Scythe – Kama Bay

You have a new CPU Cooler in the box and you are installing it. You get everything installed properly and you are getting ready to see if that $30.00 you just spent on CPU cooling will help with the temperature issues you have been worried about lately. You start your rig up, get to doing some thangs, and realize you might have just wasted your money. But alas, computer go’er, your money has not been wasted, your airflow sucks. You already have a fan installed in the front and one in the back, but they are too loud and you don’t want to drill a hole in your case to mount a quiet 120mm fan… so what do you do? Scythe thinks they might have the solution. Enter the Scythe Kama Bay 5″ Bay system Cooler.

When it comes down to it, you don’t have to drill holes in your case to get better air. Enthusiasts have been praising case manufactures lately for providing cooling via 120 mm fans. These aren’t always the circumstances though, sometimes you will have an older case, or just one that wasn’t designed with 120mm fans. That is where a lot of enthusiasts would break out the Dremel and modify their chassis to accommodate their newfound silent cooling solutions. The Kama Bay entices users who don’t want to break out their Dremel to instead break out their wallet.

The Kama Bay comes equipped with a fan that spins at 800rpms and does this at a measly 12.8dBa. This low rpm fan still has enough surface area to whip up 30.5 CFM and do it with style. These specifications are not by any means eye opening, but the bay can be used with other manufacturer’s fans, so you are not limited in that respect.

Everything you need for mounting is packed nicely for you. From the screws to mount vertical to the 3 pin to 4 pin Molex converter.

This unit has 3 possible mounting positions, but the only way I would mount this sucker is as intake and vertical, this will provide you with maximum intake. Installation is a breeze, if you can turn a screwdriver, you can install this thing. The unit comes ready for bezel exposed or bezel hidden applications. Simply screwing the 4 mounting brackets to the main unit allows you to install it as a pure intake solution. Just make sure you can spare 3 5.25″ bays first.

As far as looks go, there is nothing to complain about. There are 3 varieties of colors you can purchase your Kama Bay in: white, black, and silver.

What you have here is a product that can make your cooling solutions more effective. COD’s test rig experienced only a minimal case temp drop as the airflow was already “high class”. As you increase the amount of airflow in your system, you increase the effectiveness of your cooling components. One key thing to remember is the possibilities this unit can provide for you. Not only will it have an effect on your air cooling solutions, but it can make your possible jump into water cooling that much simpler. Now you don’t have to drill a hole for a fan to mount your radiator to. You can simply use a fan with greater width than the one provided and the Kama Bay to mount your radiator. Those are my plans, and that is why I searched out this product. Bottom line, would I buy one? I already did!