Scythe has done a great job with the Kabuto 3. First and foremost, its noise profile is just exceptional with only the Thermalright Le Grand Macho proving quieter. Put another way, the Dark Rock TF from be quiet! and the NH-C14S from Noctua were both louder. Cooling performance lags behind its two main rivals by a few degrees, but considering the fact that it offers a much better price-to-performance ratio, it makes up for it to some extent. Clearance is alright. While a close call, the Kabuto 3 still allowed for taller RAM heatsinks and did not touch the back of the GPU; however, it is a very close call. Build quality is exceptional with no faults to speak of. Installation of the cooler is quite easy thanks to the push-pin design; granted, not everyone will be happy with that design choice. The top-flow design itself proves useful since it offers cooling of more components than just the CPU, which is a nice bonus and makes the cooler more useful overall. In general, I walk away from the Kabuto 3 feeling it's a solid all rounder that doesn't stand out, but still ends up being a compelling product, especially for those who demand a quiet cooler.

A few issues, however, just cannot be ignored. First and foremost is that it is nearly impossible to find stateside, which is a damn shame, but that will change toward the end of March 2017. Next up is the fact that while the Kabuto 3 does clear the taller G.Skill memory used in the test bench, some memory modules will have trouble fitting, and certain motherboards may encounter clearance issues with the GPU if it's in the first expansion slot. These problems are likely to be more prevalent on mini-ITX systems, but generally speaking, while the Scythe cooler does clear on the test bench, that may not apply to all motherboards and systems, so it is something to keep in mind. Next is the sleeve-bearing fan. In general, sleeve bearings do tend to be quieter; however, they tend to have a lower lifespan than, say, ball bearing or more advanced sleeve-bearing fans. Let's also not forget that bare aluminum is a fingerprint magnet and that the cooler's near-mirror finished top plate, while pretty, will attract a great deal of said fingerprints, in which case you should get some gloves or prepare to live with it, and, yes, I know that's a bit of a stretch as far as negatives go.

My only other thoughts are directed at the mounting hardware - while easy to work with, which makes the cooler generally quick and painless to install, the hardware itself is still a bit awkward. Let's not forget that push pins are seldom a favorite when it comes to securing a cooler to a motherboard, and I am willing to bet we have all cursed Intel's stock coolers at one time or another for being a pain in the rear to get fully secured. Still, in this case I can say I had no issues in getting the push pins to work, and they did so flawlessly. Sadly, while the cooler's performance is more than adequate for LGA2011 CPUs, Scythe decided not to support that socket with the Kabuto 3.

Overall, the Scythe Kabuto 3 is an exceptionally quiet top-flow cooler that - while not jaw dropping or head turning - performs well and offers good bang for the buck if you can find one.