Scythe Mugen 5 (SCMG-5102AR) ARGB Plus Cooler Review

A Closer Look

So, with the Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus being a quite substantial cooler, there’s clearly a lot going on with the individual components. Let’s, therefore, get in and take a closer look.

Contact Plate

Firstly, starting with the business end of the cooler, the contact plate has 6 pipes leading away on each side towards the radiator. While not the most we’ve seen, this is generally accepted as being a ‘good’ number for a high-performance air cooler.

The contact plate itself is fantastically large and shouldn’t provide any problems regardless of if you’re running Intel or AMD. Well, with the exception of the TR4 platform which this doesn’t support.

The only mild factor of concern was that when we removed the protective covering, we did note some moisture underneath. You can (just about) see it in the picture below.

We’re not exactly certain as to why this was present, but (as is always good practice anyway) you might just want to give this a solid polish before mounting it to your CPU.

Radiator

The radiator is certainly more than a little eye-catching with the white trim to the top which forms part of the RGB lighting. Before we discuss such factors, however, let’s take a look at the overall design.

Starting with the fins, as you can see in the image below these are well spaced with a moderate middle section allowing for some overlap. This is a design that’s becoming more popular with air coolers as a means of maximizing the surface in which the heat can dissipate without affecting (in any substantial means) the overall airflow.

At the top of the radiator, you’ll note two central inserts. While we will get into more details on these later in the review, the short version is that one of these is used to help mount your radiator. Remember that screwdriver earlier?…

While the branding is moderately light on the Mugen 5 ARGB Plus, you will note the Scythe logo top and center. In terms of both size and placement, it’s absolutely spot on in adding a little aesthetic touch without compromising on the overall aesthetic.

Fan

As this is a twin-fan cooler, you are (of course) provided with two fans. These are designed by Scythe specifically and are from their highly-excellent Kaze Flex range.

In terms of coverage, the two 120mm fans easily cover the radiator with room to spare.

The Mugen 5 ARGB Plus has also been designed with a slight recess to the radiator. This allows for the fans to sit within in and, by proxy, as close as possible to the radiator.

It’s a design we don’t recall seeing often, but if Scythe has done it, it’s clearly because they believe it will help more that all-important heat away as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Overall

In terms of the design, it’s pretty clear that Scythe has put a lot of effort into the design of the Mugen 5. Admittedly, with the RGB off, it doesn’t exactly carry a particularly attractive aesthetic.

In terms of the size, while it is a bulky cooler, it’s certainly not as large as many of the competing ‘high-end’ models. That being said, with some allowances being made for RAM compatibility, while it shouldn’t be a problem for most of you, if you have rather fat bulky memory then you might see some restrictions here.

So, overall, it looks like an excellent air cooler designs to perform well and, when the lights are turned on, look just as good. How is it in terms of functionality though? Well, the only way we’ll find that out is by installing it to our test best!