Scythe Big Shuriken 3 CPU-Kühler for AMD and Intel CPU´s

Product Information

Compatibility of this cooler is more inclusive than a lot of others, where Intel is covered since LGA775 and continues through all of the sockets up till LGA2066.

The downside to such a small box is that, for all intents and purposes, there is no internal layer of protection. The aluminum fins to extend past the bracket with a bit of style to the trailing edges, and we can make out the base of the cooler under it all.In a proper installation, the offset of the cooler shift closer to the 8-pin connection, but due to the compact design that is not much of an issue.

Albeit, a much bigger name in Asia, they have been looking to push hard in the ‘West’ in recent years with designs that are honestly a lot better than you might expect. The wide-space heatsink jointed with 5 heatpipes can transfer and ventilate the heat effectively, and offset design for better compatibility to memory and components on the motherboard. That then leaves us with the Universal top brackets, which appear to not only support all Intel mounting but also appear to have holes for AMD if the orientation of the cooler needs to change to fit the motherboard.Construction of the fans are rock solid with zero flex in the housing and the vibration dampers are very easy to remove and re-apply as needed. Both offer consistent results, with one being a benchmarking application and the other a stability test.

Testing is carried out on BC1 Mini v2 (open testbench), using the following hardware, in 20°C ambient room temperature. Beyond that, we see the braided lead for the 4-pin PWM fan connection, and we also see the five heat pipes as they take different paths through the stack of fins, while also staying out of the way for mounting purposes. In spite of its reduced thickness, an average life-span of 100 000 hours is achieved thanks to the self-contained fluid dynamic bearing (FDB). Once the paste is applied, we can mount the Big Shuriken 3 by using a screwdriver and alternating between screws on the crossbar every few turns to apply pressure as evenly as possible until the heatsink is securely mounted. One thing we did find that is odd in the testing, is that usually, the PWM curve leaves very little meat on the bone.

Keep in mind; this should be turned around, and sadly, had it fit that way, it would have blocked our view of the silver heat sink with HERO painted on it. With increased cooling performance, quieter noise levels and greater compatibility, the Big Shuriken 3 is the ideal CPU cooler where space is at a premium. Thanks to its clever asymmetrical design, it also achieves maximum compatibility with mainboards and memory modules.