Scythe Mugen 2 - initial inspection
The Mugen 2 looks formidable in appearance, even without the bundled 120mm fan. Attach that and you're looking at dimensions of 130mm x 100mm x 158mm. The bolt-style aluminium caps sitting atop of each heatpipe are a nice finish.
Whichever way you look at it, that's a whole lot of metal.
What's useful is that Scythe's bundled fan - a 120mm 1,300RPM solution - can be mounted to any of the Mugen 2's four sides. Perfect for those wanting to point airflow in a certain direction. If you really want to push the boat out, there's nothing stopping you from attaching multiple fans at once - although you will need to purchase additional fan clips, we found only one in the bundle.
Underneath, you get a good look at the cooler's nickel-plated copper base and five 6mm copper heatpipes - each connected to its own tower of aluminium fins.
Scythe's bundled fan of choice is its own Stream 120 Case Fan, a 120mm PWM-controlled solution with a four-pin connector. Promising up to 74.25CFM of airflow at 1,300RPM, it's perfectly adequate, but we'd have liked to have seen something with a little more flair. The plain-black design frankly doesn't compliment the style of the cooler itself.
As with the Cooler Master Hyper N520, Scythe's Mugen 2 is installed with the aid of a retention mechanism. Hoping to make it easier, Scythe bundles the Mugen 2 with its FMSB (Flip Mount Super Back-Plate), a one-stop back plate designed to be compatible with a variety of sockets.
Scythe's bundle includes everything that's needed - including a sachet of thermal paste - but we'd liked to have seen at least one extra set of fan-mounting clips.