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What about the install? Well it was kind of frustrating as I went along. The Kamakaze package includes a stock P4 retention system in case you have misplaced yours or had a previous cooler that didn’t have the retention harness. The problem was how the cooler connects to the retention brace. Here is a picture to show you exactly.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/scythe/6scythe.jpg"><img src="atruereview/scythe/6scytheth.jpg" border="0" width="275" height="267" alt="Scythe Kamakaze CPU Cooler"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>The little screw harness on the side connects to a piece of metal. That piece of metal connects to the harness just like a stock cooler would. The problem is that there are two brackets. One metal bracket for Intel and one for AMD. The Kamakaze comes with both attached and the directions are not clear at all. One could spend some time trying to figure out what’s going on. If you have the wrong metal piece in you have to unscrew each of the screws holding in the bracket which holds the metal retention piece to the cooler. Then line them up and screw it all together again. Confused? You should be. Like I said very difficult. </p> <p><strong>Testing:</strong></p> <p>Well even though it was a pain to install and messy, those do not matter much if the performance and sound ratio are exceptional. Let’s see what it can do. </p> <p>Tests will be a little different this time. Instead of the basic 5 hours of doing nothing for idle and 2 hours of Halo for stress, idle will be run for one full day with the fan speed all the way down. Then the fan will be turned up to max speed for an idle test. The temp will consist of the highest value obtained by Motherboard Monitor 5 during that period. The max temp will be obtained running Sisoft Sandra burn in test for one day with fan on slow and one day with fan on max. Again the temp obtained is max with Motherboard Monitor 5.</p> <p>The test setup consists of a 2.6c, Radeon 9700pro and 1024 of pc3200 DDR ram.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> </p> <p align="center"><img src="atruereview/scythe/Graph.gif" border="0" width="406" height="379" alt="Scythe Kamakaze CPU Cooler"></p> <table width="468" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="185"> </td> <td width="128"> <div align="center"><b>Idle</b></div> </td> <td width="147"> <div align="center"><b>Full Load</b></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="24"> <p>Thermalright 900u (2.6 GHz)<br> w/ Smart Fan <br> </p> </td> <td height="24">41.0°C (105.8°F)</td> <td height="24">54.0°C (129.2°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20">Thermalright 900u (3.4 GHz)<br> w/ Smart Fan</td> <td height="20">43.0°C (109.4°F)</td> <td height="20">57.0°C (134.6°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20">Kamakaze (2.6 GHz)<br> Slow Fan <br></td> <td height="20">46.0°C (114.8°F)</td> <td height="20">53.0°C (127.4°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20">Kamakaze (3.4 GHz)<br> Slow Fan<br></td> <td height="20">Not taken</td> <td height="20">54.0°C (129.2°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Kamakaze (2.6 GHz)<br> Max Fan</td> <td height="20">42.0°C (107.6°F)</td> <td height="20">47.0°C (116.6°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Kamakaze (3.4 GHz)<br> Max Fan<br> </td> <td height="20">Not taken</td> <td height="20">47.0°C (116.4°F)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="185" height="20">Average Room</td> <td width="128" height="20">23.2°C (73.5°F)</td> <td width="147" height="20">23.3°C (74.5°F)</td> </tr> </table> <p>The slowest fan speed temperature at idle was 46C with a room temperature of 73F. The idle at max fan was 42C with a room temperature of 73F. The slowest fan speed temperature with a full load was 53C with a room temperature of 74F. The max fan speed with a full load was 47C with a room temperature of 73F.</p> <p>As noted this heatsink fan combo is made specifically for high temperatures and power applications. Therefore, I decided to overclock my chip and see the results. I ramped the 2.6 up to 3.414 and ran the max burn in tests. Same time, 24 hrs, for minimum fan and maximum fan speed. Surprisingly, the temps hardly changed. The full load with slow fan was 54C with room of 75F. The load with max fan was 47C with a room temp of 73F. A Pentium 4 has a thermal diode inside the processor so temperatures are fairly accurate. </p> <p>Compared to temperatures from my Thermalright 900u, the Kamakaze does more than hold its ground. For overclocking the Kamakaze is a better choice, harder to install, but performs better and is a tad quieter.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p> <p>The overclocking potential of the Kamakaze cooler is great. Even at higher room temperatures, the change of temperature was very small. That said, do I think the performance was good enough to overshadow the difficulty of installation? To me the answer is yes. I am function over form kind of person. No matter how tough the form is to install, the function of the cooling and the ability to choose fan speed is a great advantage for any performance enthusiast or overclocker.</p> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li> Quiet when you want it to be</li> <li>Great performance</li> <li> No compatibility problems with motherboards</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li> Difficult to install</li> <li>Vague instructions</li> <li> Messy wires<br> </li> </ul> <p><strong>Rating:</strong></p> <table width="227" border="0"> <tr> <td width="105">Overall:</td> <td width="183"> Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Performance:</td> <td>Excellent</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Installation: </td> <td>Very Bad</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Price: </td> <td>Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Packaging:</td> <td> Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Compatibility: </td> <td>Very Good</td> </tr> </table> <p><strong></strong>(Ratings Possible Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent)</p> <table width="75%" border="1" align="center"> <tr bgcolor="#0066FF"> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFFFF">More Information</font></strong></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><div align="center"><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=724">Discuss in our forums</a></div> <div align="center"></div> </td> </tr> </table> <p> </p> <p align="left"><a href="atruereview/scythe/index.php"></a> <a href="scythe/index.php">Previous (Introduction & Features)</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer"> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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