Verdict: As sharp as a real katana, but not as useful

Scythe names all of its CPU HSFs after Japanese weapons and combatants. In addition to being an HSF, the Katana is also a long sword and weapon of the Samurai. It's a shame then that Scythe has used this name for this basic and uninspiring HSF.

The Scythe supports almost any CPU type, including Socket 478 Pentium 4s and Socket A Athlon XPs, but the mounting mechanism is so fiddly that it takes three hands and a ninja's flexibility to prevent your hands from being sliced up by random bits of metal, motherboard and case. The heatsink is formed from a copper base, four heatpipes and a cluster of aluminium fins that are cooled by a 2,000rpm 92mm fan. This is rated by Scythe at 25dBA, so it's pleasantly quiet.

Unfortunately, the Katana failed to keep our overclocked and overvolted Pentium 4 cool enough to prevent it from overheating and shutting down. However, because Athlon 64s have a much lower TDP than Pentium 4s, the Katana was able to cool the Athlon 64 CPU to 9ûC below the reference AMD HSF.

The Katana would have been considered a good Athlon 64 HSF a year ago, but heatsink technology has improved dramatically, so for £25, the Katana isn't worth considering.

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