X-bit labs

Roundup: Seven High-Performance Coolers for AMD and Intel Processors (page 11)

Category: Coolers

by Doors4ever

[ 04/26/2006 | 09:44 PM ]

The copper modification of the Scythe Katana has a higher fan speed at 2500rpm and features a speed controller.

The cooler is universal, i.e. it supports even the legacy Socket 370 and Socket platforms, and you can orient it in any way on the mainboard, but this flexibility comes at a cost. You are going to have some troubles installing this cooler.

The retentions are installed in the following snapshots for shooting convenience:

The base has excellent polishing quality:

Since the cooler design has remained the same, but the heatsink material has been replaced with a more efficient one, you can expect some performance growth. The Scythe Katana Cu didn’t disappoint me, overclocking the Intel Pentium 4 512 to 285MHz FSB and keeping the CPU temperature as low as 63°C. Like with the other coolers, the clock-gen frequency could be lifted to the same 270MHz on the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ platform, but none of the other coolers could keep the CPU temperature below 60°C while the Katana Cu kept it at 59°C!