Scythe Mugen-2 is a huge, nicely crafted cooler. As soon as we saw it, we imagine it would perform well. Actually, that performance was more than good, it was excellent. It cools our CPU as good as the best coolers we tested with this methodology.

Besides that, it is virtually the most quiet cooler we put our hands. With the CPU idle, we could not hear it, and we believe the noise level we measured came from the hard disk and from the room itself, not from the cooler fan. Even with the CPU under full load, its noise level was low, practically inaudible even with an open case.

It has only two relative flaws: first, we could not use the first two memory sockets, because the modules we use have very tall heatsinks. Second flaw is aesthetics: casemodders may preffer a fancyer cooler, with nice design, LEDs and colorful fans.

Even if it was an expensive cooler, it should be a good option for the user looking for a silent cooler with good preformance. But the best of all is the fact it is a relatively inexpensive cooler. So, Scythe Mugen-2 deserves the Hardware Secrets Golden Award seal.