Viewing page 2 of 4 pages.
Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
PHYSICAL DETAILS
|
HIGHLIGHTS of the SCYTHE KAMAKIRI
|
| Feature & Brief |
Comment |
|
Advanced Midship Wave Stacked Fin Structure
|
A fancy name for having the fan in the middle. Designed to take advantaged
of both intake and exhaust airflow.
|
|
Wave Stacked Fin
|
"Wave":
Jagged edges. "Stacked": Many fins on top of each other. |
|
Super Quiet to High Performance Fan
|
Manually
adjustable fan with an impressive 1300~4600 RPM range. |
|
Heatpipe Technology
|
Quickly becoming
a standard feature of high-end heatsinks. |
| Easy Installation
by RCCM3 |
RCCM3 apparently
stands for Rigid Core Clamping Mechanism 3. More mundanely put: A universal
mounting bracket. |
The Kamakiri is a hybrid of an ordinary aluminum heatsink and a heatpipe-based
tower design.
The fan is sandwiched between two separate towers of aluminum fins.
The shroud directs airflow and holds everything in place.
The fan takes its power off a standard Molex connector, while the standard
header has only a single wire to monitor RPM.
In common with several other Scythe heatsinks, the Kamakiri features a fan
controller with an impressive range. The fan is identical to that in the
FCS-50, and is rated for 0.55A. Because of the potentially high power
draw, it takes its power directly from the power supply rather than the motherboard
header. A standard header with an RPM sensor wire is also included.
In combination with the shroud, the unusual location of the fan
ensures that as much of the fan's airflow as possible is blown across the individual
fins. There is no wasted airflow; the air must move across the heated fins as
it is sucked into the fan, and it cannot exit shroud without cooling the fins
in front of the air path.
The fins are contoured to allow ~3mm of clearance for the fan
blades. This is good for cooling, as the close proximity of between the fan
blades and the fins will produce a fair amount of turbulence at higher speeds,
but it can be expected to produce a whoosh of air noise at higher
speeds. Turbulent airflow tends to be more effective for cooling than a smooth
current.
The fan is tightly wedged between the two towers and does not
have room to rattle around as it vibrates. Instead, the vibrations will be transmitted
to the heatsink (and eventually, the motherboard) itself. This is no different
from any other heatsink except that the fan is not directly screwed to the heatsink.
Aside from directing airflow, the shroud has the secondary purpose
of preventing the fan or the fins from slipping out of place. As seems to be
the standard for Heatpipe-based designs, the individual fins are press-fitted,
not soldered, and can be removed quite easily.
The fins are press-fitted to the heatpipes and can be easily removed.
As can be seen in the photo above, the edges of the fins are jagged.
This is Scythe's "wave fin structure". No technical information could
be found about this feature, but presumably it enlarges the surface area of
the fins which could lead to better cooling. It is also possible that the rough
edges create turbulence as the air leaves the fins, which could also improve
cooling ability. Of course, this is all speculation, but we would like to assume
that the wave fins are more than just a marketing gimmick.
| Help support this site, buy from one of our affiliate retailers! |
|
