Scythe Mugen 6 Black Edition CPU Cooler Review

TweakTown Rating: 94%

Our Verdict

Scythe's Mugen 6 Black Edition is a sleek sleeper that delivers where its needed, and keeps the noise at bay. For the cost, you will be hard pressed to find better.

Pros

• Thermal performance
• Low noise levels
• Attractive aesthetic
• Cost
• HPMS V

Cons

• Bulky
• PWM control not aggressive enough

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

While we are fans of the OG Mugen 6 cooler from Scythe, it has its downfalls. The natural aesthetic took us back many years in our minds, which is always pleasing to recall when $50 air coolers ruled the world. That said, we noted that while easy to install, thermally, we felt the Mugen 6 was lacking, at least when compared to other similarly priced solutions.

For those who read the Mugen 6 review and were on the fence, what we have for you today just might push you over to Scythe's side. Taking the Mugen 6, they addressed what many wouldn't care for: coloration, the fan, and the number of fans, all of which were introduced in their second version of the Mugen 6 to hit the market.

The Mugen 6 Black edition will not only please more customers with its murdered-out approach to visual appeal, but it will also fix the airflow issues associated with its vanilla counterpart. If you have room for this dual-fan single tower air cooler and want the best bang for the buck in CPU air cooling, Scythe has delivered a serious contender for your investment, and we strongly urge you to stay tuned, as it may turn out to be the next cooler for your build.

The Scythe Mugen 6, dual-fan, Black Edition CPU cooler sports the model number SCMG-6000DBE, and the DBE is not found on the OG M6 cooler. Socket support for the Mugen 6 BE is quite extensive. While covering AM4 and AM5, Intel supports everything since LGA115x and HEDT. Lastly, being the Black Edition of the Mugen 6, the color option here is obviously black.

Physically and dimensionally, we get a cooler that is 132 mm deep, 132mm wide, and 154mm tall, weighing in just under 1200 grams. Within that, you get six 6mm copper heat pipes, a nickel-plated copper mating surface, and fifty-five aluminum fins to remove the heat from the CPU. There is a cover on top of the fin array, which is thicker than the fins, and covers the pipe tips for a cleaner look.

Cooling the tower is a pair of Wonder Tornado 120 PWM fans. With 2000 RPM at their maximum, the WT 120 PWM fans will deliver 60.29 CFM of airflow, 2.45 mmH2O of static pressure, all under 27 dB(A). The Wonder Tornado is shown to last 120,000 hours, sipping 0.15A per fan, both powered via 4-pin PWM connectors. If bearing type matters to you, Scythe is using sealed precision FDBs.

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The last pair of items to cover deals with coverage and cost. As for coverage, you get two years' worth. To be blunt, if you have damage out of the box, you are covered. If a fan dies early, it's likely to happen within a year or so. The other aspect, pricing, is also very acceptable to us. With an MSRP of $56.99 for the Scythe Mugen 6 Black Edition, if things play out well in the charts, we believe Scythe has done what is needed to cover all their potential customers' needs with this CPU air cooler.

Packaging

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Matching the cooler, the packaging comes all black. At the top of the matte black face, we find the Scythe name and logo, with an image of the Mugen 6 Black Edition shifted right so that the name can be on the left. In small print, under the cooler, to the right, Scythe mentions the Wonder Tornado 120 PWM fan.

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The following panel offers five renderings with dimensions, ensuring a customer can tell if it fits the build. Below are a trio of images, showing the hardware, a front view of the cooler, and another from an angle.

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Six features top the back of the box, covering socket support, height, fans, pipes, and the design. Below those, we are given a multi-language chart with the specifications, followed by information about specs versus PWM control, and a line of icons at the bottom.

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The remaining panel covers the warranty of the cooler inside, while also delivering the company information and site addresses. It is also where you will find the serial and model number stickers.

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The top of the box opens, allowing us to dump the cooler out on the table, upside down. The cooler body is wrapped in dense foam, surrounding it. Underneath is a pair of fans separated by layers of cardboard, with the hardware and literature stored in the box at the bottom.

Scythe Mugen 6 Black Edition CPU Cooler

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A thick black cover tops the fifty-five aluminum fins, also black, which surround the six offset pipes that run through them. Even down to the base of the cooler and the hardware, everything is black.

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The asymmetrical design becomes apparent when viewed from the side, as the tower is shifted away from the CPU socket. As the pipes lean to enter the tower, they are evenly distributed front to back.

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The lower six fins are cut short for RAM clearance and are straight across the width of the cooler. Above them, the fins are bent to deliver hexagonal tunnels for the airflow to go through. We can also see that some of the finds are cut to deepen every third fin, while the edges are taller to give the fan room to build steam.

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While this design works, a significant amount of air escapes the sides without any tabs or louvers to help trap it. On the flip side, it allows air to cool other components. Near the bottom, we can see copper pipes where the paint isn't applied, and a bit of fin movement in the lowest fin, but the array stays evenly spaced.

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With a copper puck at the bottom, capped with aluminum to capture the pipes, we find that Scythe secures the crossbar with a knurled nut in the center. Doing so simplifies installation by eliminating the need to worry about the spring-loaded screws and the cooler's position relative to the bar, allowing for all screws to be installed at once.

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From the bottom, we can see how the pipes are oriented to deliver heat to a broader cross-section of the fins. All of the fins are pressed onto the pipes, and we see that they had to open some of the holes to allow for the bends in the pipes.

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The base of the Mugen 6 Black Edition is nickel-plated, finely machined to a convex shape. After that, somehow the base got scratched a bit, and the protective sticker leaves oxidation in the air pockets, as well as debris. Cleaning with alcohol or CPU IHS cleaning products will rectify most of it.

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The top of the tower receives a cover, embossed with the Scythe logo in the center. The indented lines on the sides and the covers for the screws holding the cover are used for some style, while a hole is sent through the fin array to access the rear mounting screw.

Accessories and Documentation

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Starting with mounting hardware, we get the universal Intel brackets on the left of the adjustable Intel backplate. To the right are the AMD brackets, and another set specific to LGA 1700 users.

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We also get four wire fan clips to mount the pair of fans to the tower. Between them are the plastic spacers, then the "bolt nuts" to lock in Intel brackets. HEDT standoffs are also offered, and the longer set of screws is used with AMD sockets.

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With two fans, a Y-splitter power cable is always handy, and a screwdriver to fit the tower is a huge add-on. We also got enough Scythe thermal grease for a couple of mounting attempts, and a spatula, if you prefer to spread your pastes.

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Cooling the tower is this pair of Wander Tornado 120 PWM fans that show a WT1225FD20-P part number. The fans feature black blades and frames, complete with anti-vibration measures on all corners. We even get black sleeves on the cables, along with black connectors.

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The manual is to the point, but it gets the job done. A parts list starts things off, allowing you to select the needed hardware, and then, with renderings and short text descriptions, it gets you through the process with very little left to question.

Installation and Finished Product

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To get here, we removed the factory bits from the top of the motherboard and gathered the necessary brackets and components. We sent the screws through the brackets and slid the plastic spacers onto the screws. We found that the rubber washer provides sufficient friction to hold the screw in place, making it easier to secure the bracket and send the screws in. We then repeated this process for the other side of the socket.

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We skipped ahead past the mounting and had the fans on the cooler before we remembered to offer a look at the reason why a screwdriver is included. As you can see, it is long enough to drop through the tower, while also working on the rest of the hardware, ensuring that everything you could need is provided.

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Installed and awaiting testing, we look down the barrel of the Mugen 6 Black Edition at the nine scythe-shaped blades that remind us of rifling. The fin array is well covered, and we didn't raise the fan to fit the RAM; it just happens to be where we clipped it on.

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The asymmetric design of the Mugen 6 BE allows it to completely clear all the DIMM slots in front of the tower. The choice of RAM for mainstream users is of no concern with this air cooler.

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Stepping back, we do see some issues popping up. 8-pin access is limited; you should connect them before cooler installation. The other is RAM clearance behind the tower. As it sits, the fan is resting on our I/O cover to stay at the tower's height. The notch in the tower suggests that a second fan may need to be eliminated or, at the very least, shifted higher for HEDT users.

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Scythe's all-black, murdered-out approach to the Mugen 6 was a significant step forward over the original. While substantial for a single tower design, it fits in like it owns the place in our test rig.

Test System Setup, Thermal Tests, and Noise Results

Chad's CPU Cooler Test System Specifications

To see our testing methodology and to find out what goes into making our charts, please refer to our 2025 CPU Cooler Testing and Methodology article for more information.

Thermal Results

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With a chilly idle temperature of 41°C, the Mugen 6 Black Edition delivers the lowest idle temperature for the air coolers we have tested so far. Two degrees better than the OG Mugen 6 is impressive, considering our fans were only spinning at 788 RPM to get this result.

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The RZ620 edges out the Mugen 6 Black edition, but that 70°C result is still better than most. Another way to look at it is that to gain that 1.9°C difference, you need to spend another $15, and the RZ620 is using a pair of fin arrays to achieve that result.

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Only a degree behind the RZ6320 this time, the Mugen 6 Black Edition and its thick single tower ran up on the heels of a much bigger cooler at 72°C as the maximum CPU temperature during the testing. Again, it is a better result than most of the other offerings in the chart.

CPU Speed

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The cooler the CPU is, the higher the boost will send the clocks, and at 5.209 GHz, the Mugen 6 Black Edition allows our CPU to run at full speed all the time.

VRM Thermal Results

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Considering the rear fan was resting on the rear I/O and was unlikely to cool it much, it was left to the intake fan to supply the area with airflow. Scythe lands somewhere in the middle at 55.2°C, but is nearly 3°C better than the original Mugen 6.

Fan Speed and Noise Levels

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The reported fan speed indicated that we achieved a maximum of 1387 RPM with PWM control on this pair of Wonder Tornado fans. The assumption might be that with more fan speed came more noise, but Scythe has one trick left up its sleeve.

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Shockingly, unless you force these fans to run over what PWM offers, you will be hard-pressed to hear them inside of a chassis, considering that at nearly 1400 RPM, the fans were at 29 dB. We applied 12V to them to test their maximum speed, and even then, the noise is tolerable; however, the thermal gains don't match the noise level.

Final Thoughts

As much as we liked the Mugen 6, and we still do, we must admit that the Mugen 6 Black Edition is almost an entirely different critter. While sporting the same tower and using HPMS V hardware, it seems more visually impressive when dressed in black. While it blended into the build, with the second fan attached, the Mugen 6 went from decent-sized to one of the thickest single tower configurations on offer. That said, once past the visual appeal of the update, the impressiveness never waned.

Thermally, the Mugen 6 Black Edition is not only an upgrade from their last submission, but also a serious contender in our charts, too. Taking on a dual-tower configuration and running right on their heels, and for less money, it all stacks up in Scythe's win column. She was easy to install; we had everything we needed to make it happen, and even with impressive thermals, we didn't need headphones or gaming to drown them out. Doing what Scythe has done with the Mugen 6 Black Edition seems like sorcery, but with all the tricks they've incorporated into the cooler this time, the science works in their favor.

Other than the be quiet offerings, anything else near the Mugen 6 Black Edition costs more, sometimes a couple of dollars, sometimes ten to fifteen. While some may scoff at the lack of lighting, it would cost more, add heat, draw more power, and likely change the results. The fact that you can buy the Scythe Mugen 6 Black Edition, take it to the PC, open the box, and find everything you need to make things happen is enough, especially when the cooler performs as well as it does. Even though it may not be the perfect solution for HEDT users or those with tiny cases, those who can take advantage should, as the Mugen 6 Black Edition is the most affordable of our top-three CPU air coolers, put out the results you expect, and look good doing so.