Scythe Ninja Mini

I just put it in my htpc. Its pretty light and would be fine verticle.

I spent 20 minutes trying to get this thing installed on a am2 processor. Never could get it to clamp down on both sides.. whats the secret?

I used it with a C2D - different mounting system so I have no idea.

I have one installed on a AM2 4200+. This was the hardest heatsink I've ever tried to install. I finally got it clipped on both sides. The only secret I know is that there was no way I was going to install it with the motherboard in the case. It was easier with the motherboard on my table. (Emphasis on easier,) I would not call it easy at all, just easier than trying to install it with the motherboard mounted. Even on the table, I felt like I was going to snap my motherboard trying to get both sides clamped down.


Ronnie

Now the question I have is.... was is it worth it? I still have it sitting in the box and could give it another shot but what a PITA. The retail one that came with the processor is a little loud for my liking but it did install in less than 1 minute.


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grant

I have both a Scythe Infinity and Ninga Mini on Intel boards. The Mini is nothing compared to the Infinity which has been hanging horizontally in a tower case for about a year now. The Infinity could be three times as heavy so I wouldn't worry about the mini pulling off of the MB at lest with the push pin 775 Intel mounting system.

I have the big brother Scythe Ninja 1100P in a vertical case, hanging horizontally, on an e6600. Been that way for about 6 months now. Cools the e6600 superbly (idles around 33, and that e6600 is overclocked to 3.2GHz), and I have yet to hear any craaacks...of the motherboard tearing itself apart.. The Mini should be perfectly fine.

The mini isn't a bad little cooler. I have it sitting on an E6750 in a Fusion 430 case. No fan on the cooler except for the 2-12 cm side case fans next to it. I can't get it much over a core temp of 43C with the prime 95 torture test. I might have to crank it up to 3 Ghz and see how it does compared to the 3 GHz OC E6600 with the Sycthe Infinity.

For me, YES! I'm running a 4200+ (65W dual core 2.2GHz Windsor) in an Antec NSK-2400 case with a Seasonic S12-330 PSU. With the Ninja Mini, I can now run two Yate Loon D12SL-12 case fans with a 5V mod as my only cooling.

Just a quick update. I gave the ninja mini a second chance this afternoon. My current heat sink / fan was the retail AMD that came with my AM2 6000 cpu and it was very loud. I was not able to get it installed last time I tried because it simple would not snap on the the mobo. I removed the mobo this morning as was able to install it in less than 2 minutes. Very easy once the mobo is out of the case.

I was running 39-40C before installing the ninja mini. I am currently running 34-35C with very little noise. Worth the time to remove the mobo to put this in.

I just bought one for my HTPC. Had to take the motherboard out because of the old cooler (NorthQ, zalman-like) had screws from underneath. Otherwise it would be possible to snap it on with the MB in place. It takes quite a lot of force on the snap-ins though. I placed the MB vertically on my kitchen table and "clamped" it from both directions when pushing in the snap-ins.

The fan that came along is inaudiable, at least run on 5V.

Nah, I'm lazy so I use a Fan Mate 2:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=70

With that you can deliver from 5 to 11 volts to the fan.

I recently bought the ninja mini to replace the original amd fan (which wasn't really loud, but just a bit small). Anyhow putting the heatsink it in wasn't that difficult, but the fan itself is pretty obnoxious. It's by far the loudest fan that I had. So I disconnected it for the time being, hoping that the heatsink alone is enough. Without that fan its competely silent.

Did I just get a bad fan, or does this cooler come with different fan variations? Also can somebody recommend a fan that is indeed silent, if the heatsink alone doesn't work?

I was looking at the Ninja but the mount is horrible. I would suggest a bolt-thru kit from thermalright/take or make your own. Those plastic pins are nonsense and dont even click through half the time.

Rico- I went with a Thermalright Ultima 90 instead and am using a Scythe "blue" S-FPD 1600rpm fan on it but with a fan speed controller (Zalman). Slowed to around 1000rpm it is totally silent.

I just Replaced a Silverstone NT01 v2.0 with the Minja. I left the MB in, using the Silverstone mount, removed the push-pins from the Scythe 775 mount, and installed it to the heatsink upside down. Got some small washers from the hardware store and used those with the Silverstone mounting nuts...works fine. This is in a Zalman HD135 case with 2 Noctua 120's, and a Noctua 80 on the Minja. Temps dropped about 5 C.

P

When I put mine on I had the motherboard out, all but one pin went down as the forfathers of goofyness fortold...the last one had to be clamped down rather carefully with a some channel locks. I run mine passive in my Antec 900 case...works great and doesn't make any noise and that's with all the case fans on the low setting cooling a Pentium D 920 that is setting consistantly at 40c at idle which is a far cry from the high 50's I was getting with the stock heatsink and fan.

I

I'm running mine with the fan and I don't hear it...maybe I'm just deaf.

I have a 3800+ Socket 939, that used it's bigger brother the Scythe Ninja for over 19 months with no issues.

I did mount the heatsink before I placed it in the case as this really is the best option for a heatsink so large. However, I am not really familiar with the mini-ninja's dimension so I guess you can give it a go but I wouldn't be surpried if you have to take out the motherboard to install it.

Contrary to others who have posted I found the ninja to fit the socket 939 easily (it did require some elbow grease but that was to be expected).

I received the Ninja yesterday, along with my other parts, and will be building next week. I have a question about the use of thermal grease for this cooler. For those of you who own it, did you use the thermal grease supplied with the cooler? If so, how much do you use? I've never done a build, so this is new to me.

Is it worth it to get some Arctic Silver thermal grease instead?

I'll have an AM2 CPU.

The thermal paste provideded by Scythe will probably be decent quality however I used Arctic Silver since I had it already and that took my doubts away. The amount used should be very thin.

This talks about application and types of paste and how to apply with photos.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/archiv...hp/t-6630.html

Thank you. I also found the user's guide online for Arctic Silver, and it too said to put a rice-grain-sized amount of it in the middle of an AMD CPU's IHS, and then press the cooler down on that blob to spread it over the core(s).

I think I'm going to pick up a small tube of Arctic Silver 5, and use it. I feel better now about something that was intimidating me!

ND

Will be moving my HTPC from a Scythe Tower Case to an Antec Fusion 430 in the near future and am very interested in replacing my stock Intel heatsink with one of these, but am a bit nervous at the prospect of running a CPU Heatsink with no fan on it. Have any of you set the Fusion or the equivalent NSK case up in this way? Did you have any problems?

I'm also a bit worried about the fact that the CPU has already made contact with the tape on the Intel heatsink. If I put some paste on it and mount this heatsink, will the tape contact with the stock heatsink be a problem?

I've read several instances of people (here and other forums) using the Ninja Mini without a fan in a Fusion. I have a Fusion running a X2 4600+ with a Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu and I'm currently laying out an upgrade. This will include running a Mini without it's fan. I'll monitor the temps and if I deem them too hot, I'll just add the fan.

I'm running an AMD BE-2400 with a Minja, and no fan inside a Fusion 430 (although 2 exhaust case fans - a Scythe Kama PWM and a Noctua 120mm - both running under Abit EQ fan control).

CPU temperatures are about 29-30 Celsius idle, 50 C under load. System temps are about 31 C idle, 35 C under load. GPU temps (8600GT passive cooled) are 45 C idle and 50 C under load.

In short, I wouldn't worry about the lack of a direct CPU fan. The airflow in the Fusion will take care of things - although block up the inlet holes next to the case fans so that it needs to drag air over the PCI area, so the GPU temps are lower. If I don't do that, the GPU temps jump by about 7-8 C.

Only problems are in actually fitting the Minja onto the AMD mountings. God, that was scary. I really thought I was going to snap either the motherboard or the tabs on the Minja. But both are made of tougher stuff.

Chalupacabra:

I have an Intel E2200 overclocked to 2.75 GHz and cooled with the Ninja Mini in the NSK2400. It also has 4Gb memory and is running Vista32. I used Artic Silver 5 for the thermal paste.

I replaced the pair of 120mm side fans with two YateLoon fans and Zalman Fanmate speed controllers. The fans are running at 532 and 1066rpm according to PCWizard2008. Aside from the power supply fan which is isolated, these are the only two fans in the system.

At idle, the CPU cores are around 29C and they go up to 52C when running the Prime95 benchmark which pegs both cores at 100%.

And its super quiet...

Hope this helps!

- Peter