A Closer Look

As previously mentioned, the Big Shuriken 3 is a low-profile top-flow design. To secure the fan to the heatsink, a black metal frame with the Scythe logo is present. It adds a nice bit of contrast and results in a nicer external appearance while also providing points for the fan to be screwed firmly into place. Meanwhile, the fin stack is comprised of 68 aluminium fins. Those building SFF systems will like the cooler's 69 mm total height with the fan, making it great for even the tightest of cases.


As the heatsink is rotated around, you can see that some fins are quite a bit larger than others, which results in a great deal more surface area without causing clearance issues with system memory or other components.


The access holes for securing the heatsink to the mounting plates is nice to see as well. In the past, you had to use spanners or a wrench on some coolers; thankfully, those dark ages are long behind us and features like this are standard. The heat pipes are Ø6 mm, of which five are decently spread out for better heat transfer to the fins. As for the base, it is nickel-plated with some slightly visible machining marks. However, it does have a mirror-like quality, which is always nice.


The single 120 mm Kaze Flex fan supplied with the cooler is only 17 mm thick as opposed to the typical 25 mm for most fans. As for the specifications, it is a PWM model with an RPM range of 300–1800.