Scythe has put some research and effort into this aspect of the Samurai; the Kamakaze had already some pretty solid ideas which are perfected this time around. In order to install this heatsink you only need to remove your motherboard if you have an Athlon 64 setup and even then it still is very easy to install.



The bracket on the right is used for the AMD platforms; the one the left is used for the P4. Installation is all straight forward, as an example we´ll take the Socket 478:



After putting the clips over the default plastic retention bracket it is simple a matter of “dropping” the heatsink in the center and screwing it tight with the 2 small screws provided



You turn them all the way down until you feel metal hitting metal, at this point optimal pressure is provided on the CPU core, trying to turn any further is impossible and will only damage the screws.



With the HSF installed you can clearly see that you will no problem fitting it on any motherboard.

I do have to mention though that I had some issues installing this heatsink on one motherboard I had lying around. The problem maker was an Asus P4C800, I couldn’t get the heatsink to make sufficient contact with the CPU, and this caused very high temperatures when the system was stressed, to a point that the CPU began throttling or shut down completely. I had no issues however on an Abit IS7 (I865), Chaintech 9PJL2 (I865), Abit IC7 (I875) or Chaintech 9CJS (I875). If there’s someone reading this with an Asus P4C800 and lives in Belgium, please contact me, as I would like to further investigate this issue.

Onto the test results!