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The Name Says It All: Kamakaze From Scythe, Continued

The cooler profile of the Kamakaze

The speed of the Kamakaze's 80 mm fan is controlled by a potentiometer. The manufacturer has pre-installed the potentiometer on a slot bracket. Unfortunately, Scythe does not provide an alternative mounting in the form of a cover for the 3.5" slot. The fan is located on a sort of reducible slot. This ensures that the various flow areas of fan and cooling unit are balanced. Additionally, it is meant to ensure better flow to the heat sink. The base plate of the heat sink is 12mm thick and made of aluminum. To ensure speedy heat distribution, the platform has a copper inlay. The actual cooler surface consists of 400 aluminum pins with elliptical cross-sections that are inserted into the base plate.

The underside of the Kamakaze is very smooth, but not polished. With regard to workmanship, the cooler made a good impression, although the labels on the slot bracket looked tacky.

At a minimum fan speed of 1580 rpm, the Kamakaze may be very quiet with 41.2 dB(A) and a background noise level of 34dB(A). But the cooling capacity, with a thermal resistance of 0.68°C/W, is nothing to write home about.

If you turn on the fan at full speed at 3650 rpm, Scythe's offering still only reaches a thermal resistance of 0.46°C/W, with a noise level of about 58dB(A) and a background noise level of 34dB(A). These performance data put Kamakaze clearly among the Al-Cu-CPU coolers. We did not want to gloss over a disadvantage of the Kamakaze: A good 650 grams weigh on the socket's tabs.