°C.
Our comparison includes three tests. The idle mode is a PC left without any load besides standard Windows services running in the background. The mixed-mode base on a PCMark 10 extended test that uses popular applications and simple games. The max load has been tested in a CPU+FPU AIDA64 stability test. It shows about maximum CPU load during the most demanding work on all CPU cores. A full load test can also be compared to a popular Prime95 small FTT test.
The Shuriken 2 cooler performs well in our tests. The temperature under full load is about 3°C lower than that of Noctua NH-L9a-AM4. On the other hand, the Shuriken 2 is a bit larger cooler. It still loses about 5°C to the Noctua NH-U9S, but this is a significantly larger cooler. In this case, a lot depends on how large a PC is and how much space is for a cooler.
Both smaller coolers generate about as much noise during work, and both can spin their fans up to about 2500 RPM. The Shuriken 2 cooler during mixed load tests could keep the fan at about 200-300 RPM less. The whole PC noise can be held at about 35dB, but it also depends on the PC case and other components. We have to remember that most noise is caused by the air going through the radiators, even though fans are from quiet series.
As I mentioned earlier, the CPU couldn’t be overclocked, so I had to skip additional tests as they did not give any comparable results. I highly doubt that users who decide on the SFF PC will think about overclocking, but there is always someone who wishes for more performance.
Scythe Shuriken 2 is an interesting option on the cooler market. However, if there is some more space in the PC case, I recommend taking a look at the Shuriken 3, which performs better and makes slightly less noise under high CPU load. Again, it depends if your PC has enough space for a larger cooler.
