Scythe Ninja 3 & Scythe Yasya CPU Heatsinks

A pair of Scythe heatsinks battle for a place amongst the best CPU coolers. The Ninja 3 seeks to bring prestige back to its family, while the sharp Scythe Yasya attempts to cut up the competition.

August 8, 2010 by Lawrence Lee

Revered for its part it in creating and popularizing the tower heatsink paradigm,
the Japanese manufacturer Scythe has been neglecting the form recently. Scythe’s
last big tower cooler, the Mugen-2,
impressed us greatly with its high performance and low price-tag, but it’s been
more than a year since its debut and nothing has since has been released to
compliment it. There seems to be a large void in Scythe’s lineup since the Ninja
series fell out of fashion, having been surpassed by a multitude of ambitious
newcomers. The release of two new tower heatsinks may remedy the situation,
but with the DIY market currently saturated with high performance PC coolers,
the Ninja 3 and Yasya really need to step up to be noticed.

Scythe Ninja 3

The newest scion of the legendary Ninja family retains a distinct resemblance
to the original; it is a big, uniform, symmetrical, block of aluminum fins.
Ninja 3 features an extra heatpipe on each side and two channels slicing up
the heatsink in the shape of an ‘X’ though small portions have been left intact
as bridges holding the four sections together. Its predecessor the Ninja
2 relied on stock mounting systems, but the Ninja 3 utilizes a bolt-thru
system with a padded backplate.

Scythe heatsink stock fans have been consistently above par acoustically, and
tend to deliver good cooling in relation to the noise . However, to satisfy
more performance-oriented and less noise-conscious users, the Ninja 3 ships
with a relatively high speed Slip Stream PWM fan rated for 1900 RPM. On the
bright side, there’s a manual fan speed controller attached.

Scythe Yasya

We’re not even going to wager a guess at the origins of the name “Yasya”
but with no lineage to live up to the heatsink bearing its name is free to be
equally odd. In essence it is a traditional six heatpipe cooler but uses what
Scythe refers to as a “Trident Multi Layer Fin” structure. The faces
of the heatsink are very angular, with each fin resembling a jagged blade. This
unusual design reduces resistance but at the cost of total surface area. The
result is a menacing heatsink, not just in appearance. The Yasya is the most
physically hazardous CPU cooler we’ve come across since the Thermaltake
SpinQ and caution should be exercised when handling it.

Compared to the Ninja 3 the Yasya is lighter and more slender. Though it’s
not exactly a lightweight, Scythe deemed it appropriate for traditional Intel
pushpins and AMD spring-loaded tension clips. The stock fan is the same as the
Ninja 3’s.

Scythe Ninja 3: Physical Details & Installation

The Ninja 3 is composed of 8 copper heatpipes (for 16 heatpipe
paths through the fins) and a stack of 38 aluminum fins. According to our measurements,
it weighs 880 grams, 1010 grams with the stock fan and clips installed, and
has a height of 159 mm. For reference, the Thermalright
Ultra-120 eXtreme is 162 mm tall.

Scythe Yasya: Physical Details & Installation

The Yasya is composed of 6 copper heatpipes (for 12 heatpipe paths
through the fins) and a stack of 54 aluminum fins. According to our measurements,
it weighs 760 grams, 890 grams with the stock fan and clips installed, and has
a height of 158 mm. For reference, the Thermalright
Ultra-120 eXtreme is 162 mm tall.

BASE FLATNESS

A flat contact area between the heatsink and CPU heatspreader
is ideal for heat transfer. The copper heatspreader that covers a modern desktop
CPU die often has a slightly concave shape; that is, the center is slightly
lower and the surface gradually curves upwards toward the edges. Heatsink manufacturers
can either make their bases flat, slightly convex to match the concave surface
of the processor.

A Czech tech website, CTTL.cz
found that their Ninja 3 sample had a rather poor base. We replicated their
observations by placing a visibly straight metal ruler against the base of the
Ninja 3 and several other heatsinks with a bright light source in the background
to see how much light leaked through.

On the Ninja 3, light was visible along the entire surface except at the far
edges. The base is concave with a shallow but noticeable crater effect. Most
coolers have bases that are almost flat or contoured slightly in the opposite
direction. When the ruler was placed on the Yasya’s base, more light was visible
at the edges, and the ruler could rock up and down slightly with the center
as a pivot point.

The original Ninja, Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme, and Prolimatech Mega Shadow
(Megahalems) have clearly
convex surfaces as well.

TESTING

Before thermal testing, we took some basic physical measurements.

Testing was done on our
new i7-1366 heatsink testing platform. A summary of the test system
and procedure follows.

Key Components in Heatsink Test Platform:

• Intel Core i7-965 Extreme
  Nehalem core, LGA1366, 3.2GHz, 45nm, 130W TDP.
• Asus
  P6X58D Premium ATX motherboard. X58 chipset.
• Asus
  EAH3450 Silent graphics card.
• Intel
  X25-M 80GB 2.5″ solid-state drive. Chosen for silence.
• 3GB QiMonda
  DDR3 memory. 3 x 1GB DDR3-1066 in triple channel.
• Seasonic X-650 SS-650KM
  650W ATX power supply. This PSU is semi-passively cooled. At the power levels
  of our test platform, its fan does not spin.
• Arctic Silver
  Lumière: Special fast-curing thermal interface material, designed
  specifically for test labs.
• Nexus 120 fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 120x25mm
  fans)
• Nexus 92 fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 92x25mm
  fans)

The system is silent under the test conditions, except for the CPU cooling
fan(s).

Normally, our reference fans are used whenever possible, the measured details
of which are shown below.

Measurement and Analysis Tools

• Extech 380803 AC power analyzer / data logger for measuring AC system
  power.
• Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate
  the fan speed during the test.
• PC-based spectrum analyzer:
  SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digital
  audio interfaces.
• Anechoic chamber
  with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower
• Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our
  standard fan testing methodology.
• SpeedFan,
  used to monitor the on-chip thermal sensors. The sensors are not calibrated,
  so results are not universally applicable. The hottest core reading is used.
• Prime95,
  used to stress the CPU heavily, generating more heat than most real applications.
  8 instances are used to ensure that all 4 cores (with Hyper-threading) are
  stressed.
• CPU-Z,
  used to monitor the CPU speed to determine when overheating occurs.
• Thermometers to measure the air temperature around the test platform
  and near the intake of the heatsink fan.

Noise measurements are made with the fans powered from the lab’s variable DC
power supply while the rest of the system was off to ensure that system noise
did not skew the measurements.

Load testing was accomplished using Prime95 to stress the processor, and the
graph function in SpeedFan was used to ensure that the load temperature is stable
for at least ten minutes. The temperature recorded is the highest single core
reading. The stock fans were tested at various voltages to represent a good
cross-section of airflow and noise performance.

The ambient conditions during testing were 10~11 dBA and 21~23°C.

Stock Fan Measurements

The Ninja 3 and Yasya stock fan has a much higher speed than the fans on most
of Scythe’s previous coolers but it is still a Slip Stream, so smooth, unobtrusive
sound can be obtained through undervolting. At 9V and above, the fan produces
a distressing amount of whine and turbulence. At 7V the whine lessens, but the
turbulence remains, and the fan gives off an audible hum. At 5V, the fan becomes
what we consider to be quiet — 18 dBA@1m, with a smooth broadband profile
with just a slight rattle audible at one meter. At 4V, its acoustics are beyond
reproach; there are few fans if any that sound as good generating 13 dBA@1m.

The fan has a starting voltage of 4V, which is also the bottom limit of the
included fan controller. However, when combined with PWM control on a capable
motherboard, the speed can be dropped down to about 400 RPM, though there is
little practical reason to slow it down that much.

COOLING RESULTS

When paired either the stock fan and our reference fan, the Yasya consistently
held a 2~4°C lead over the larger Ninja 3. Though the Yasya has a less impressive
mounting system, we found that the thermal compound footprint (examined when
the heatsink was removed after testing) showed signs of a tighter mating, and
was more even all around, probably due to its slightly convex base. We believe
this played a significant factor in the Yasya’s superior performance.

Pairing the heatsinks with dual reference fans produced similar improvements
with a 2~3°C drop in temperature at 12V and a 3~4°C dip at 9V and 7V.

Comparison Chart

The Yasya, despite its smaller stature and lower weight, cracks our top ten
list, performing on par with the Thermalright
Ultra-120 eXtreme. The Ninja 3 lands about 5 spots behind sharing company
with the likes of the Titan Fenrir
and Zalman CNPS10X Extreme,
two imposing heatsinks that also perform a bit below expectations.

MP3 SOUND RECORDINGS

These recordings were made with a high
resolution, lab quality, digital recording system inside SPCR’s
own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to LAME 128kbps
encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no audible degradation
from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent a quick snapshot of
what we heard during the review.

These recordings are intended to give you an idea of how the product sounds
in actual use — one meter is a reasonable typical distance between a computer
or computer component and your ear. The recording contains stretches of ambient
noise that you can use to judge the relative loudness of the subject. Be aware
that very quiet subjects may not be audible — if we couldn’t hear it from
one meter, chances are we couldn’t record it either!

The recording starts with 5~10 second segments of room ambiance, then the fan
at various levels. For the most realistic results, set the volume so that
the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then don’t change the volume
setting again.

• Scythe
  Ninja 3 & Yasya stock fan at 1m
  — 4V (13 dBA@1m)
  — 5V (18 dBA@1m)
  — 7V (26 dBA@1m)
  — 9V (30 dBA@1m)
  — 12V (36 dBA@1m)

• Nexus
  120mm fan at 1m
  — 5V (11 dBA@1m)
  — 7V (12 dBA@1m)
  — 9V (13 dBA@1m)
  — 12V (16 dBA@1m)

• 2
  x Nexus 120mm fans at 1m
  — 7V (12 dBA@1m)
  — 9V (14 dBA@1m)
  — 12V (19 dBA@1m)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Scythe Ninja 3

While the Ninja 3’s base is polished to an almost mirror-smooth finish, Scythe
should focus more on its flatness rather than the visible shine. Its concave
shape is likely the main cause of its lackluster cooling. Though not a poor
heatsink, the Ninja 3 underperforms for its size/weight. It is possible that
our review sample is an anomaly; if so, perhaps Sythe will see fit to send us
another sample.

Not only is it a behemoth, it’s a pain to install as well because bolting down
the heatsink requires the motherboard to be out of the case, and flipped upside
down. It’s something that should’ve been addressed after the Mugen-2;
Scythe still has a ways to go in this regard. It is a secure mounting system,
though, and like all previous Ninjas, the latest incarnation is a symmetrical
square so there are no orientation issues on AMD motherboards.

The stock Slip Stream fan has a higher maximum speed than we would have liked,
but the included controller can bring it down to near inaudible levels and below
if connected to a PWM controllable fan header. The current street price for
the Ninja 3 is US$45, a little high considering there are a slew of better performing
alternatives.

Scythe Yasya

The Yasya, despite its smaller size, managed to outperform the Ninja 3 by
about 3°C consistently in our tests. Another 3°C and it would’ve challenged
for champion status. Unfortunately it uses the stock mounting mechanism which
isn’t ideal because of the Yasya’s weight. In addition, the fan points upward
when installed on AMD motherboards; given its performance it really deserves
something better.

The Yasya ships with the same stock fan and controller as the Ninja 3, so the
acoustic quality and overall noise level simply isn’t an issue. The Yasya can
be found online for as low as US$35, a US$10 discount over the Ninja 3, making
it a very solid budget cooler.

Our thanks to Scythe
Co., Ltd. for the Ninja 3 and Yasya heatsink samples.

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