Scythe Musashi Dual Fan GPU Cooler


POSTCRIPT added Nov 29, 2009 on page 8:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article979-page8.html (results with HD 4890 + stock cooling plate)

Hmm... why didn't you try the stock cooling plate? It would've fit, at least with the Accelero and it would cool the VRM a lot better.


Now what we really need is better coolers for the HD 5850/5870 series!

Worrying thing is that looking at the various shots of the 5870 cooler around the web, the trick of leaving the back-plate in place whilst using a 3rd-party cooler won't work without some serious Dremelling.

I had the same issue with HD4890. Cooling VRMs is very difficult. But i found a temporarily solution. I mounted bottom red part of stock cooler on the card (it's covering only VRM and memory, and mounted Musashi on GPU. VRM now stays under 100 degrees (fans on 7V). I recommend it for HD4870/HD4890 users.

I assume this won't fit a Solo?

9.84"

A tight fit perhaps.


Oh, if they only made the Solo 1,5" deeper... we would be able to fit the longer cards, but alas, their short sightedness doomed us all!

Totally agree. It is the best way (safest in term of cooling) to use Accelero S1/Musahi with ATI's cooling plate. I done in the same way. Eveyrthing fits nicely.

In 2D/idle mode my HD4870 with Scythe Musashi and ATI cooling plate is not hotter than 40-46 C (GPU).

Some more photos are in my so called blog: nismoandpc.blogspot. com

Do we know for sure it doesn't work with the 58xx series? They may not have been announced when the compatibility list was created.

Even if the more relevant information here is how far you can push the graphics card without crashing it in the pursuit of silence, this review begs the following question in the name of general information: what are VRM temperatures with the stock solution? I'd love to know what AMD thinks are acceptable VRM temperatures for the masses.

As previously mentioned, keeping the stock red plate on takes care of any VRM temp issues.
I really didn't like the sound of the Musashi stock fans though, so replaced them with two 92mm Gentle Typhoon. Took a bit of fiddling with fish line to get the fans snug and some trial-and-error to get two temp sensors for my t-balancer in place on the contraption but considering the end result I'm extremely happy.

From the look of it, the VRM-Heatsinks are not custom parts for the Musahi, but simply these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... the%20Vram
Useful, but not quite wht I would stick on a 4870

I trimmed the top off a Zalman ZM-RHS90 about a month and a half ago to take care of the vrm issue. Here's a pic

Powerful video cards are definitely the hardest problem for currently quietening computers, with the very hot VRMs that are difficult to cool and the coil whine issues as well.
This Scythe looks like a nice product with potential, as long as better than supplied VRM cooling is used with high end cards.
At least there is somewhere that still needs work, mod’ing and ingenuity and not just easy single off-the-shelf solution
It’s another high performance GPU cooler that does not support the GTX260/275/280/285 series, wonder what the reason is?
Still I’m cooking up my own solution for GXT260 that can’t over hang the width by much or the length at all or it won’t fit. Going OK so far, just need to get it in to my main rig to see if it will work really quietly.
Small pic
Big Pic (1.4MB)
All gets pretty hot, VRM temps not directly reported by PCB temps seam OK, ~70°C GPU, ~60°C PCB. Been folding for over week in test PC so far so good so hopeful.
Regards, Seb

Oh man, looks like that card lost a fight with a dremel!

Hi, all the copper parts are after-market Northbridge, RAM and VRM heatsinks. It wasn't a dremel it lost fight with, it was an air grinder, very much like this one.
(Obviously I cut them down before sticking them to the card....)
Seb

It looks like there is a little bit of room left on the HS with the two 100mm fans on it. Is it possible to get two 120mms on it?

Of all the people that suggested using the original plate for VRMs, etc., does anyone have any before/after temps? Or even reference cooling temps?

I'm currently using the heatsinks that came with the S1 and a 120mm S-Flex running around 1200rpm, stock settings except for mem underclocked to 600 (from 900, with no noticeable loss of framerate at the res i play at). My max temps in Far Cry 2 gameplay are: 47°C Core, 48°C DispIO, 78°C MemIO, 54°C ShaderCore, 72°C VDDC 1, 74°C VDDC 2, 72°C VDDC 3 in GPU-z. I'm ok with the temps, but don't like running the fan at top speed and underclocking mem (I'll eventually need the extra speed for more pressing games than I play now). Would the stock plate be an improvement over my setup?

It fits, see here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/vi ... 783#447783

Sorry I can't give you any reference temps, but I can tell you that it will make a H-U-G-E improvement. With the original plate in place you will very likely be able to run the S-Flex at minimum speed with the mem clock back at original. Of maybe even fanless depending on the airflow in your box.

It's an absolute crime of the S1 makers not to inform about this...

It'll depend alot on fan settings of course, but as comparison my card peaks at ~105°C for the VRMs and 65°C for core when running Furmark, with more aggressive fan speeds the VRMs would certainly stay under 100°C. In more real-world tasks like gaming the core rarely goes over 60°C and the highest I've ever pushed the VRMs is 87°C.
With the stock cooler Furmark would quickly push the VRMs over 125°C and core well over 90°C where I got too anxious to keep it going. In gaming core would regularly peak over 80°C and the VRMs stay in the 100-110°C range.

Is CPU-Z the gold standard for measuring VRM temps on graphics cards under Windows XP?

You must mean GPU-Z. Not sure that I'd call it the gold standard; any monitoring utility simply accesses the sensor output feeds... tho I agree that GPU-Z is very well set up.

Ugh, Scythe is using the same ugly lug nuts that they have on the Ninja. Are these nuts necessary? Do they improve heat transfer in any way or are they just decorative?

Them crazy chaps sure like them nuts eh?

I have used two of these Musashi's with two HD4850's and they worked flawlessly in a Cf setup. so i disagree with the statement this ain't a two slot solution. It is so, it's just a matter of which motherboard you have.
Aldo the space between the fans and the second card was tight, temps were fine.

futhermore the temps are great, despite the "loose" feeling you have since you can "wiggle" the block a little bit. My guess is they done this on purpose, so noone can crush their gpu-core. It doesn't seem to hurt cooling performance (my HD4850's never went hotter then around 56c (both!)).

This Scythe cooler, which comes with 2 quiet fans, 1 fan controller, and lots of VRM heatsinks, looks like a more refined, better bundle version of the venerable AC S1. It's a pity that both of them don't support GT200 series and 5870.

It's torturing for end-users and 3rd cooler makers that VGA cards tend to change their mounting holes/mechanisms drastically in a short period of time.
As usual, SPCR's excellent review deserves the due kudos.

the dremeling is quite worth it.

with after coolers dominating already without a fan, I wonder what they are targetting making them with fans? maybe backlates could be universaled somehow, to cutback on modifying.

Hi guys, it might be a little late, but we retested everything using a HD 4890 and the stock cooling plate. This will be our test setup from now on for GPU coolers.

See the postcript on page 8:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article979-page8.html

Cheers.

I see it's compatible with the HD 5850 (which still has the cooling plate). I might just buy it instead of waiting for ATI to fix the Powerplay issues (card doesn't downclock properly with dual monitors, thus higher fan speed).

How hard is it to mount the Musashi? VS an Accelero S1 (the plastic L things were always an hassle). I'm just lazy now

I realize I'm a bit late with my reply, but someone still might be interested in this.

Temperatures measured in GPU-Z.

First try.
Card: HIS HD5850
GPUcooler: Musashi
VRM cooler: Heatsinks included with the Musashi

Idle:
GPU temp 46
VDDC #1 50
VDDC #2 48
VDDC #3 50

Furmark:
GPU temp 65
VDDC #1 102
VDDC #2 103
VDDC #3 95

Second try.
Card: HIS HD5850
GPUcooler: Musashi
VRM cooler: Stock heatsink (slight modified to fit with the Musashi)

Idle:
GPU temp 38
VDDC #1 42
VDDC #2 41
VDDC #3 41

In Furmark:
GPU temp 57
VDDC #1 69
VDDC #2 69
VDDC #3 66

This is not all credit for the Stock VRM heatsink. At the same time I switched heatsink I also installed an extra exhaustfan in my chassie (Fractal Design Define R2). So the improvement in GPU temp should probably be neglected.

Still a huge improvement of the VRM temps.

If you know Swedish (or just like to look at some pictures) you can read more here:
http:// www. sweclockers. com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=9815257#post9815257
(sry, had to chop up the link)