Top 10 nVidia VGA coolers
Scythe Musashi Dual Fan Graphics Card Cooler
 | Musashi Dual Fan Graphics Card Cooler [54 in stock] (6 customer reviews) - Review | £32.17 (£37.80 inc. VAT) | |
| B-Grade Musashi Dual Fan Graphics Card Cooler [1 in stock] - What's this? | £24.60 (£28.91 inc. VAT) |
Introducing Scythe's very first outing into VGA cooling. The oddly named Musashi is named after one of Japan's battleships, but more importantly it is compatible with ATI's 4870 and NVIDIA's 9800GTX+ graphics card as well as a host of other lower specification cards.
The cooler features two U-shaped copper heatpipes which transfers heat from the GPU onto around 84 aluminium fins. Two large slim 100mm fans then direct airflow over the fins and down onto the main body of the graphics card, which keeps the whole card cool. Both fans can be controlled independently by a PCI fan controller that attaches to a spare PCI back plate. On minimum fan speed setting the Musashi is virtually silent, but if you require a little more cooling then just turn-up the fan speed to increase the thermal performance.
For a full list of compatible graphics cards please visit this webpage.
The Musashi is supplied with plenty of different sized heatsinks to cool RAM and VRM chips. Because no graphics card is the same there will be enough heatsinks to all areas, so do not be surprised if you have some left over.
Musashi shown installed on a graphics card
Top view of the cooler
Side view of the cooler
View of the base of the cooler
Features
- Scythe's first outing into VGA cooling
- Compatible with ATI's HD4870 and nVidia's 9800GTX+
- Dual fans for excellent all-over cooling
- Virtually silent, from only 12.5 db(A)
- PCI mounted fan controller
Specifications
| ATI Compatibility | Radeon 9*** / X*** / X1300 / X1600 / X1650 / X1800 / X1900 / X1950 / HD2600 / HD2900XT / HD3650 / HD3850 / HD3870 / HD4830 / HD4850 / HD4870 / HD4890 |
| NVIDIA Compatibility | GeForce FX5900 / 6600 / 6800 / 7300 / 7600 / 7800 / 7900 / 8500 / 8600 / 8800GT / 8800GTS / 9600 / 9800GT / 9800GTX / 9800GTX+ / GTS250 |
| Model Number | SCVMS-1000 |
| Weight | 375 g |
| Fan Speed | 800 to 2000 RPM ±10% |
| Fan CFM | 11.5 to 27.6 |
| Noise Level | 12.5 to 29.2 dBA |
| Material | Copper heatpipes and aluminium fins |
| Dimensions, mm (W x D x H) | 104 x 250 x 35 |
| Fan Dimensions, mm (W x D x H) | 100 x 100 x 12 |
| RAM heatsinks included | Yes |
| Warranty | 24 months |
Customer Reviews
Musashi (6)
Larry McCauley - Posted: 23 Feb 2009 19:06 (10/10)
When I first booted my ATI HD4870 I thought I had destroyed my rig, the noise was that sudden and loud! After that it settled into a merciless whine. This cooler found its way onto my GPU pretty sharpish. I have now overclocked it to 840 GPU clock and 1150 memory clock and the temperatures have remained insanely low. I am stunned by going flat out in unreal tournament and the GPU temp stays around 33 - 35C...One word of advice though. Attach heatsinks to the three VDDC chips behind what I believe is the memory chip - the longish chip just out from the array of squarish chips that surround the GPU itself. They are pretty small, but they are pretty important as the control the voltages for the card. The VDDC chips take a horrendous battering temperature wise (125C, anyone?), so be sure to stick heatsinks on them as well especially if you are going for an overclock. I think 'strongly advised' sums it up. Apart from that gap in the instruction leaflet, best 30ish quid I have spent in ages.
Robert McDermott - Posted: 30 Mar 2009 13:14 (10/10)
This cooler is big - about 1cm longer than my Sapphire Radeon HD4870 TOXIC card. The Vapor-X cooler made an irritating whine with the card running as bought at 57c. I only just got the Scythe cooler in the case - it was so long - and it and the card take up three slots. There is a long narrow aluminium finned cooler on the Vapor-X held in by a couple of plastic clips - I kept this as there was no suitable substitute. Now the card is MAXIMUM over clocked with MINIMUM fan speed and virtually SILENT at 47c!!!!!!
Paul Davies - Posted: 21 Aug 2009 08:31 (10/10)
I still need to turn it up when playing graphically intensive games but even then just a whisper. It doesn't actually claim compatibility with my 8800GTX but Andy @ quietpc told me it would (if of a standard build) and it gives specific instructions in the paperwork. Not mentioned is that fan speed is controlled with a couple of knobs on a PCI bay plate (connected to some of the wires you can see disappearing off the photo) - not a problem for me but that means that my one card graphics setup now takes up 3 bays. As ever - brilliantly delivered within 24 hours of ordering.
James Tombs - Posted: 1 Dec 2009 16:04 (10/10)
Fitted to a ATi HD 4890 which at idle with the fan left to auto stayed at a constant 45C in load in games with the fan still set to auto reaching peaks of 90C within a case with good airflow (Antec Twelve Hundred).
With the Musashi fitted, with fans on minimum, idle is 38C and load is 65C. With the fans on maximum the idle goes down to 35C and the load goes up to 61C. But do take in to account that even on maximum the fans are no louder than the stock fan on idle when set to auto.
This is extremely quiet and an excellent cooler.
Alan Bacon - Posted: 9 Dec 2009 23:00
(9/10)
Really good buy. Easy to fit to an ATI 4890 card. I would recommend using the back fitting that came with the card though instead of the plate that comes with this product, it just seems to sit better. Also it's a shame that the fans are controlled manually by some knobs that take up another panel on the back on the computer. The fans can just be left on max though, you REALLY can't hear them.
Poul Petersen - Posted: 22 Feb 2010 12:43 (10/10)
Best graphics card cooler ever! Silence is important to me, so having tried numerous other products, I was a bit apprehensive that this particular cooler would not live up to the marketing speak.
Boy, was I wrong. I can assure you all that it did. It is QUIET! The fan speed can be adjusted and it is fairly easy to install (just take your time and follow instructions). Oh, and it is BIG. The card will take over two bays.
Well recommended! I will be buying more!
See also:
ATI Quiet VGA Coolers
Ultra Grade Products
Graphics Card Coolers
