Scythe Samurai ZZ Rev.B Quiet Top-down CPU Cooler

Got the Samurai fan as I was experiencing some overheat issues on my Dell XPS8100 PC with i7 processor. This was recommended by Andy after lots of very helpful e-mails and my many questions! Fitting was a little tricky as I had to remove the motherboard to gain access to the back. Although thankfully Dell no longer fit proprietary boards, they had fitted a bracket to the back of the motherboard for their stock heat sink, which had to be removed first. Once this was done, the fitting could not have been easier. The fan connectors were standard so no messy soldering required.

I ran the Intel Processor Diagnostic tool last night and am very happy to say the least. The new heatsink and fan is whisper quiet compared to Dells, even at the top speed of about 1550 rpm, it is perfectly acceptable. Also, the cooling efficiency has meant that my core temps. have dropped by around 12 degrees. At full stress levels they never went above 72 degrees. Add to this the excellent technical information offered and the next day delivery and you have one very happy customer. Cannot recommend QuietPC highly enough.

Fitted to my not too heavily stressed i5 2500, Win 7 PC with SSD hard disks. Before in the quiet room I use I could hear my 16dB cooler. This one with PWM fan and 8dB it is silent. Best fitted outside the case due to 2 obscured pins for LG1155 - fiddly but not too difficult.

So far the fan rotation is below 400RPM and I have yet to get it to make a sound. Very pleased and can recommend if you want a compact (relative) cooler.

If your motherboard has cooling fins surrounding the CPU socket, then many standard heatsinks are likely to foul on them. I had this problem, and found that the Samurai ZZ was the ideal solution. It rises neatly above any motherboard fins so that fouling was not a problem.

Once the BIOS fan settings were set, I found it to be almost silent in operation and very effective at keeping the CPU comfortably cool.

In common with the other reviewers here, the installation procedure was not altogether straightforward and is best done with the motherboard out of the pc case. There is a very useful video on the Scythe website guiding the purchaser through the best fitting procedure. It’s worth watching BEFORE you get stuck in! ;)

The Samurai ZZ is great value for money and whatever your CPU, won’t let you down.

After an initial problem with this cooler running at full speed, (due to my lack of knowledge of all the BIOS settings - which I add were all expertly resolved by Andy in Tech Support!), this is now whisper quiet and I’m getting a good CPU temperature reduction also, compared to the stock AMD cooler. As ever, prompt delivery and great support and service from Quiet PC. If you have the space to fit this in your case - highly recommended.

I bought this for my 775 motherboard. I tried to fit it initially with the MB in place, but this was impossible. The overhang of the heatsink makes it extremely difficult to access two of the push pins properly. However, having removed my MB I got it in place OK, though it was still tricky.

Luckily, it runs very well, far better than the old heatsink/fan I had which was noisy with noticeable increases in volume as the rpms went up. This one is near silent, running below 600rpm and keeping my Quad core CPU at low 30s temp.

Very happy despite the fiddly install.