Conclusion

The Scythe Katana Cu takes the second place. It is not much worse than the leader and its highest efficiency is beyond any doubt. Also important is that it is a very universal cooler – it supports all modern processors and even a couple of legacy platforms. The fasteners allow orienting the cooler in any direction depending on the orientation of the CPU socket on the mainboard. Unfortunately, this advantage is somewhat spoiled by the not very easy installation procedure.

The Spire VertiCool II leaves an ambiguous impression. Its efficiency is beyond doubt as confirmed by its third place among the CPU overclocking results. Unfortunately, this cooler can only be recommended for Intel processors – and it comes with the appropriate fastener preinstalled. Its compatibility with AMD’s processors is deficient – it’s hard to replace the fastener and to install the cooler. Well, I don’t think it’s a big problem for the manufacturer to improve the fasteners after all.

So these are the top three, but it doesn’t mean the others are downright bad. Take the Scythe Katana 775, for example. It is a simplified version of the ordinary Scythe Katana, but with some improvements. The universal fastening system had given cause to complaints so they just produced a specialized LGA775 cooler since such processors are very popular today. The cooler’s efficiency is the same, but the installation goes much easier and the cooler is cheaper, too.

The Cooler Master Susurro is the quietest among the tested coolers all of which are rather quiet by themselves. It won’t suit for overclockers, but is an ideal solution for entry-level or midrange computers due to its small size. If Cooler Master finds a way to place the thermal sensor closer to the processor core, the cooler will become even more valuable.

The Scythe Samurai Z deserves a special word. I’d compare the Japan-headquartered Scythe to the Korea-based Zalman. Both the companies are worthy of respect as they are constantly experimenting and finding their own way rather than copying others’ solutions. And here, the innovative VTMS fastening system from Scythe is a very, very interesting solution. This system may look well on a super-cooler like Scythe Ninja, and such a model does exist! It is called Scythe Mine and uses a traditional tower-like design. The fan is in the center of the cooler and you can use any fan with a thickness of 25mm and a diameter of 60mm to 140mm! We have already received this model, so very soon you will be able to read more about it on our site.

All in all, I cannot praise only two outsiders, Spire DiamondCool II and Cooler Master Hyper L3.

Summarizing the results of this test session I can say that modern midrange coolers are not so far behind the so-called super-coolers even though there is a definite difference between these two categories. However, you can prefer an ordinary cooler like the ones you’ve just seen in this review without fear of a catastrophic performance hit. It’s hard to name an obviously best model among them because there’s a lot of things to see to as you’re choosing your cooler like noise parameters, ease of installation, availability, and price, which may vary a lot in different regions. So, just check with your local shop and see what they can offer you.