Scythe Ninja 3

[AdamK47]

How is this heatsink? I've read several reviews and they all seem pretty inconsistent. Some put it at the top and some put it in the middle of the pack.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Given how big and heavy that sucker is it's probably pretty good if installed properly. What CPU is it going on?

 

[fffblackmage]

Gotta be for his Pentium 166C. Go for 200MHz!

I have the Ninja 2. It worked well for me for the past 4 years or so, but my new CM 212+ is so much better. However, I've seen reviews for the Ninja 3, and its supposed to be quite an improvement over the Ninja 2. My impression is that it's not the best, but it's fairly close. Generally speaking, Scythe tends to make heatsinks that focuses on silence rather than absolute top performance.

 

[AdamK47]

980X

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Well in that case, I'd suggest the HR-02, Megahalems, or Venomous X with a TY-140 fan.

 

[Aristotelian]

Well in that case, I'd suggest the HR-02, Megahalems, or Venomous X with a TY-140 fan.

I was under the impression that the Noctua NH-D14 (with two fans, heavy overclock) was superior to either the Megahalems and the HR-02 (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-hr02_5.html#sect0). Is there a reason you didn't recommend it?

 

[Cebu]

I love my CM 212+. The performance can't be beat for the price.

 

[Zap]

980X

There are heatsinks that will cool better than the Ninja. AFAIK the different revisions are just to do with the mounting. I don't think they changed the performance. The original had clips for mounting to socket 478 permanently on it (yes the heatsink dates back that far!), then it used screw-on bits for AM2/775. Now it includes all the new Intel sockets.

The Ninja is very good at one thing. Having acceptable cooling while being very quiet.

It gets the acceptable cooling from the sheer size and all the heatpipes, but is hindered by the lack of fins. However, that "lack" of fins allows it to have more space between the fins, which is important for low airflow, and low airflow = low noise. I've run overclocked Athlon x2 and Core 2 Duo with these Ninja heatsinks passive (cooled only by low speed case fans). Try that with your TRUE or Megahalems or VenemousX! However, once you stick a medium to high speed fan on the heatsink, the Ninja falls behind.

 

[Skunkwourk]

The Ninja is very good at one thing. Having acceptable cooling while being very quiet.

I've run overclocked Athlon x2 and Core 2 Duo with these Ninja heatsinks passive (cooled only by low speed case fans). Try that with your TRUE or Megahalems or VenemousX! However, once you stick a medium to high speed fan on the heatsink, the Ninja falls behind.

+1. My Ninja 1 installations have always been passive and I still got very good temps with Athlon64 and Athlon64 x2 chips