SUMMARY: How many times have we heard some company claiming the ability to give you performance air cooling with little noise? And how many times has it ended up that the cooler was either quiet or cool, but not both? Come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he delves into the Scythe Kamakaze HSF. They make these very same claims but with a difference; they managed to pull it off. Come see for yourself as we look at this new name in cooling!
When you first look at this cooler, you get the impression of large! There would be good reason for this belief as the complete unit measures in at 90mm x 90mm x 85mm. Add to this a total weight of nearly 700 grams (that’s 1.5 pounds!) and you can see that we have a cooling solution that is far bigger than most of the ones we get in to play with.
As we tear into the design of this device, we’ll start with the heatsink itself. As we look down the pipe, we see that the Kamakaze uses oval shaped shafts instead of fins. This will allow the airflow from the fan to more completely move throughout the design and should help make your overall cooling more effective. Both Alpha and Swiftech have proven this design to be effective in their own coolers, so we’ll take a look at results later on and see if the Scythe folks can have similar results.
Also of note here is the fan shroud. While the sink measures in at 70mm x 70mm x 57mm in size, it uses a bit larger 80mm fan. The shroud works as a reducer of sorts, but there isn’t a sharp decrease in size so the turbulence caused by this is minimal.
Moving down to the base of the sink shows us a dual metal variety. While the sink itself is primarily aluminum, copper has still been used for the entire central portion of the cooler since it has much better thermal dissipation capabilities. And while the base has not been lapped to a mirror finish, there were no irregularities in the surface and it was very smooth.
The clipping/retention system used on this cooler is the first of its type that I have seen so far. It is called Rigid Core Clamping Mechanism (RCCM) and requires the use of a screwdriver when mounting the cooler.
The picture above shows the actual clamps that will be placed over the lugs of the socket. It fits easily over all three lugs so you won't have to worry about support of this heavy unit. Once you have seated both of these clamps over the socket lugs, you will need that screwdriver.
The screw seen above has a matched partner on the other side. After the clamps are seated over the lugs, you’ll need to screw these down to tighten the clamp. When I first started installing this cooler, I didn’t have much faith in its ability to handle the stress of such a large sink. But after tightening the clamps into place, I found that there was no movement at all in the HSF and it was firmly held in place. Just tighten the screws all the way down and it will hold the sink just where it is supposed to be.
One note regarding the installation, however, is the fact that it is difficult to install when the mainboard is already mounted within a midsize case. You’ll need to be able to get your weak hand in there to keep the clamps squeezed into the side of the socket and this can prove tricky for those with large hands. While not impossible (I managed it after all), it can prove to be a task.
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