INTRODUCTION

   Up until recently whenever manufacturers decided to further upgrade existing CPU cooler models their primary goal was to optimize cooling efficiency either by using different or even more than one fan (sometimes at the cost of increased noise levels) or by performing changes to the heatsink itself. As mentioned in previous reviews such changes include increasing the total surface area of the fins, adding more (and if possible larger - that depends on the total fin area) heatpipes and even changing the type of the copper base (direct touch or regular). In an effort to gain a larger market share however lately manufacturers have been upgrading existing models with another thing in mind, RGB lighting. The brand new Mugen 5 Black RGB by Scythe is one such example and today it's on our test bench.

   Scythe Co., Ltd., (Registered and incorporated in Tokyo Japan) originally started its business operation in Japan's famous "Akihabara Electric Town" located in the metropolitan Tokyo, where visitors can find a variety of products from the latest computer parts to the world's most advanced high-tech electric devices. Scythe Co., Ltd., began its operation and business since November, 2002 as a distributor and the manufacturer of passive and low-noise PC parts. Since then, the company has established the R&D facility in Taiwan & China for production and quality control, and the USA office (in Los Angeles, California) & European office (in Hamburg, Germany) for customer care and sales support. At Scythe, we believe that the best ideas for product come simply from knowing customers' needs and their expectations. Based on this philosophy, the PC enthusiasts working at Scythe know what to develop because that is exactly what we would like to have for ourselves too! We offer products with 100% quality assurance and total pride, and if the product has the Scythe name on it, you can rest assure that its quality will be up to the "Zero Tolerance" standards!

   Scythe is clearly focused on one thing lately, to enrich its product lines with RGB lighting and after doing exactly that with their fans next are their CPU coolers. So, the Mugen 5 Black RGB is nearly identical to the original Mugen 5 model (review here) but with two differences/additions, a black anodized top aluminum fin and an Kaze Flex 120 RGB PWM fan (compatible with mainboard RGB sync technologies such as ASUS Aura Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync, MSI Mystic Light and the GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0). Now the good news is that aside the identical heatsinks according to Scythe both the regular Kaze Flex 120 PWM fan and the new Kaze Flex 120 RGB PWM fan also share the same exact specifications (1200RPM/51.17CFM/1.05mmH2O/24.9dBA) so the new Mugen 5 Black RGB should produce roughly the same cooling results as the "regular" Mugen 5 model. Time to see if that's the case.