Scythe SCKTN-5000 Katana 5 CPU Cooler Review

Final Thoughts

Price

At the time of writing, a current UK price is not available. Based on the pricing of the prior Katana 4 model, we’d expect this to retail for circa £25. There are, of course, a lot of coolers that find itself in that price bracket. With the best will in the world though, many of them are quite poor either in terms of performance or noise. While the Katana 5 isn’t exactly punching it’s way to the top of our testing, it does find itself in good company for temperatures and exceptionally good in terms of noise output. On the whole, for £25, this represents a bit of a bargain!

Design and Ease Of Use

In terms of aesthetics, we really like how the Scythe Katana 5 is presented. It’s low profile sleek design certainly offers something different to the vast majority of entry-level coolers. Many of which are usually bulky and not particularly attractive. It’s also nice to see that consideration has been made in this model to provide good RAM compatibility. We would, actually, possibly argue that this has full RAM compatibility unless you have some that stand bizarrely tall.

In terms of ease of use, it would seem that this factor is entirely dependant on what your experience of the push-pin system is. For us, it was exceptionally difficult to get this successfully mounted to our test bench. For the time it took us, we probably could have mounted a standard cooler with a traditional backplate and mounting kit. This might have just been bad luck on our part, these push-pin systems are great when they work well and usually result in the installation taking literally minutes.

The only concern really though is that this is supposed to be an improved design. If it has been improved on the whole, it certainly wasn’t for us.

Overview

Entry level coolers are a mixed bag in terms of what you can expect and what you get. In regards to the Scythe Katana 5 though, it provides excellent results for not a lot of money. When you consider the nice sleek design, the low-profile 135mm height, the excellent RAM compatibility and easy mounting system, this cooler should appeal to many people who are looking to take that important step-up from their stock cooler.

It’s small design, however, should also appeal to those to whom system space is a big factor.

It’s not perfect, and for this price, you shouldn’t expect perfection. In terms of a compact but powerful air cooler, the Scythe Katana 5 proves to be an excellent choice!

Pros

• Excellent performance figures based on the overall size.
• Nice aesthetic design.
• Low-profile means it will not dominate the look of your system.
• Excellent RAM compatibility.
• Easy to install design.

Cons

• Installation proved, for us, to be very difficult.

Neutral

• None.