and for starters i will review the "Scythe Andy Samurai Master"
first of all, what a stupid name? ok, I have a scythe ninja, which sounds cool, and scythe infinity, so, a bit of a boring name but still "Scythe Samurai Master"
might have sounded ok but "andy" WTF? who is andy?
The box was extremely ugly and garish as well.
The reason i bought this was 2 fold, originally when i planned this system i was going to put my trusty scythe ninja on it, well it doesn't fit, its meant for the older intel lever mounted heatsink, rather then the new press twist thingy ones.
I had to get SOMETHING because i run folding @ home on my cpus when they are not being used, and the intel fan was extremely annoying.
System:
CPU: intel Xeon 3210 mildly overclocked to 2450 slightly faster than a stock Q6600
Motherboard: Supermicro C2SBE 4 PCI slot compatible with the new 45NM
when they come out
Video card: gigabyte passive geforce 8600GT, underclocked by about 25% its still super fast for 2d, and can do most 3d fine except for really intensive games.
RAM: some cheap OCZ DDR2 i got 4GB for $89 canadian
memtested
PSU: corsair VX450. i
HDD: seagate 7200.11 500GB 32Mib cache
Cards:
Pulsar 2: 7 DSP + RAM
Scope 15 DSP + RAM + I/O
Scope 14 DSP SRB
Instalation: Everything was going fine until the last intel push thingy. at the back behind the heatsink and between the psu. also the cable for the extra 4 pin motherboard power is right there as well. well i looked in there with a flashlight to make sure it was all lined up and pressed it down sideways with a screwdriver. MOST people will not have that same problem, i have the power supply about 8mm from the edge of the motherboard.
The way the annoying intel push thingys were attached was a simple as you can imagine, theres no way you could hurt yourself. the hardware for AMD did not look quite as friendly.
The lower part of the unit is quite small, there should not be as much trouble making it fit as some tower heatsinks
The base is VERY smooth. i have lapped my CPU and they "stuck" together without any thermal compound.
The fan blows down over the other parts in the PC, this is good for the chipset and if you use a passive video card, helps a bit there.
Performance: lets just say.. night and day. i am running folding @home on it right now, i walk in to the room and it does not sound like there is a PC in there.
with the intel it sounded similar to a hovercraft with all its air conditioning on driving over a waterfall while listening to an 8 track of ambient water and wind noises.
Even with the intel noisy fan on a not extremely hot CPU the load temperature was getting close to 65c well above my comfort zone.
Now its running 52 to 55 but i just put on the arctic silver, usually takes a couple of days to really get pressed down, can expect about 2c less. then after a few months when crap and dust gets in it..
thats my fault though!
Pros:
a bit smaller than most tower heatsinks
no garish blue LEDs or chrome
great performance
about $10 less than huge towers such as "infinity"
fan is quiet but effective
it might, depending on your setup help cool the rest of the system.
fit and finish are excellent
cons:
might be hard to install.
ugly box
performance is not the best of the best.
If it will fit your system, i would give it a
:D:D:D scope approval.
