The Scythe Samurai ZZ CPU Cooler

Here is the Samurai ZZ in all its glory! Considering that is a 92mm fan strapped on the top, you might get a better perspective on how small this really is.

The ZZ comes with six heat pipes. The older model had two on the outside edges of the fins. This time around Scythe spread the heat load more evenly across the fins. This will allow for more direct transfer of heat to the fins and quickly removed by the fan. The other end of the pipes, they are sandwiched between layers of the F.P.S.

Looking from the side, Scythe made the pipes take abrupt bends to help with any capacitor clearance issues. The fins are set high enough to not cause issues with caps, but may come in to play with memory spreaders or Northbridge coolers.

Typically with a heat pipe cooler, the ends of the pipes are exposed through the top fin. This is not the case. Just like those on the Mugen2, there are six bolt-like covers on these pipes.

Tucked between the pipes and under all the fins, we have a closer look at the F.P.S. While you can't see the base plate here, it takes the brunt of the heat. The top half is made from the same solid piece of nickel plated aluminium; this pre-cooler can remove some of the load before the heat pipes even get a chance to remove it. On both sides you will find the two square openings. These are where the VTMS clips into place. I will show them a bit later.

Removing the fan and looking in from the top, the F.P.S. cooler gets a good forty percent or so of the fans air flow to aid in the fast removal early. What doesn't get removed there gets removed once the pipes take the heat through these forty-seven fins.

Scythe tops the Samurai ZZ with a SY9225SL 12M-P fan. This fan offers silence and low RPM at the low end, and when at load up to 2000RPM's of speed and almost 56 CFM of airflow. For such a small cooler, this should be plenty of fan power to get the job done.

You can tell by the reflection the surface is nearly a mirror finish. Just before applying the cooler to our T.E.C.C. I set a razor blade across it. The majority of the mid section is flat, but there are curvatures on all sides near the edges. For proposes of cooling, this base is much larger than the IHS on today's processors. The curves that are present are outside of that area.