Scythe Mugen 5 Black air cooler review - Introduction

Scythe Mugen 5 Black Edition air cooler review

This time it’s black, but maybe it's better to have the silver back?

Today, we are reviewing another air cooler from Scythe: the Mugen 5 Black Edition, coming from the best seller series of this Japanese manufacturer. It’s The last time we got our hands on this company’s cooler was at the end of 2020 (so not long ago) – it was the Ninja 5 (which earned the “Approved” award). This time around, it’s not a dual-tower CPU cooler but rather a single-tower. What is new here? The looks – as it’s aimed for the anti-RGB users. Will it perform better than the previously reviewed quiet family member? Additionally - will it be enough to provide a cooling capacity to handle the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and… Intel Core i9 10850K? Yes, now we’re using the Comet Lake processor to check the coolers (previously, it was the Intel Core i9 9900K). The Scythe Mugen 5 Black Edition’s fan (Kaze Flex 120 PWM, which is now in black) has a relatively wide RPM range of 300 to 1500 (and not 800 rpm like in Ninja 5). The low range should bring the noise lower for sure, but it can rev up significantly if needed. The maximum airflow is 66.47 CFM. The noise levels do not exceed 29.75 dBA (but you should remember that almost all manufacturers measure this with their methodology, so you can’t make direct comparisons). The overall dimensions are not huge, at 136 x 154.5 x 110.5 mm (WxHxD).

You can find six heat pipes on this cooler, each 6 mm thick and painted black.
The Scythe MUGEN 5 BLACK EDITIONis compatible with the following CPU sockets:

• AMD - AM4/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2/FM2+/FM2/FM1
• Intel - LGA2066/2011-v3/2011/1200/1151/1150/1155/1156/775

The total weight is relatively reasonable, as it’s 890 g (with the fans). You won’t find any RGB here, only a sleek and modest design, black all the way, well – there’s the diamond-etched logo at the top, and also the base plate is covered with nickel.  It should be a pleasant and exciting experience to see how it performs against other air coolers, including the flagship Noctua NH-D15 and some AIOs. We’ll check that on both AMD (Ryzen 7 3700X) and Intel (now it’s Core i9 10850K) platforms, as I mentioned earlier. For roughly 60 USD, you receive a single-tower cooler with one silent 120 mm fan (and it’s the same price as for the dual-tower, dual fans Ninja 5). The warranty period is two years. Let’s head to the specs/feature page, shall we?