Wednesday, November 27th 2019
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Scythe Rolls Out SCY-920S Entry-level Tower-type CPU Cooler
Scythe unveiled the SCY-920S, an entry-level tower-type CPU cooler meant as a quieter substitute to your stock CPU cooler, with a thermal load capacity of 95 W. Its design involves an aluminium heatsink base through which two 6 mm thick copper heat pipes pass, making direct contact with the CPU, which then fan out through the fin-stack. A 92 mm fan ventilates the fin-stack. Spinning between 500 to 2,000 RPM, this fan pushes 7.1 to 48.2 CFM of air, with 8.3 to 28.3 dBA noise output. Measuring 87 mm x 62 mm x 127 mm (DxWxH), the SCY-920S weighs about 280 g. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4 and LGA115x. The cooler goes on sale around mid-December.
23 Comments on Scythe Rolls Out SCY-920S Entry-level Tower-type CPU Cooler
There's a good reason we see less and less of this type of coolers around in recent years, and Scythe's cognitive dissonance from what the market actually needs sometimes show it.
we're in an age where:
1 - if you go with AMD you either get a "good enough" box cooler, or a straight up equal to better than this type of entry level towers (Wraith Prism).
2 - if you go Intel you make sure to at least put the minimum amount required for Tri-heatpipe 92MM tower designs, such as the ever-infamous Hyper 212, and lately Arctic's Freezer 34 is making a nice comeback.
"But dj, what if i have this 3-5 year old Intel quad core that needs a basic cooler beyond the box cooler it came with?" well... How cheap is cheap enough to create a whole category underneath those 20-something dollar 3-4 heatpipe towers? Will this Scythe cooler cost 15$ or less? possibly not, and if it will, there might just be a chance to create any viable market for this type of product.
Scythe used to be huge in the air cooler market in many countries, and in recent years they really really seem to fade away. I just hope they can adapt to the new CPU market and create more good designs in fair prices.
I used to have a 92mm when I tried to cheap out but it felt so half-assed...
AMD stock coolers have surpassed this level of performance I believe. And for Intel you really need a 120mm+ 3-pipe cooler if you want reliable turbo boost.
The only 92mm cooler I've used was the Thermalright Ultima 90. Now that was a true performer.
There's a significant demand for low tower coolers because of SFF popularity.
Noctua D9L and U9S are among their best selling models (for $50-60). This Scythe would be a budget alternative. But the fan in "good enough" box cooler will die eventually and it'll be hard to replace it with a 3rd party one. So most likely you're going to replace the whole cooler anyway.
And even if you get a stock cooler and you're fine with it's performance, you may simply want to replace it with a tower setup, since it's much more efficient in some cases. This part is quite funny actually. With Intel you're getting a good enough cooler with most CPUs and it's been like that for years.
And this small Scythe tower will be a perfectly fine replacement for everything but 8-core and -K models. Actually coolers in this segment are fairly expensive.
Cryorig M9, which would be a direct competitor, costs $30.
If people spent an extra $25 filling out the empty fan bays in their case, then they can also afford to spend another $10 on a better cooler than this underwhelming budget offering.
Such wisdom! Did you order by the pallet? I mean, these are supposed to be expensive and the demand will skyrocket because of all those SFF cases that really love towers.
No offense, but you're extremely confident in your ideas. You think you know the global cooler market better than Scythe's analysts? :) All 4 of them?
Anyway, e.g. Wraith Spire has 80mm screw spacing, so you'll end up with a smaller fan or having to shoose from a very limited choice of fitting models. Can you explain that part? AFAIK nothing has changed and all box non-K CPUs are bundled with a cooler. Yes, it's very cheap and loud. But it works. And it's super cheap. Segment of low tower coolers.
And about global cooler market... there are tons of examples of companies that have stuck to old ways and are now history, or nearly history. So yes, we dó think we know better, and yes, there are many companies that are managed in a way these kinds of failures make shelves and keep doing so until money runs out.
Also look at the trend with Scythe. I have never EVER seen them make anything noteworthy other than heatsink+same ol' black fan.
Unless its really cheap i fail to see why buy it against other cheap heatsinks.
Freezer 12 already has 3 heatipies.
So I'm still waiting for the "they decided with each generation to include less and less of them in the CPU line up" explanation. ;-) There are also many examples of companies that stuck to old ways and survived. And there are countless examples of "innovative startups" that vanish every year. And it proves absolutely nothing. Yeah... if you think you know this business better than the companies that make a living there... I don't really see any way to comment on that.
:) Scythe has been making high-quality products for a very long time.
It's really down to how you define noteworthy. :)
Their products don't have a "mass-market" feeling. They're hardly a global brand. They have a poor distribution network.
Their boxes look like if they contained an anime action figure.
Honestly, I don't think they're focusing on the mainstream coolers. That's why their 160mm towers aren't standing out. And no RGB!
But they have very interesting products for specific scenarios - often with no serious competition. Coolers like Big Shuriken or Kozuti have been ruling their niches for a very long time. :)
It's a new niche for Scythe, so they have nothing to lose. They had the fan, they made an extremely simple heatsink design.
Whatever market share they'll take from other companies will turn into almost sure profit.
Moreover, it's easy to say that "but Freezer 12 has 3 heatpipes" when you're writing a post on an internet forum. :P
But can you buy a Freezer 12 in every country? And for how much?
Scythe's home market is Japan.
Arctic doesn't even have an official distributor there: www.arctic.ac/eu_en/where-to-buy/
A single dealer mentioned is Amazon:
www.amazon.co.jp/Freezer-Compact-Passive-Heatsink-Warranty/dp/B06WRPFFJN/
$63
www.aliexpress.com/item/32993836785.html
It's like... you pretty much have to assume that the included fan might not be the longest lived, but for $19 shipped I'd run that ;p