Scythe Katana CU
Supplied by: Scythe

This compact heatsink from Scythe my colleague Piotke reviewed in September 2005, today I have the supercharged version, CU: fully Copper. Two U-form heat pipes joined at the base with the heatsink supporting a 92mm and the whole tower unit tilting a bit one way.

It’s about €/$5-10 more expensive than the vanilla version. In Europe: €25, in US: $35.



Specifications :

Compatibility:

AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Intel: Socket 370/478/775

Fan included: 92mm x 92mm x 25mm
(2500rpm / 50CFM)

Heatsink+Fan Dimensions: L96xW96xH138mm
Weight: 590gr

In the Box :

Instruction manual

Tube of thermal paste

PCI mounting bracket for fan speed control

a whole collection of mounting gear

Construction :

The unit is identical to its AlCu brother design wise, the base is very smooth (if you look closely at the photo you can almost make out the icons on my desktop) and the overall finishing is excellent.



Installation :

Installation of the Katana is quite cumbersome compared to the other heatsinks in this roundup, first of, motherboard removal is required, than you need to prepare the heatsink by screwing an extra mounting plate on the base, depending on how you mount this plate you can change the mounting direction. The heat pipes should not point downwards; the optimal direction is when they are pointing upwards:





Depending on the orientation you can use a screwdriver (quick) or the small wrench (slow). I installed the Katana in both directions.



Performance and Noise :

In my test setup the power supply does not feature any fans; other power supply might have an extra fan in the bottom to help remove hot air. With the Katana pointing upwards the performance is noticeable worse:



In all the following tests I’ve positioned the Katana towards the rear.



The included fan has a poor performance/noise ratio at full speed when compared to the Delta 92mm fan, but at low speeds it gives better results than the Delta fan. At Full speed it’s hardly quieter than the AMD heatpipe cooling but 5°C cooler. At Low fan speed it’s still cooler than the AMD heatpiped heatsink but noise level is only 35dBA!

For the overclocking tests I’ve thrown the Artic Cooling Freezer Pro into the mix:



Wow! The smaller Katana CU performs exactly the same as the Freezer Pro when both have their stock fan @ 100% at the same noise level! At low fan speeds the Katana has a negligible lead in CPU temp over the Freezer Pro, but PWM temps are 11°C higher, at 70°C they are on to high side.

The Verdict:

The Katana CU thoroughly impressed me, for its compact size it produced stellar performance numbers, even with low CFM fans. Its cumbersome installation can almost be overlooked when you take the multi platform compatibility into account. The included fan offers a decent performance/noise ratio as long as you don’t run it at full speed, with the included fan speed controller you’ll have all the control you need. At full speed it’s only slightly quieter than the stock AMD heatpipe cooler, but at lower speeds it goes into the silent realm.

PRO
Excellent performance with medium/higher speed fans
Silent with stock fan at low speeds.
Multi platform compatible

CON
Motherboard removal required and cumbersome installation.

Where to buy?

Next up is the Scythe Mine ->