CPU Cooler Final Thoughts

By now it should be clear that Scythe’s claims were more than correct. The Scythe Mugen Max passed all of our tests with flying colors. It is stylish, simple to install, and it out-performs any other cooler in part 2 of our second test. If there is something bad that could be said about this cooler is the lack of a second fan for the price, after all this is not a cheap product, otherwise Scythe’s long experience in the heatsink market is clearly shown in every detail from the Scythe Ashura and the Mugen Max, both gaining the lead over any other heatsink in our 2015 heatsink performance numbers.

Scythe Mugen Max Ultimate Conclusion

The performance of the Scythe Mugen Max is only disappointing when compared to it’s smaller brother the Ashura. Otherwise it gains the lead over most coolers in all of our tests. Using the included fans and TIM it managed to stay in the bottom left of the table with the most quiet and best performing coolers of test 1. In test 2 the Scythe Mugen Max was tied  along it’s smaller brother the Scythe Ashura as the coolers to beat. Overall the Scythe Mugen Max manages to keep our overclocked core i5-4670k under control.

Beauty is subjective, but making a bold design that gets your point across is not. Scythe is not aiming for one or the other but they do try to make all of their products elegant. The Mugen Max does not look fancy, but rather practical. The only detail shown to it’s overall design is the Scythe logo at the top, otherwise it is just a shiny, bright piece of machinery ready to cool any modern processor.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to test the reliability of most of the products we review. However, the Scythe Ashura shows some very positive signs when it comes to it’s overall construction. The mounting mechanism is sturdy and showed no signs of flex. The fins on the heatsink were not easily bent, and are protected by an aluminum shroud at the top. There were also no flaws on the base plate of our sample, which should result in better performance. .

Scythe was clever enough to give the Mugen Max a very thoughtful layout. There are no ram clearance issues, which can be attributed to the cooler being offset backwards, although if your motherboard has very tall heat spreaders you might want to consider choosing a water cooler. Installation is not as hard as with some of the coolers we have seen this year. Considering how big the Mugen Max is, it is quite easy to install compared to other behemoths like Cryorig R1.

Our last score pertains to the value of the product at hand. The Scythe Mugen Max is priced online for $69.99 (Amazon) at the time of this review which is above average for a performance air cooler. This is a premium over the already cheaper Scythe Ashura, but it is still a great cooler which beats most of the competition on a performance per price ratio. If Scythe would have included a second fan, the price would definitely be justifiable.

Pros:

+ Extreme performance for the money.
+ Simple design.
+ 2-Year warranty.
+ Smart design with no ram clearance issues.

Cons:

– Only one fan is included.

Ratings:

• Performance: 9.75
• Appearance: 8.75
• Construction: 9.50
• Functionality: 9.00
• Value: 8.0

Final Score: 9.00 out of 10.