While the Scythe Zipang isn't broken, its abysmal thermal performance combined with a Hulk-like rage inducing fitting procedure and a price tag steeper than Nvidia's stock decline make this one of the worst coolers we've looked at in recent memory. It fails on almost every criteria on which we judge a heatsink, and while it is very quiet, so are Noctua's coolers, which are not only cheaper, but perform 9°C cooler. The Zipang's dimensions also mean you'll struggle to fit it inside an HTPC, which is the only real task we think it could possibly be suited for.

Last week we looked at the superb Akasa 966, and it was pretty much everything we want from a CPU cooler. Quiet, easy to fit and offering great thermal results, it was an easy cooler to recommend. The Zipang is almost the polar opposite. Ridiculously oversized, underpowered, over priced and a pain to fit - the Zipang is a poor cooler from the get go, and certainly proves that looks can indeed be deceiving.