Scythe Mugen 5 TUF Gaming Alliance Cooler Review

Introduction

Scythe Mugen 5 TUF

Scythe may be a relative newcomer to the world of PC cooling, they have, however, already produced a remarkably large range of products. We should, of course, point out that the company has been in existence for quite some time. In the last couple of years, however, Scythe has been working hard to start bringing their cooling products to the West.

Having already seen a number of their designs, we have been impressed with their performance. Particularly from a standpoint of providing solid performance with nice aesthetics.

With this in mind, we take a look at the Scythe Mugen 5 TUF Gaming Alliance. This cooler represents the latest model in the ‘Mugen’ range and should be an interesting option for many. Just how good is it though? Let’s find out!

Features

Coming with full RGB lighting effects to the top of the radiator as well as the fan, lighting is a major factor in this coolers design. Other key features include;

• Superior RAM clearance compatibility.
• 15.7cm low-profile height.
• TUF style RGB cover.
• TUF Kaze Flex 120 RGB fan.

Technical Information

For more in-depth technical specification, please visit the official product page in the link here!

Exterior Packaging

The exterior packaging for the Scythe Mugen 5 TUF Gaming Alliance (which will hereafter be largely referred to as just the Mugen 5 TGA) is rather bland in appearance. The choice of colouring means that the only thing that particularly stands out is the RGB/sync capability. The front and rear of the packaging (which is practically identical) don’t even give you a nice clear view of the cooler. No key features. No salesmanship. In terms of presentation, this misses the mark quite badly.

Fortunately, you are at least given the technical specification. While the images/dimensions of the cooler are easy to read, the details are not. They are all crammed at the bottom with 8 rows all contained within around an inch of space. As such, reading it (while possible) is difficult and not easy on the eye.

Admittedly, a cooler is not about presentation. This box, however, is just so dark. As you can see in the picture below, we really had to crank up the brightness just to make what little of the cooler you can see visible. Given that this is a cooler which is clearly pushing its RGB features, the packaging is pretty terrible.

The only factor of any particular note is that white patternation to the side. A design choice that seems to have no meaning to the product whatsoever. In other words, it’s there just to fill space.

Compatibility

On the plus side, the packaging does give you a comprehensive list of the socket compatibility and this is one of the few pieces of information that is clearly visible. In brief, this covers all major Intel and AMD sockets with the only notable exception being the TR4 AMD Threadripper. So, at least in terms of compatibility, the Mugen 5 TGA has you covered.