Design and Functionality
Scythe Orochi cooler is not just big, it is really BIG! It measures 120 x 194 x 155mm and weighs 1285g with one fan. At the same time, its design can hardly be considered unique:
Ten copper heatpipes come out of the copper nickel-plated base and pierce a large aluminum heatsink. There are 35 aluminum plates in the heatsink array plus three smaller plates in the upper part of the heatsink. Large plates measure 120 x 100 mm and are about 0.5mm thick. They are spaced out at 4mm from one another. Three smaller plates are 120 x 48 mm and are placed at the top, where the heatpipes enter the heatsink:
So, if we calculate the size of Scythe Orochi’s heat dissipating surface it will make about 8702cm2, which is a today’s record among contemporary cooling systems. For example, if we take the manufacturers’ claimed specifications for granted, then the heat dissipting surface of Zalman CNPS9700 LED cooler heatsink makes 5490cm2, and ZEROtherm NV120 Premium can boast 6748cm2.
There is another relatively small aluminum heatsink (82 x 44 x 48 mm) installed at the bottom of the cooler, right above the heatpipes. Its ribs do not touch the main heatsink, so all aluminum plates are actually hanging on the heatpipes. All 10 heatpipes are spread out in four alternating rows featuring two or three heatpipes per row:
This construction solution seems quite logical and results from the engineers’ intention to distribute the heat as evenly over the heatsink as possible.
The heatpipes in the base of the cooler are flattened and placed in two rows one above the other. The heatpipes in the bottom row that bear the major thermal load go into the upper part of the heatsink array, while the heatpipes from the upper row pierce the lower part of the aluminum heatsink.
We could complain to Scythe engineers for not placing the heatpipes in special grooves in the cooler base, however, I don’t think they could have thought of another way of fitting 10 heatpipes into such a small area. I would like to add that the heatpipes seem to be soldered to the base, not glued.
