Hardware Scythe Zipang

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...cythe-zipang/1

Today we look at the Scythe Zipang, a behemoth of a heatsink packing no less than six copper heatpipes, a 139mm fan and dozens of aluminium cooling fins. It certainly looks the business, but can the Zipang deliver where it matters in the bit-tech test rig? We find out.

[HourBeforeDawn]

Im using the Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler for my HTPC and I must I have been really impressed with that cooler, I had some high hopes for this one but I see that Im still better off sticking with my Noctua heatsink. ^^

[Paradigm Shifter]

Hm. Other reviews I've read of this haven't been quite so negative toward it, but it's good to see another review anyway. Was thinking about this as a quiet heatsink, but if it performs that badly, I'll just stick with the mini-Ninja I'm using at the minute.

[Meanmotion]

Sometimes there's nothing better than reviewing an absolute turd. It realigns your whole perspective and makes for a fun read!

[mrb_no1]

Tip for fitting scythe heatsinks as most are the same anyways, rather than fingers, use a small flat headed screwdriver to hook the second 'clip' on the cpu mounting bracket. Using a tool makes it a 10 second job.

And i didnt read the whole review, but i read the mini rant on its orientation, from experience, you can have it any way you like, avoiding ram modules and so on so if the heatsink is offset.

Either with some excuses, that is shocking performance. I would say that scythe had fallen off of the bandwagon, but a mate just went quad core and i told him to not get my cooler, or a scythe for that matter, turns out he did anyway but the new scythe(revisions on the ninja style of heatsink) and it works really well, i got the pc and we clocked it to 3.3ghz, if i remember correctly it doenst venture over 55C as a quad core at 3.3ghz thats quite impressive if you ask me so scythe do still have competitive products out there.

peace

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Paradigm Shifter

Hm. Other reviews I've read of this haven't been quite so negative toward it, but it's good to see another review anyway. Was thinking about this as a quiet heatsink, but if it performs that badly, I'll just stick with the mini-Ninja I'm using at the minute.

Other reviews rarely compare a cooler to as many as we do. It's not that it doesn't work, it just delivers very poor cooling for a very high price.

Scythe seem to have built up this fantastic reputation for high end coolers that, from our experience, is wholly undeserved. You can find much better performance elsewhere at literally half the cost!

[[USRF]Obiwan]

A terrible waste of valuable resources, literately!

Makes you wonder if manufacturers of cooling products actually read reviews of cooler comparisons and test their own products against it. Or do they just 'cad' a cooler and make it without thinking about the performance and sell it as is.

If i was one of them, I will do anything in my power to beat the best bunch of coolers on the market.

For anyone who thinks size does matter, well here is the proof that "size does not matter"

[Aardie]

I replaced a Stock AMD Phenom Heatsink with this in a Antec 2480 Case and it dropped my temps 10 degrees so I for one am quite happy with the heatsink. Further I have replaced the Fan for a 140mm Sharkoon and its dropped the temps a further 2-3 degrees. Wonder if its something to do with it being in a Tower Case ??

[crompers]

looks like the akasa 966 for me or an ACF7P, scythe have defo gone downhill, and the amount you're expected to pay for the privilege?!

[Paradigm Shifter]

Originally Posted by Baz

Other reviews rarely compare a cooler to as many as we do. It's not that it doesn't work, it just delivers very poor cooling for a very high price.

That is certainly true - the effort you guys go to when reviewing something puts a fair share of the other review sites to shame. Although really when it comes to aftermarket coolers, I'm concerned about performance improvement over stock cooling, noise and performance compared to the 'acknowledged cooling king (currently)'... which would be the TRUE120.

Pushpins are a horror, though - I wonder if cooling would improve if the mounting system wasn't so utterly pants.

Originally Posted by Baz

Scythe seem to have built up this fantastic reputation for high end coolers that, from our experience, is wholly undeserved. You can find much better performance elsewhere at literally half the cost!

Scythe were awesome with the Ninja and the Mugen. Since then, I agree, they're not maintaining their name.

[Tim S]

The Infiniti is/was awesome!

[robaal]

Re: Tower vs Top-down heatsinks.

Xbitlabs often shows that having vent holes in the case side panel next to the CPU socket can make top-down coolers very competetive. Also: didn't you guys use to measure MOSFET temperature as well? Providing airflow for VRM and the passively cooled north bridge seems to me like a good reason to use a top-down cooler.

[Baz]

We test using our test case, no exceptions. it'd hardly be fair to use a different case just because the cooler design was different.

In regards to the MOSFET and NB temps, we decided to stop recording these temps due to time and accuracy constraints. We already test the cooler's three times including three re-fits. Adding two more points to pull thermal results from would mean it'd take me even longer to test a cooler. There's also the case of accuracy and temperature probe replacement.

The test case's airflow is more than sufficient to keep these components cool, so we decided to focus more on the CPU and GPU core temps, where stability and overclocking headroom are more important.

[Das Capitolin]

Excellent review! From one writer/reviewer to another, I am very thankful that my opinion of Scythe products of late isn't one of solitude. It seems that they believe more material will exude more performance... but HDT technology has proven this untrue.
Cheers from Benchmark Reviews!

[robaal]

Originally Posted by Baz

We test using our test case, no exceptions. it'd hardly be fair to use a different case just because the cooler design was different.

Of course, after all you need to get results that can be compared to the previous ones. As you do include the Triton 85, it's even evident that Zipang most likely wouldn't be very good in favourable conditions.

I was refering more to:
"While [top-down] design is known for performing well on test benches out in the open air, once it’s put into a standard tower case the natural airflow moves against the cooler’s fins, not through them – this can mean significantly limited performance."
on page 2, than the results; seems to me like a lot of cases have side vents near the CPU these days (eg most Coolermasters)

The test case's airflow is more than sufficient to keep these components cool[...]

IMO any presently available case would still have problems with pockets of hot air around the socket if the heatsink is covering it (eg. Scythe Infinity); I believe this can reduce stability in the long term and I suspect that NB cooling can still impact how high an FSB the motherboard can achieve. This is likely more important on cheaper motherboads that use basic NB cooling/no VRM heatsinks.

And again - I'm not trying to bash your methodology - just pointing out that top-downs aren't totally useless and that their performance depends on what the "natural airflow" is in one's PC case.

[Cupboard]

I know that it would be unfair to test this in a different case, but I have to agree with robaal that if you were to test this in a case with a suitable vent you would probably see much better temperatures. You mentioned that it was scraping the side of the case, it was probably struggling to get air!

[tonschk]

Generally speaking I preffer tower CPU coolers with the fan blowing air toward the back of the case ,this Scythe cooler is not for me, I only like the 140mm fan , I hope some day Scythe will sell this fan separately

[jhanlon303]

Performance-PCs in the US has the 140mm fans separately.
John

[tonschk]

Originally Posted by jhanlon303

Performance-PCs in the US has the 140mm fans separately.
John

Thank you ,I was referring to the Scythe fan but with the square frame ,the Performance-PCs sell the Scythe Kaze Maru 140mm with a circular frame , thank you anyway

[icutebluezone]

Just to let you no there is a error on the 1st page of the review at the top.

Size (with fan): 1137mm(H) x 145mm(W) x 148mm(H) D

1137mm (H) ? thats one insane size cooler.