If you rummage through PC purchase recommendations in various forums, you will come across the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B. This is not surprising, because the cooler is high-performance, inexpensive and offers excellent RAM compatibility – the perfect all-rounder. Scythe took advantage of this and gave the Mugen 5 an RGB upgrade and a second fan – as a result, the Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB PLUS was released. We have tested for you whether this remains a recommendation.
Specifications
| Socket compatibility: | AMD: AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, AM4, FM1, FM2, FM2+Intel: LGA775, LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA1200, LGA1366, LGA2011(v3), LGA2066 |
| Size (L x W x H): | 136 x 134 x 157.5 mm (with fan) |
| Weight: | 1060 g (with fan) |
| Heatpipes: | 6 x 5 mm (nickel-plated) |
| Fan: | 2x Kaze Flex 120 ARGB PWM |
| Scope of delivery: | cooler + 2 fans, mounting material, thermal paste, screwdriver, manual, PWM splitter, RGB controller |
| Price: | € 1.49 * |
Scope of delivery and workmanship
The cooler is delivered in a colorful cardboard box. All specifications are noted on it and it is printed with a product image. The contents are safely packed and well received.
In addition to the actual cooler, the box contains the mounting material, a PWM splitter, an RGB controller, a screwdriver and thermal paste. The screwdriver is a nice gimmick to make the mounting much easier, just like the Fuma 2.
The heat sink consists of thin fins, which are closed on the upper side by a plastic cover. This can be illuminated later, as it can already be seen on the product picture on the box. In addition, it is only hooked in, but is firmly seated. However, if there is a lack of space or if you consider the LEDs to be a nuisance, you could remove it. Modularity and options are of course always advantageous!
The cooling block is asymmetrically arranged, so there are no RAM compatibility problems in any case. Even if RAM can be mounted on both sides of the CPU, there should be no problems, because for this case a piece of the cooling block has been removed. The only small point of criticism here is that there is no predefined path for the RGB cable. However, this can be easily solved by stowing it behind the clamps for the fans.
In the lower part, the mounting rail is already pre-mounted, and the six nickel-plated 5mm heatpipes look neat and tidy – this way, the pure heat sink shines in a uniform silver. It looks high-quality, it feels good, there are no processing defects. That convinces!
The fans also feel high-quality and are very inconspicuous at first sight RGB-technically. The 11 rotor blades are milky white and a sticker with the Scythe logo is attached in the middle. As usual, there are anti-vibration pads on the edges of the fans, which are supposed to minimize transmitted noise caused by vibrations.
Each fan has its own PWM cable and a cable with an RGB plug and an RGB socket. So you can connect them together with the LED top of the heatsink in series and thus occupy only one slot on the RGB controller or the mainboard.
The fans are fixed to the heatsink with the usual clamps. A nice detail is, that these clamps hold well by themselves in the fans, without the need to hold them during mounting. Everyone who has ever mounted a very cheap CPU cooler will know it – fan clips that you have to hold permanently while you fix the fans. This is really practical here and definitely a big plus.
Assembly and capacity
We mounted the cooler on the base 1150 – the whole installation was quick and easy.
First, the knurled screws are screwed to the enclosed backplate, then the mounting rails are screwed onto them. The last step is to screw the heat sink. The mounting rail on this is already installed, so that only two screws have to be tightened. Here the enclosed screwdriver is very useful, because it is very long and you can reach all needed places easily.
The mounting on current Ryzen platforms with the AM4 socket is almost identical, only that in this case the original AMD backplate is needed. The instructions are easy to understand, here is a small excerpt
As a test system we used an older gaming system. Consisting of an Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3 on an ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance, equipped with 16 GB RAM and a GIGABYTE R9 380 Windforce. For the memory requirements a Crucial MX500 is available. As a comparison we use the Intel stock cooler to demonstrate how enormous the difference in performance is.
As a test scenario we use the Prime95 program with the “In-Place FFTs”. This load is the worst case scenario, so realistically the temperature should never reach these values. To make sure the cooler warms up completely, we ran the test for 20 minutes and then measured the temperature. To show how the coolers scale at a higher speed, we ran the tests at 50% and 100% fan speed.
| 50% PWM | 100% PWM | |
| Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus | 58 °C | 50 °C |
| Intel Stock | not possible | 84°C |
At first glance it is already obvious that there is an enormous difference in performance. In addition to the much better temperature values, a much lower noise level can also be heard. Even at 50% a large part of the power is available – probably due to the push-pull configuration of the cooler. In any case, there is enough cooling potential to cool even more powerful CPUs – even with overclocking.
If you want to use the cooler on a “smaller” CPU, as in our case, you get enough power to create a very quiet system. In our scenario, the cooler catches the heat already at 30% PWM, so the heat is no longer noticeable from the case.
RGB lighting
As a small and final aspect, RGB lighting is considered.
We like the combination of the standard connector for ARGB with the 3-pins and the RGB controller very much. This gives you the possibility to use the included RGB controller or use the interfaces of the mainboard. Due to the standardized connectors it is also possible to connect the components to a “foreign” RGB controller.
The illumination in general is very good, both the fans and the lid have strong and bright colors. Of course, the general look remains a matter of taste, but objectively speaking we have no criticism here. Also the coupling with “foreign” RGB hardware, such as the ARGUS RS-06 like on the photo, did not cause any problems.
The RGB controller works simple – you can simply connect it to its reset switch on the case and use the button to switch through the predefined modes. The first time you switch it on, it will surely be in rainbow mode – pulsating, different colors and some other possibilities are possible, too. The controller only needs a SATA power connection and is simply connected to the RGB cables of the components.
Conclusion
Basically, the Mugen 5 ARGB Plus combines a decent air cooler with beautiful RGB lighting. The Mugen 5 already convinced as “Rev. B” back then, the second fan is even less critical. The mounting and RAM compatibility is extremely good and offers an enormous bonus.
The workmanship is very good, the performance and volume is right, the RGB lighting is standardized and a controller is included. The only issues that remain are price and personal taste. About 70 € are of course not small for an air cooler – but especially due to the market of water cooling RGB lighting becomes more and more present and the whole technology now costs a part.
So if you want to cool your CPU with air and still don’t want to do without RGB, you get a strong product with a small extra charge. The Mugen 5 ARGB Plus deservedly receives the Gold Award and is therefore always worth a recommendation!
Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus
Design
Workmanship
Installation
Cooling
Volume
Value for money
91/100
Easy installation, good cooling performance, ideal RAM compatibility, beautiful lighting - definitely recommended!
