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Scythe Ninja Plus and Scythe Ninja Mini
Overview
Other than size, there isn't much to separate the Scythe Ninja plus and the Ninja mini. They are built around the same concept, so I guess it makes sense that they share the name "Ninja". They are both large, rectangular heat sinks, with three heat pipes running up each side, for a total of 6 distinct heat pipes. Both are able to attach a fan, included in the package, to any of the the sides in order to point airflow correctly depending on your individual case setup. You even have the option to not include the fan at all, but I would not recommend that. The only difference between the two coolers is the height, and thus, size of the fan. They are both 110mm x 110mm square from the top, but the Ninja plus is a full 150mm tall, and the mini a mere 115mm. The Plus comes with a full 120mm fan, but the mini will fit 80 or 90mm fans.
Installation
With either Ninja cooler, you have the option of installing on Intel LGA 775, Socket 478, AMD Socket 940, Socket 939, or Socket 754 motherboards. I installed on an LGA 775 motherboard, and the CPU I am using is the Intel Q6700 quad core. The Q6700 gets pretty hot so this will be a good test to see how well the Scythe Ninja and Mini work. Installation could have been easier, but with the wide fin design I suppose that's to be expected. The mounting twist clips were strong though, and I only had to set them each once, and they didn't pop out again. This was true for both the Ninja Plus and the Ninja Mini. The hard part though was actually getting my fingers in there to twist the clips and set them into the motherboard. I had to actually unscrew my motherboard mounting tray, and lean it half out, and move it forward so I would be able to reach all the clips. It is unfortunate that most good CPU coolers require attaching them outside of the case. As I sat there balancing the motherboard, I then had the issues of getting around things like RAM, which I would not have been able to install after the cooler, as the cooler is sitting right over one of my ram slots.
So, it took some acrobatics and I sliced my fingers more than once, but afterwards, everything sat nice and pretty inside the case. I have just barely enough clearance over my ram so I'm not actually touching them. This cooler would definitely present an issue for users with ram that is not a normal height such as Corsair ram that includes finned heatsinks or the OCZ ram that sports a heatpipe cooler. Again, this is exactly the same for the Ninja Plus and the Ninja Mini, since they both have the same length and width, its just the height that changes between them. They are even the same height from the bottom of the heat sink fins to the processor itself, so under the heatsink the clearance is the same.
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