CeBIT 2009 3-8 March, Hannover (Germany), day 3

Page 6 - Scythe: CPU and video card coolers

If you ever had interest in high performance air coolers, then the chance to have not heard of Scythe is minimal. This is a Japanese company, currently under American management, that became famous for its extraordinary coolers made especially for computer enthusiasts - overclockers and gamers. Their stand at the expo could praise itself with solid exuberance, many products were on display - some of them for the very first time. There were experimental models, prototypes of others and the staff was very polite in showing everything about them answering all questions.

The initial and main Scythe product line are CPU coolers, thus their range is the widest and they were the most interesting at the company stand. Since Scythe mostly care for the users unsatisfied with mediocre results, their coolers are massive in both size and performance results. The names of the coolers are Japanese and the forms and elements on them resemble not those of any other brand.

On the pictures below we first see Scythe Reeven, of which nothing extraordinary pops in mind, while the product is still not mentioned anywhere on the Scythe website, though available at some online shops. We will attempt to gather additional information from the Scythe marketing department though. The next pictures show the well known Scythe Ninja Mini & Ninja 2, the newest revision of the successful Scythe cooler - Orochi and in the end - Mugen 2, which is prototype that Scythe deemed not performing good enough to be manufactured and sold.

Here is another set of new products - Scythe Zipang 2 is naturally the new version of Zipang, Scythe Kabuto, that is shown for the first time at this expo, the cheap and low profile Shuriken cooler with a new revision - Shuriken Rev.B, and its bigger brother Big Shuriken still awaiting release at the market. Scythe Kama Angle and Katana 3 are yet another coolers with interesting design, first of which is truly unique while the second is merely replacing the current mainstream model Katana 2.

The super-heavy category! The enormous CPU Scythe Godhand cooler with the huge (200mm) fan Ninja Wire will be released soon in very limited quantities, only for the biggest fans (for quite obvious reasons really). Also, none of us had ever saw a VGA cooler as big as the Ninja Fanless video card cooler! The Scythe Grandcross cooler was also unique in design and considering the Scythe engineers - probably in performance too. This is what we'll remember with company's presentation at the expo in pictures:

We did mention above that Scythe showed the Mugen 2 prototype, which is not to be released as finished product, since it failed the company performance demands at all stages of its development. Still it was very interesting to view the secluded showcase displaying each step of Mugen 2 development.

Very few users ever think about how much of an effort is put in developing and manufacturing a product. How many factors have to be comprehended, how many experimental stages are to be passed. And it is indeed pleasing to see that there are companies out there that pay attention to detail and even after realizing a certain project had not meet their expectations attempt not to sell it in a shiny package.