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RBMODS REVIEWS |
Date 2004-01-10
Provider: Quietpc
Author: Murdoc
Editor: Princess Ammie
Scythe Kamakaze CPU Cooler
Every overclocker wants a cool processor, we don’t want to have a hot processor as this means less overclock, although the cost of this is a noisy computer? Not necessarily so. I have been running a volcano 7+ with a 80mm delta ‘screamer’ fan, its called the ‘screamer’ for one reason the ridiculous noise that it makes! I have to confess that the fan is only ever at full speed when overclocked and under load, but still the noise when the fan is at half speed can be irritating. Water cooling I hear you cry, nice and quiet but to get the equivalent cooling I need to spend around £100.
There is another option the growing breed of ‘quiet’ cpu coolers. Lately more and more quiet coolers have been coming onto the market, even some passive but unfortunately they are no good for more than browsing let alone overclocking and nice low temperatures. Today we are going to be looking at a quiet cooler from ‘Scythe’ called the kamikaze.
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Specifications:
Model Name: KAMAKAZE
Manufacturer: Scythe Co., Ltd., Japan
Compatibility: Intel Pentium 4 (socket 478) up to 3.2GHz
AMD Athlon XP (socket A) up to 3400+
Fan Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 25mm
Heatsink Dimensions: 70 x 70 x 57mm
Combined Dimensions: 90 x 85 x 90mm
Fan Speed: 1300~3400rpm (with rheostat)
Air Flow: 13.6CFM @ 1300rpm ~ 34CFM @ 3400rpm
Fan Noise Level: 16dBA @ 1300rpm (lowest); 37dBA @ 3400rpm (highest)
Weight: 690g (1.44lb)
The product:
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The cooler arrived from quietpc in a brown box, I opened it up to find great packing and a black box with a few pictures and a lot of Japanese writing, no prizes for guessing the country of origin. I opened the small black box to reveal a tightly packed cooler. On first impressions it looks quite a beast its tall and has a large 80mm fan on top. The cooler comes with a speed controller in the form of a variable resistor that is mounted on a PCI backing plate, this can be quite easily screwed an available PCI slot cover, so the speed can be adjusted from the back of the pc easily. Included with the cooler is a P4 mounting kit, but as stock it comes with the scythe ‘Rigid core claming mechanism’ or R.C.C.A. for short, this looks like a very interesting idea but I will have to see how it works in practice later on.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The power connections used are not the standard 3 pin plug that connects to the motherboard, the power for the fan comes from a Molex connector, this is to ensure that the fan doesn’t pull more amps than the motherboard can supply safely and cause damage, I’m not sure this is necessary as the fan runs slow and therefore has a low current rating. The yellow ‘speed sense’ wire still connects to the motherboard on the fan header this is so the computer know the fans rpm, as some computers will not boot without this information as a safety feature. All these wires can cause the installation and the look of the cooler to be a bit messy but with some braiding/cable ties this can be solved quite easily.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The cooler comes with a think plastic sheet on the bottom, this is to protect the surface of the cooler prom any nocks and scratches. I peeled off the sticker and applied some rubbing alcohol to the base to remove any stick residue. The base of the cooler looked a little rough and with a bit of ‘lapping’ the heat efficiency could be increased. The base of the cooler is copper and the pins are aluminium, the copper draws the head off the processor quickly and the aluminium provides a large surface area in the form of the 490 pins for the heat to dissipate in the air. (Thermal paste is shown applied to the cooler in the seconds picture below.)
Installation and Testing
 
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When it came to installing this cooler I didn’t use the thermal compound provided with the cooler but instead opted for ‘Artic Silver 3’ as this is a very high performing thermal compound. I applied a thin spread of AS3 to the bottom of the cooler and cleaner the core of my processor, I followed the instructions supplied to try to install the cooler. Basically you place the cooler the correct way onto the processor and align the metal brackets over the 3 plastic lugs on each side of the motherboard, and tighten the screws on either side of the cooler equally, this sounds easy in theory but turned out to be quite troublesome. I had trouble aligning the metal brackets with the plastic lugs, but this was cured by removing my power supply to give me more room. Another problem which I found quite serious is that you don’t get a ‘feel’ for how tight you have screwed to cooler to the processor, if the tension on the processor is too great it will crack most certainly breaking the processor. The instructions state “Turn the screws on both sides evenly, in clock wise to fasten the heat sink. Gradually tighten the screws until you feel the bar reach the top. Do not over tighten them, it will damage the screws and the screw heads.” Personally I don’t think that tightening the screws till they reach the top is a good idea. This is the downfall of this type of mounting the concept is great, no slipping screw drivers but its difficult to tell when the screws are tight enough.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
I will be using a XP2400+ thorton to conduct the test, room temperature is a constant 24.0°C ±0.5°C.
The first boot I turned the fan up full speed, all the usual rubbish loaded and I check the temperature 35°C which is an excellent temperature especially for the low level of noise this means the change in temperature or (delta) temperature is an amazing 12°C. I then turned the fan all the way down to its lowest speed, the noise no longer can be heard from the fan, now the main noise is the graphics card and PSU in my computer, excellent the temperature at this speed reads as 43°C. Under load with the fan at full speed the temperature of the processor is 45°C which is an excellent temperature and on low speed the temperature is a very respectable 55°C, to get my load readings I ran SANDRA cpu benchmarks 20 times. I was totally astonished at the temperature for such a quiet heatsink. The results can be seen below.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
Conclusion
This heatsink is excellent and its only flaw is the mounting system, although effective it has the possibility to be dangerous.
Pros:
+ Quiet
+ Excellent Cooling
+ Variable speed
Cons:
- Mounting system
Red&Blackness gives it 5 out of 5 dots
Was anything left out?! - Discuss this in our forums
Thank you Quietpc for making this review possible
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