Acoustic Performance

The results of our acoustic tests for two top-coolers in the entire supported rotation speed range of their default fans are given on the diagram below:

Click to enlarge

The quietest one was the frameless 38 mm fan of the XILENCE Black Hawk Copper. Up until 850 RPM the 140 mm fan of the Scythe Grand Kama Cross can compete against it quite successfully, but we can still hear a slight crackling of the motor, which the fan of the Black Hawk cooler doesn’t have. Moreover, Scythe fan features very unstable acoustics, when the change in the fan rotation speed would either have no effect on the noise level at all or would cause it to increase immediately, which you could hear even without any noise measuring devices involved.

Conclusion

Scythe Grand Kama Cross is a very efficient cooling solution that will definitely be of interest to computer enthusiasts and overclocking fans. Two independent heatsink arrays and a 140 mm fan allow the aluminum Grand Kama Cross to compete successfully against the today’s best top-cooler – XILENCE Black Hawk Copper, which is made of solid copper and costs twice as much.

As for the drawbacks about Scythe Grand Kama Cross, we could mention not the best retention solution for LGA775/1156/1366 platforms and a fan with non-linear dependence of the noise level on the fan rotation speed, which could, however, be peculiar only for our particular cooler sample.

Anyway, we are really excited about the upcoming new Scythe cooling solutions and look forward to checking them out this year!