Fantastic cooler, fiddly to install but great instructions
by RichardI bought this based on using Scythe coolers way back in my Pentium D days (I recall it being the Katana?). Anyway, it was relatively cheap mid-range and performed well. Scythe came back on my radar to find a reasonably priced CPU cooler for my new AMD setup, that could perform on both mid and high end CPU's from the maker. This Mugen came up again and again. I went for the ARGB version as I wanted to do some proper RGB (a red theme for all-red maker - AMD Ryzen CPU and RX5700XT GPU). The packaging is great, everything (I mean EVERYTHING) you need is in there - although I use my own preferred CPU thermal paste, but there's nothing else required. The unit is BIG, but also well designed to have good RAM clearance although it's best to check the site for actual measurements. The installation with dual fans, RGB cables and a little controller box was pretty fiddly overall, although actually mounting the adaptors and the cooler was really easy, especially with the amazing screwdriver that became my staple go-to driver for anything in my PC case and build. The hiding of the cabling took ages, which was a downside but worth it in the end because even now I'm still super proud of the aesthetics. In terms of performance, it's amazing. It's way way cooler than stock coolers, and given the size of the unit it's able to pretty much take the air input from the front fans straight into the fin array, and the rear fan will throw the air straight to the exhaust fan. I'll hit around 70-80º max on really intensive stuff (rendering typically) using all cores on a Ryzen 5 3600x maxed out, in part thanks to the dual PWM fans and also my case setup with 140mm case fans keeping the air moving swiftly. I've nothing to complain about, but I wish ARGB was a lot easier to deal with in terms of all the fiddly cabling. If/When I get round to upgrading the CPU, this cooler will remain part of my rig for a long time.