X-bit labs

I Am Legend: Scythe Ninja Copper Cooler Review (page 3)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 02/06/2008 | 03:06 PM ]

I used a cotton Q-tip to apply some thermal interface to the heatpipes beneath the heatsink:

Then I screwed the heatsink back on and removed it again. The thermal grease imprint on the heatsink base indicated that even if there was a layer of thermal interface between them, the heatsink had very little contact with the heatpipes - only a few thin lines, and not the entire surface as I wished. I wonder why they would need this aluminum heatsink at all, if it doesn’t get in contact with the heatpipes but simply hangs on two retention plates. I don’t think that applying more thermal grease would solve the problem. It would be great if the manufacturer could pay more attention to this issue, if Scythe Ninja Copper ever goes into mass production.

The cooler base if protected against scratches with plastic film sticker that bears a large exclamation mark and a warning to remove the film before installation:

The cooler base is made of solid copper, but is covered with a thin layer of nickel alloy. The base finish quality and evenness are absolutely stunning:

Another distinguishing feature of the new Scythe Ninja Copper is an improved fan from the Scythe Slip Stream 120 series:

The new fan series features smaller rotor diameter and bigger operational surface of the fan blades. SY1225SL12L model that comes with Scythe Ninja Copper rotates at ~800RPM generating 40.17CFM airflow. In this case the level of generated noise doesn’t exceed 11dBA. Sounds very impressive, doesn’t it?

It is very nice to see that there were multiple changes made to the new Scythe Ninja Copper and that the manufacturer didn’t simply replace aluminum plate array with copper. Now we just need to check it out in action. But before we move on to the tests, let’s say a few words about the installation procedure.