Scythe Ninja on Asus P5WD2 - My experience

[FJC]

I just installed a Scythe Ninja on a new P5WD2 motherboard by Asus. I built this system just before the weekend, but unfortunately the Ninja didn't arrive until yesterday. I didn't want to waste a whole weekend looking at all the unassembled parts, so I built the system anyway, using the heatsink/fan that came with the Intel P4 3.6Ghz 660 Prescott processor.

I put it all into an Antec P180, and using the "configuration 5" from the excellent review on this site (rear fan on low, top fan off), I was getting pretty high CPU temps - 52C idle and 70-71C under load. I was anxious to see how much the Ninja would help.

Yesterday when it arrived, I immediately installed it. I was not surprised to see that the metal brace that goes under the motherboard (to support the brackets the Ninja clips to) had a layer of insulating rubber on it - but I was surprised to see that it had a very strong 3M adhesive on it. Hopefully I'll never need to remove it. I was concerned I might not align the screw holes perfectly with the mounting holes in the motherboard, so I placed the screws into the screwholes on the brace to ensure I could align them correctly.

Once that was installed, it was simple to attach the brackets. I then cleaned the CPU and bottom of the Ninja with some alcohol, applied some Arctic Silver 5, and clipped it onto the brackets. This took quite a bit of pressure, but wasn't as bad as some I've experienced in the past (though I must say, I like the Zalman 7000 mounting method - I've never felt like I might damage a motherboard when mounting one of those). All parts easily cleared the capacitors and other items on the P5WD2 motherboard.

I will note, though, that the fins on the Nexus are quite thin and easily bent - I bent the corner of one up, and sort of "smushed" a few others together. They were very easily straightned out by hand or with the use of some needlenosed pliers.

My Nexus fans are on order still, so I took the Antec Tri-Cool fan from the top blowhole and mounted that on the Ninja. I've seen reports that the fan must be mounted a bit high to clear the memory sticks, but I didn't have that problem - the top of the fan is pretty much flush with the top of the Ninja, and there is still a good quarter-inch or more of space between the bottom of the fan and the first memory stick. Reinstalled everything in the case, set that fan on "medium", and fired the system up.

After lettng it run a while, CPU idle temps are now at 42C (down a solid 10C). Temps under load show a similar decrease, at 60C. I'm told that'll drop a few more degrees once the Arctic Silver 5 "breaks in." The system is much quieter as well (and should be even quieter once my Seasonic S12-500 that arrived defective is replaced/installed, and I remove the Thermaltake PSU). I'm curious to see if the Nexus fan cools it even better or worse than the tri-cool fan is doing on it's "medium" setting.

[Oliver]

Interesting review. Thanks.