Scythe mine CPU cooler reviewed (English translation)

Cooling Processors quietly

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Scythe mine CPU cooler reviewed (English translation)

Post by Felger Carbon » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:33 pm

Scythe "mine" HSF reviewed.

uwbandman
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:35 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Scythe mine CPU cooler reviewed (English translation)

Post by uwbandman » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:49 pm

The Scythe mine Cooler straight only for the CeBit presented and already to know we the product for heart and kidneys to examine
Come again?
Well the translation needs a little work, but the cooler looks great!

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Re: Scythe mine CPU cooler reviewed (English translation)

Post by jmke » Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:09 pm

Well the translation needs a little work, but the cooler looks great!
that's google translate for you sir:)

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:51 pm

"mine" cooler should be officialy released by the end of the week; if the review is anything to go by, it should offer a nice performance/noise ratio.

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:50 am

here's another review of the Mine; very consistent results with what Scythe got in their in-house tests.

Image

Translated Link

Passive the Mine trails the Ninja by a few degress
with Slow fan it's slightly ahead of the Ninja
with Fast fan it's ahead of Ninja and Shogun!

weighs 560gr (vs 760gr Shogun and 800+ Ninja) - 3 heatpipes; multiple socket support and multiple fan support. Price in Europe is aimed at €35 (vs €40 for Ninja).

TooNice
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:57 pm

Post by TooNice » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:33 am

Wow, thats promising. Is it as tall as the Ninja or a little shorter?

This looks good, I might go for this instead of the Ninja. I never had the intention of going passive anyway.

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:35 am

Mine & 100mm fan= 109 x 105 x 150mm
Ninja only= 110 x 110 x 150mm

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:51 am

jmke wrote:Mine & 100mm fan= 109 x 105 x 150mm
Ninja only= 110 x 110 x 150mm
The Ninja, with a 120mm fan, is generally higher than 150mm. But the same Scythe 100mm fan that comes with the Mine is available for separate purchase and can be fitted to the Ninja without increasing the height of the Ninja. BTW, my Ninjas (two of them) musta shrunk. They measure 146.6mm, not 150mm as the spec sez. :)

With most single-core 90nm AMD CPUs, the minute differences between the HSs and HSFs covered in the review are irrelevant. With any cool-running CPU in the generation arriving late this year, the differences are irrelevant. The hot 130nm CPU generation by both Intel and AMD have certainly taught the industry how to make good HSs and HSFs. :D

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:57 am

that's why I say "Ninja only" not "Ninja and fan" ;-)

anyway; you are absolutely correct about the performance; if you have Ninja, stick with it. if you dont and want a relative light-weight, easy to install, multiple fan support heatsink with good price, you might consider the new Scythe Mine.

with a bit of luck a sample may find its way into my test setup in time for the next roundup:)

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 29, 2006 1:19 pm

jmke wrote:anyway; you are absolutely correct about the performance; if you have Ninja, stick with it. if you dont and want a relative light-weight, easy to install, multiple fan support heatsink with good price, you might consider the new Scythe Mine.
I have two yet-unanswered questions about the Mine: just what is the "good price", and will the fan blow toward the exhaust fan or toward the PSU using my mobo?

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Wed Mar 29, 2006 1:23 pm

Q1: is answered in a previous post, it's cheaper then Ninja in Europe; €35 for high heatsink is not bad imho; TR XP-120 and others were always easily 40-50+

Q2: depends on what motherboard you have... what is your motherboard ;)

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:06 pm

jmke wrote:depends on what motherboard you have... what is your motherboard ;)
Yes, there is that :) . But I meant that not enough information is yet available AFAIK to determine if the fan points in the same direction as on the HR-01 (which needs a fan), or if it points in the different direction of a TT Sonic Tower.

For the record, my Asus K8S-MX mobo is like most K8 mobos: the HR-01 blows at the PSU and the Sonic Tower blows at the exhaust fan.

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:12 pm

well this cooler uses the S939 clip on system at the sides, so the fan will be in the direction of those clips.

on this pic of the Asus mobo

Image

it would point the fan towards the rear. so the fan will be blowing the air towards the back of the case.

here's a pic of the clips and the S939/S754 mounting bracket

Image

that does mean the HSF has a drawback compared to the Ninja and the Shogun, who both can be orientated to allow fan the blow towards the rear.

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Post by Felger Carbon » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:28 am

jmke wrote:the Mine... weighs 560gr (vs 760gr Shogun and 800+ Ninja) - 3 heatpipes; multiple socket support and multiple fan support. Price in Europe is aimed at €35 (vs €40 for Ninja).
Scythe USA now lists the US price: $54 recommended resale! Jab-Tech sells the fanless Ninja for $36.

Big difference between the EU and the US of A. :D

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Sun Apr 02, 2006 4:05 am

Ninja's first resale price was not $36 ;)

diver
Posts: 327
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:27 pm

Post by diver » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:28 am

The Mine does not look like a general replacement for the Ninja in the context of silent computing as the Ninja is better at low air flows. Perhaps the mine will be better in applications involving the hotter Intel processors. However, it has been pointed out that the industry is transitioning to lower power CPU's. Big coolers will keep their place, but mainly as passive devices. We may have even seen a peak in the number of available products of this type.

Meanwhile, a lot of revised coolers will hit the shelves this summer to cope with the AMD AM2 socket and its new hole spacing.

Felger Carbon
Posts: 2049
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:06 am
Location: Klamath Falls, OR

Post by Felger Carbon » Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:01 am

jmke wrote:Ninja's first resale price was not $36 ;)
That wasn't intended as a criticism of you, JMKE; just a comment on the current status of the market. But since I seem to have your attention:

The Ninja only mounts to "478-compatible" retainers. The new AM2 mount has some very 478-alike features. Are these 478-alike features actually compatible with 478, and hence the Ninja?

Or is the AM2 merely (in part) "alike", and not compatible with 478 and hence not compatible with the Ninja?

diver
Posts: 327
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:27 pm

Post by diver » Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:52 am

According to this:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/sh ... i=2688&p=2

The new socket is totally incompatible with all 3rd party coolers.

Read it and weep.

Tibors
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 2674
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:07 am
Location: Houten, The Netherlands, Europe

Post by Tibors » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:26 am

The Scythe Mine has the same mounting system as the Scythe Samurai Z. The mounting of the Samurai Z broke during testing at SPCR. (See page 3 of the review.) So I don't think I'll buy this one either.

Since this cooler uses clip mounting, you can make it fit on the AM2 socket by cutting the end of the clips with tin snips.

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:36 pm

diver wrote: Read it and weep.
don't weep, look closer at the photo :)

now look closer here:
http://www.madshrimps.be/forums/showthr ... hlight=AM2

then realise that making a custom bracket which can fit S478 and S939 is not that hard to make, so I expect many heatsink makers to bring their version of it to the market to allow their current crop of the heatsinks to fit on the AM2 platform.
Tibors wrote:The Scythe Mine has the same mounting system as the Scythe Samurai Z. The mounting of the Samurai Z broke during testing at SPCR. (See page 3 of the review.) So I don't think I'll buy this one either..
I've tested the Samurai Z and have not found any of the problems mentioned in the SPCR review; the only thing I did encounter was one of the springs jumping out and getting it back it was a challenge, from what I've seen at Cebit they have slightly improved the clip to prevent this from happening.

diver
Posts: 327
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:27 pm

Post by diver » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:58 pm

I prefer to weep. LOLROF

TooNice
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:57 pm

Post by TooNice » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:16 am

Felger Carbon wrote:
jmke wrote:Mine & 100mm fan= 109 x 105 x 150mm
Ninja only= 110 x 110 x 150mm
The Ninja, with a 120mm fan, is generally higher than 150mm. But the same Scythe 100mm fan that comes with the Mine is available for separate purchase and can be fitted to the Ninja without increasing the height of the Ninja. BTW, my Ninjas (two of them) musta shrunk. They measure 146.6mm, not 150mm as the spec sez. :)
Umm, so I take it that using a 120mm fan on the MIME would make it the same height as the Ninja with a 120mm fan?

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:23 am

I think that maybe on the Mine it will sit higher, check the 2 reviews posted, the fan is in the middle clamped between to metal pieces which are raised quite a bit above the base of the heatsink

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:02 am

first impressions: clip on system for the different mountings is definity more sturdy than the one used on the Samurai Z; the problem SPCR has in their review, I don't see it happening on this one. I could rather easily remove and install the different socket clips;

performance wise the stock 100mm fan is quite good actually, performance on par/slight better than Ninja with 120mm Papst. Still have to test with the 120mm papst this evening.

all in all looks like a promising cooler for active cooling; passive the ninja is still king

markrb
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:29 am

Post by markrb » Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:08 am

Newegg sells this for a few dollars more then the ninja.

I am looking for a very quiet heastsink/fan combo for my
XP 64 3200+ CPU on an Epox MB.

They are close enough in price that I will pick the one that will be quieter for my CPU with a fan.

Will either do fine or should I lean towards one over the other?

It's going into a HTPC that I already have the Seasonic 430 and am replacing all the case fans with Yate Loons.

Thanks,
Mark

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:10 am

at low airflows the Ninja is better, at higher airflows the mine wins; but margins are very close; have no experience with the "plus" fan of the Ninja; but the one included with the Mine cooler is not bad at all.

TooNice
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:57 pm

Post by TooNice » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:34 am

Is there any chance that you'd be able to do some comparison with a 120mm Yate Loon?

jmke
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 495
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:53 am
Location: In Front of PC
Contact:

Post by jmke » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:49 am

I'm using a Papst GLL for same fan comparisons

signal64
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:11 am

Post by signal64 » Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:12 am

Just as an FYI - I had problems fitting the Ninja + Fan height.
The lock tabs keep the fan from sitting lower (if you choose to mount it on the side with the lock tabs).

I cut the tabs back on one side so now the fan can sit about 1cm lower.
This blows a little more air through the bottom sink as well.

Looks like that isn't an issue with the Mine though.

TooNice
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:57 pm

Post by TooNice » Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:30 am

Another review here: http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=3528&s=5

The site is painfully slow though (for me), and they only use the XP90C as reference. Only two fans are tested. They also mention that height could be an issue when larger fans are fitted.
I am looking forward to the CPU cooler round up at Madshrimps.

Post Reply