Scythe Kama Cross
Scythe was very generous when we told them about our Heatsink roundup, so much so that they sent us three of their most popular heatsinks. The third and final Scythe HSF we’ll be looking at today is the Kama Cross. Occasionally the heatsink market receives an interesting design, however the vast majority are based on either a tower or downdraft design. Scythe hopes to unleash the best of both worlds with the unique design of the “Kama Cross.” The “X” shape and angled fins should allow for cooling of the mainboard components.
It is worth mentioning that Scythe lists the Kama Cross as a “Mainstream” heatsink. It is not considered a “High Performance Model” like the Mugen or even the Ninja Mini. It is priced accordingly at about $30-$35 USD. In spite of this, there are “Quad Core Ready” logos printed all over the packaging, so we are confident that it is worthy of being included in this roundup.
Image courtesy of scythe-usa.com
Scythe Kama Cross Specifications
From: www.scythe-usa.com
- Overall Dimensions: 140(W) x 120(D) x 132mm(H)
- Weight: 530g
- Material: Aluminum and Copper
- Fan Model #: SY1025SL12M
- Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 25mm
- Noise Level: 22.00dBA
- Air Flow: 42.69 CFM
- Speed: 1,500rpm (±10%)
- Bearing Type: Sleeve Bearing
Weighing in at 530 grams with the included fan mounted, the Kama Cross is half the weight of its big brother, the Mugen.
As we’ve come to expect from Scythe, the Kama Cross comes packaged in a colourful box with a plethora of information printed on it.
Scythe’s inclusion of a 100mm fan as opposed to a 120mm fan raises question, but a unique design warrants a unique fan I suppose. However, because of this, I have to question why a 120mm fan was not included as it would’ve provided airflow to the entire surface area of the sink. At any rate, the Kama Cross is priced very competitively and just about any included fan is a bonus as far as I’m concerned. Thankfully, the Kama Cross will accept any 25mm thickness 120mm fan. Although I am curious to see how that 100mm fan performs, we’ll stick our reference 120mm Scythe S-Flex on it for testing purposes.
One of the first things I noticed with the Kama Cross is the tight fin density. With this type of design, higher CFM fans usually equate to better performance. The S-Flex reference fan we’ll be using provides about 40% more airflow than the included 100mm model. It would have been nice to see an additional heatsink placed on top of the base. Because of the gap between the fin groupings, airflow does reach the base of the heatsink and could benefit from this.
The base of the Kama Cross was polished nearly to a mirror shine. It passed our convex glass pane test, but upon close inspection during our straightedge testing, the base is very slightly concave. Some lapping could benefit the Kama Cross, although the imperfection is ever so slight, and may not significantly affect the final performance with a good application of a quality TIM.
Assembling the Kama Cross is a simple procedure, with only four included screws for the fan and four screws for the socket adapters. Three mounting adapters are included for Socket 775, AM2, 939/754 and even 478. There is no backplate required which improves the likelihood of compatibility with most mainboards. Because the Kama Cross is not terribly heavy, it should do just fine without a backplate. I didn’t have an issue installing the 120mm fan on the Kama. I reused the same screws that were used to secure the included 100mm fan. When the 100mm fan was removed, the opposing sides of the heatsink separated. I had to apply some pressure to get the mounting holes aligned once again, which was not a big deal.
Socket 775 Installation
Installing the Kama Cross on our Intel test platform was very easy. Because of its shape, it is very easy to access the pushpins for mounting. It cleared all of the mainboard components with plenty of room to spare. This HSF should be compatible with the vast majority of mainboards on the market. I decided to mount the Kama Cross in such a way that the northbridge would receive some airflow. It can be rotated by 90 degrees if you’d rather provide cooling to the memory or MOSFETs for example.
Because of the relatively lightweight of the Kama Cross, the pushpins held the heatsink securely to the board.
Socket AM2 Installation
Installing the Kama Cross on our AM2 platform was easy. It mounts using the retail AMD retention frame. I found that I had to apply a lot of pressure to get both clips attached but in the end, the mount was very secure. The heatsink moves around very little. Although you could probably get it installed while the mainboard is mounted in the case, I would recommend removing the mainboard to do so.
It is very easy to access the push-clips due to the shape of the Kama Cross. There were no compatibility issues on the board, even with the close proximity of the memory. I was pleased to see that the Kama Cross can be rotated even on the AM2 platform, allowing quite a bit of positional flexibility. I decided to mount it in an orientation that would most benefit RAM and PWM cooling as can be seen in the above shot.
The Kama Cross looks quite large when mounted, but it is very light and shaped in such a way that it will fit just about any mainboard. I was very impressed with its broad compatibility.
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