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Sponsored by Scythe
12/20/04
Scythe has created a very large heat pipe CPU cooler. This model (The BAT) is a somewhat simple design. They use a single large copper heat pipe that directly touches the CPU and added some bat shaped aluminum fins to disperse the heat. You can see in the picture above that a 150mm fan is attached for low revolution, high air dispersal of the heat. Let us take a closer look and see how this cooler functions/performs.
Specs:
Heat Pipe
Fan Speed 1100-2000 RPM Noise 19.5 - 31.5dB Size 150mm x 150mm x 25mm
Compatibility AMD K8 Processors 754/939 Intel P4 478pin Socket T
$69.99 USD Considering the size and the materials used to make this sink, it seems to be a pretty fair price as long as the cooler performs well.
Installation: The first few pictures displays the cooler a little closer so you can see exactly what types of pieces you are dealing with during the install. The fan is a 150mm x 150mm x 25mm using the standard 3 pin motherboard jack for control.
As you can see from the picture below, the heat pipe has multiple pieces that are used for mounting onto the CPU. This is done so that you can rotate the cooler to fit it into the case. Seeing that the BAT is so large, it is an important factor to look at for any case with space constraints.
Scythe also provides a dual LED light fixture to give the BAT that little extra pizazz. First, you place the gaskets into the bottom fin before attaching the LED's. As you can see from the pictures below, this is very easy, but make sure this is your first step because after the mounts are installed it might be a little more tricky to get the LED's into place.
Scythe provides two mounting brackets. One for Intel P4 chips and the other for AMD 64bit. We are going to install this product on an AMD system, so the procedure for Intel installation after this point might be slightly different.
Start by tightening the flat screws from the top mount into the bottom. Make sure not to tighten them all the way so you can maneuver the sink to find the best possible location before fastening the two mounts securely.
Now that you have the correct angle, remove the sink and tighten all four flat head screws so the pipe is affixed and immobilized. As you can see in the pictures, the copper pipe is the only part that will actually touch your CPU after tightening the mounts securely.
Next, apply the thermal paste provided by Scythe and spread it evenly. Make sure not to over do it, you do not need too much.
All that's left after mounting the bottom bracket underneath the motherboard , or in this case, there was an existing mount so we just used that, is to fasten the two screws on either side. Scythe provides thumb fasteners, this is a good idea seeing that there is no reason to over tighten. Be gentle, work your way down tightening one side a little at a time until the screws feel snug. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN, YOU WILL DAMAGE YOUR CPU.
This cooler is not as simple as many of Scythe's other CPU coolers, but then again, this thing is huge. In a nutshell, the install is not too bad. The only concern I had was space but it fit very nicely into this case. Oh, there's one other thing which I forgot to mention, Scythe proved a speed control for this fan that just connects to the 3 pin connector. We chose not to use this due to the fact that it is a low ratio RPM fan anyways and very quiet.
Appearance: What can be said about the overall appearance of this cooler? It is BAT shaped. I personally like the design, even if it takes up more room then most of the other coolers. I am sure that anyone that takes a look at this will definitely need to stop and look closer.
The LED's are a bit dim, but still show off nicely. The placement of the LED's makes a nice blue haze shown through the top of the BAT emblem on top. If there was anything I would change on this cooler, it would probably be adding two more LED's on the top to even out the glow on the fan. Other then that, this is one sharp looking cooler.
Performance: We are going to use a variation of our normal cooler test. We will be using an AMD 3200 64Bit socket 754 CPU. I am not going to try and force an A zone climate, just because we are dealing with the 64bit CPU's and they run hot as it is. If you would like more details concerning the procedure we used feel free to contact me at preitschky@marnscda.com We are more then happy to answer any questions you may have. Let us being our test. Our first results were just running the PC at an Idle temp with minimum services to see how the cooler performed with no stress. It does a fine job of keeping the CPU at 67C. This is used as a base line to see how well the cooler dissipates heat under full load.
Illustration 1.1 Scythe BAT Idle CPU load temp. 67c.
Illustration 1.2 Scythe BAT 100% CPU usage Full Load temp. 70C As you can see from the results above, this cooler does a fine job of dissipating the heat and only allowing the CPU core temp to rise 3C over a five minute duration. I had a bit of a problem keeping this CPU over 90% CPU Usage so for future tests using the 64Bit system, I might change the test to an over 90% ratio. The over all Case temp only increased 2 degrees and that is without extra fans for cooling, so these results might be a bit different in a modded case with exhaust fans. These systems just run to good. Anyhow, I give Scythe a thumbs up on this test. 3 degrees is not a whole lot of heat, it is less then 5% increase with full load. Good job Scythe!
Quality: I have yet to see a poor quality product come out of Scythe. This cooler is no exception. Everything from the well thought up fin design to the mounts are quality material and craftsmanship. All the parts are machined well with no visible flaws. One of Scythe's downfalls in the past has always been packaging, and this time the packaging rocks. The cooler is very secure and there is little chance of any movement during shipping, reducing chances of damage. Good job guys, keep up the good work!
Pros: Performance is more then satisfactory. Installation is not to bad considering the size. Appearance is awesome you can't help but take another look at this product. Packaging on this cooler is definitely a step in the right direction.
Cons: Could use a few more LED's to even out fan glow. Size might be a problem for some smaller cases or cases with window fans.
Conclusion: The BAT is a well designed cooler with very good performance. As long as you have room in your case, this cooler will work well for most applications. Make sure you are patient on install, it is not a 1-2-3 install, there are extra parts for good reasons. Overall, this is a decent, well-built cooler and most certainly gets our approval. I am confident in giving this cooler our Blue Ribbon Seal of Approval for a quality product. Congratulations Scythe!!!
Rating
5 out of 6 Stars Review date 12/20/04 Reviewer Paul (pr101j)
Company Info: Scythe USA
Contact Info
Marns CDA By pr101j
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