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Scythe Mugen Max SCMGD-1000 Heatsink Review
Scythe Mugen Max SCMGD-1000 Heatsink Review
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Abstract: Scythe's Mugen Max heatsink weighs 870grams and stands 166mm tall. The heatsink is constructed around six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes which are soldered to a 2mm thick nickel plated copper base plate. The heatpipes are swaged into a 113x145x84mm aluminum fin stack which is roughly broken up into four nearly-separate cooling towers.

 Manufacturer  Category  Published  Author 
Scythe   Cooling / Heatsinks   Apr 20, 2015   Max Page  

Home > Reviews > Page: 360° View - Scythe Mugen Max Heatsink

360° View - Scythe Mugen Max Heatsink


Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.

Scythe's Mugen Max heatsink stands 166mm tall and ships with a 140mm "Glidestream" fan that draws power from a standard 4-pin PWM fan header. The six, 6mm diameter heatpipes are spaced roughly 30mm apart as they pass through the 104mm tall aluminum fin stack. The cooling fins are essentially separated into four 31.5mm wide towers. Each aluminum fin measures 0.4mm thick and is spaced ~2.75mm apart. The bottom-most fin is elevated 42mm above the socket for good motherboard component clearance.

Wire fan clips without thumb tabs are used to mount the fan. The six heat pipes are soldered to a thin nickel plated copper base plate and to the aluminum cap. The heatpipes are swaged into the aluminum fins for a good thermal joint. Note that the base of the Mugen Max heatsink is not centered, but rather positioned towards the leading fin edge.

The leading and trailing edge of each aluminum fin has a serrated profile to reduce the towers' airflow resistance. The nickel plated copper base of the Scythe Mugen Max heatsink measures 42.5 x 38mm in size and 2mm thick. The aluminum base support on top of the heatpipes is 12mm thick. The top of the Mugen Max is covered by a shiny aluminum fan shroud, which gives it a nice minimalist profile.

Base Finish and Flatness

Flipping a heatsink over to inspect the business end is often a simple indicator of overall cooler quality. More practically speaking, a heatsink is in many ways only as effective as the contact it makes with the processor - the flatter and smoother the better. Base finish is one of the criteria that Frostytech measure in the course of evaluating heatsinks, and it involves two distinct aspects. Surface Finish is the first; this is calculated with the aid of Surface Roughness Comparator that has a cross section of common machine surface finishes and their numerical surface roughness equivalents in microinches. The second is Surface Flatness. This is tested with an engineer's straight edge or proven flat surface, in two axes.

The base of Scythe's Mugen Max heatsink consists of a 2mm thick sheet of nickel plated copper soldered onto the six semi-flattened heatpipes. The copper looks to have been punched from sheet stock, before being plated. The surface finish is very smooth, surface roughness at or better than ~8 microinches. When compared to an engineer's straight edge however, the Mugen Max base is convex in both axes.

Here's a shot of the base of the Mugen Max heatsink after it was tested on one of Frostytech's synthetic thermal test platforms. Two things are remarkable about this; although only a small area made good contact with the flat copper interface die and nearly half the heatsink base was effectively out of contact (as evidenced by the undisturbed thermal compound), the base plate is well soldered to the heatpipes and acted as it was designed, spreading heat laterally. It's not ideal, but given how little of the heatsink was in contact with the heat source, the thermal performance it did achieve is kind of impressive.

Sound level measurements are coming up next on Frostytech...

 Previous Page ° ° Next Page 

Table of Contents:

 1:  Scythe Mugen Max SCMGD-1000 Heatsink Review
 2: — 360° View - Scythe Mugen Max Heatsink
 3:  Sound Level Measurements: Which Heatsink is Quietest?
 4:  AMD Heatsink Temperature Comparisons
 5:  Intel LGA115x/775 Heatsink Temperature Comparisons
 6:  Intel LGA2011 Heatsink Temperature Comparisons

List all Scythe heat sinks that Frostytech tested?

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