Scythe Big Shuriken 3 CPU Air Cooler Review

How Much Does it Cost?

At the time of writing, the Scythe Big Shuriken 3 is retailing for a price in the region of £50-£55. For a cooler of this type, that might initially seem quite a high price and, if we’re honest, it’s around £10 more expensive than we did expect. We do, however, suspect that this may drop in the coming weeks/months as it becomes available with more retailers.

Despite this, however, the main key focus on its design is the ability to produce a solid cooling experience, while looking good, and also maintaining an exceptionally low profile. When you consider the effort required to get all of those concepts to work together, the price doesn’t seem quite so bad!

Overview

It’s hard to deny that despite any preconceptions you might have about this brand or the design, the Scythe Big Shuriken 3 had been put together excellently well. The design is practically faultless for a cooler of this size and, even more so, everything looks really solid and well manufactured.

There is no RGB, and you can make of that what you will, but the aesthetic touches do work and it’s ‘upright’ style pulls off a really decent and perhaps even professional look.

Admittedly, the temperature performance isn’t phenomenal. Particularly when overclocked. At stock levels, however, this is more than acceptable and with its quiet noise levels, a solid option for any normal gaming PC.

Should I Buy One?

In terms of the design and performance, there’s very little to fault with the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. In fact, the biggest problem this cooler likely has is the price point. It’s one that may confuse consumers. This looks like a simple low-profile upgrade to a stock cooler solution, as such the presumption might be that its inexpensive. The price tag, however, falls into the remit of the upper-mid tier of air coolers and that might be all it takes to put people off looking at this cooler in more detail and more seriously.

What we can say, however, is that if you’re after a well-designed, low-profile air cooler than can handle the day to day rigors of running a PC, then this is a prime option!

Pros

• Excellent quality throughout
• Slim low-profile design
• Easy to install
• Some strong aesthetics without relying on RGB.
• Solid stock performance with low noise levels.

Cons

• None

Neutral

• The price point is perhaps just a bit too high for what you get in return. Might be one that’s worth waiting for a drop or sale.