Premium Socket 939 Heatsink Round-Up

Reviews: Cooling

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Max Slowik
Kurtis
Sharka Corp
Aug. 29, 2006

Specifications

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Scythe Mine

First Looks

The Mine isn't a smaller version of the Ninja; a solid, somewhat narrower though much denser tower, the Mine is just as tall. What its fins lack in size, they make up for in number.

The distance between the fins is about half that of the Ninja, and the number of heatpipes is also halved to six; three across the base extending both directions into each tower-half.

Specifications

Dimensions (L X W X H): 109 X 105 X 150mm
Material: Pure copper and aluminum
Weight: 560g
Bearing Type: Sleeve
Fan Speed: 1,500rpm
Air Flow: 42.7cfm
Noise: 22dB
Connector: 3-Pin

Taking a Closer Look

The exceptionally simple mounting hardware is not, unfortunately, bi-directional, so it is restricted by the direction of the motherboard's mounting bracket. Still, as long as the bracket is standard, the cooler installs so that the heatsink blows toward the back of the case.

The finish on the base of the Mine is near-perfect, the same class as Zalman's CNPS9500AM2, though it did scratch a little more easily. Still, there was no sign of either warping or curving of the base, and there were absolutely no signs of machining or lapping.

Included with the heatsink is a volt-modding adapter, so that the fan may be run at 5 volts rather than 12. As it turned out, the fan Scythe supplies doesn't need it at all - it's dead silent. The adapter could be useful with a different fan, however, should the original be swapped out.

Install

The Mine uses all of the motherboard's retention hardware, and popping it onto the retention bracket was no harder than attaching its "Metal Assembly Clip"-the Socket 939 mounting hardware-which snaps onto both sides of the base. No screws, no tools, nothing. In fact, it's so simple to install that it's easy to overlook whether or not the clips are both pointed downward. (Cough.)

The fan, because it's seated inside the cooler, stays out of the way during the install and the tower doesn't block access to or visibility of the mounting hardware. In fact, I'd even say it's no more difficult than installing a stock AMD heatsink. It takes some muscle to move the latch around to its locked position, though. Fortunately, the latch stays parallel with the motherboard and clear of the capacitors.

Pay attention to which direction the fan is installed in. Neither it nor the heatsink is marked to indicate the direction of airflow, and it's also easy to install it backwards. (Cough, cough.)

In Use

The included 100mm fan is quiet; perhaps even more so than the Ninja's 120mm. It's inaudible encased from arm's length, even at full speed. This does seem to be at the cost of airflow. While the fan is rated at about 43cfm, between the tower halves it's hard to feel much air coming out of or going into the cooler.

This is partially due to the very narrow gaps between the cooling vanes; with a higher-pressure fan, or even just a standard 120mm fan, the cooler performs somewhat better, though at the cost of inaudibility.

Changing the fan on this cooler is perfectly feasible. The fan mount will hold any fan from 60mm to 140mm just so long as it is 20mm thick. The screws are a little hard to get to, and quite tight, but the consideration is nice, especially for those who want a little light coming off the heatsink. It also means that the fan can be replaced if it fails.

And performance-wise, even with the very noise-conscious fan, the Mine cools as well as the Zalman coolers.

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Page 7 of 12

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: An Overclocking Primer
Page 3: The Contenders & Testing Methodology
Page 4: Zalman CNPS9500
Page 5: Zalman CNPS9500AM2
Page 6: Scythe Ninja Plus+
Page 7: Scythe Mine
Page 8: Noctua NH-U12
Page 9: Thermaltake Sonic Tower
Page 10: Thermaltake Mini Typhoon
Page 11: Overclocking & Temperatures
Page 12: Conclusions & Final Recommendations

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