Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B: Updated Cooling Legend
by Wesley Fink on April 11, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Cooling at Stock Speed
Some users will never overclock their CPU, but they still want to run the coolest CPU temperatures possible to enhance stability and extend CPU life. The Scythe Ninja Plus B kit includes a moderate output low noise 120mm fan. We also tested the Vindicator with the 120mm SilenX IXTREMA 120 fan.
With the stock fan the end user does get relative silence, but the cost is poorer cooling than most other heatpipe towers tested at AnandTech. As soon as the switch is made to the SilenX fan you can see this cooler is starved for airflow with the stock fan. Idle temps with the SilenX drop to 27C, which is among the best measured performance at stock Idle in our cooler reviews
It is more difficult to effectively simulate a computer being stressed by all of the conditions it might be exposed to in different operating environments. For most home users CPU power is most taxed with contemporary gaming. Therefore our stress test simulates running a demanding contemporary game.
The Far Cry River demo is looped for 30 minutes and the CPU temperature is captured at 4 second intervals with the NVIDIA monitor "logging" option. The highest temperature during the stress test is then reported. Momentary spikes are ignored, as we report a sustained high-level temp that you would expect to find in this recording configuration.
Cooling efficiency of the Scythe Ninja Plus B was tested under load conditions with both the stock fan and the SilenX at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The Ninja Plus B under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 47C with the stock cooler. This was among the worst load results at stock speed with the coolers tested at AnandTech. Switching to the SilenX fan improved the load temperature to 35C. This is a stellar result, and one of the best stock speed load temperatures we have tested. This compared to the Tuniq at 34C, the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and Zalman 9700 at 36C, the Thermalright Ultra 120 at 33C , and the top Ultra 120 Extreme at 32C.
It should also be clear that cooling results with the Scythe Ninja Plus B are quite different than results with the OCZ Vindicator using the same SilenX fan. The Ninja Plus B cools better than the Vindicator using the same fan. This strongly suggests that while the Vindicator looks similar it is not just a rebadged Scythe Ninja Rev. B. There are enough differences in their designs to have an impact on cooling performance. This becomes clearer in a closer look at cooler performance scaling.
Some users will never overclock their CPU, but they still want to run the coolest CPU temperatures possible to enhance stability and extend CPU life. The Scythe Ninja Plus B kit includes a moderate output low noise 120mm fan. We also tested the Vindicator with the 120mm SilenX IXTREMA 120 fan.
With the stock fan the end user does get relative silence, but the cost is poorer cooling than most other heatpipe towers tested at AnandTech. As soon as the switch is made to the SilenX fan you can see this cooler is starved for airflow with the stock fan. Idle temps with the SilenX drop to 27C, which is among the best measured performance at stock Idle in our cooler reviews
It is more difficult to effectively simulate a computer being stressed by all of the conditions it might be exposed to in different operating environments. For most home users CPU power is most taxed with contemporary gaming. Therefore our stress test simulates running a demanding contemporary game.
The Far Cry River demo is looped for 30 minutes and the CPU temperature is captured at 4 second intervals with the NVIDIA monitor "logging" option. The highest temperature during the stress test is then reported. Momentary spikes are ignored, as we report a sustained high-level temp that you would expect to find in this recording configuration.
Cooling efficiency of the Scythe Ninja Plus B was tested under load conditions with both the stock fan and the SilenX at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The Ninja Plus B under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 47C with the stock cooler. This was among the worst load results at stock speed with the coolers tested at AnandTech. Switching to the SilenX fan improved the load temperature to 35C. This is a stellar result, and one of the best stock speed load temperatures we have tested. This compared to the Tuniq at 34C, the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and Zalman 9700 at 36C, the Thermalright Ultra 120 at 33C , and the top Ultra 120 Extreme at 32C.
It should also be clear that cooling results with the Scythe Ninja Plus B are quite different than results with the OCZ Vindicator using the same SilenX fan. The Ninja Plus B cools better than the Vindicator using the same fan. This strongly suggests that while the Vindicator looks similar it is not just a rebadged Scythe Ninja Rev. B. There are enough differences in their designs to have an impact on cooling performance. This becomes clearer in a closer look at cooler performance scaling.
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Frumious1 - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
RTFA! The stock fans are different, and there's no reason to compare the OCZ with the Ninja fan or the Ninja with the Vindicator fan. If someone is going to but a heatsink and use a different fan, they're a lot more likely to go with... I dunno, maybe something like a SilenX? They used the same aftermarket fan for both non-stock configurations, and the Ninja performed slightly better in the termperature tests. Isn't that the informaiton you wanted???I'm sorry (not), but your post is pretty much pointless. Your reading comprehension is flawed, considering the content of the article.
Brunnis - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Way to be on the offensive... I was talking about ALL the heatsinks not just the Ninja vs Vindicator. I've re-checked the article and I've still not found any info on what fans that were used on the other heatsinks. So, apparently I'd have to dig back through all the old tests to find that info. Is it too much to ask for a table that lists the fans (including the RPM) used on each cooler? It still wouldn't enable us to see what heatsink that actually performs the best (with the fan out of the equation), but it's better than nothing.Frumious1 - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Ah, I see... you want them to do something like maybe a fan roundup, right? Maybe if you ask nicely instead of using words like useless and pointless they might do a http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?...">120mm fan roundup? Outside of the Thermalright coolers however, I'd expect just about everyone to go with the stock fan anyway.On a different note, I think a nice list of current street prices for the various coolers would be very useful. Most of the cooler reviews have mentioned price, but a table somewhre in the article would make the situation a lot more clear.
DrMrLordX - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Good to see the ol' Ninja alive and kicking. That ought to put any comparisons between it and the OCZ Vindicator to rest.Spoelie - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Kinda hard when the label of the table on the second page still says ocz vindicator ;)Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - link
Editing oversight corrected.