reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED
78
W
e all know that the stock cooler that
comes with your CPU will get the
job done, but it won’t be exception-
ally cool, nor are stock coolers particularly
quiet or attractive. Aftermarket coolers, on
the other hand, are all of the above, and usu-
ally cost just a few Hamiltons. This month we
look at two high-end units from Thermaltake
and Scythe that are designed to run cool and
quiet, and install easily. To quote Half-Life’s G-
Man: “We’ll see about that.”
—JOSH NOREMSCYTHE MINE
Scythe is a newcomer to the U.S. cooling
market, and is trying to establish itself as
the go-to company for monstrous heatsinks
that—like Zalman’s—offer quiet cooling. We
reviewed the company’s Ninja Plus cooler in
July, and were impressed by its silent opera-
tion. The Mine runs just as quiet, but suffers
several major flaws.
Problem number one: It can’t be mounted
on our zero-point system’s Asus A8N32
motherboard. Here’s why: The cooler’s reten-
tion mechanism for AMD systems sports
two small levers that you must swing around
in an arc to lock down the cooler, but one
of the arms comes into contact with ourmobo’s chipset cooler. When
questioned about this issue,
Scythe simply said this cooler
will not work with this mobo. We
pointed out that the MSI K8N
Diamond Plus also has a north
bridge heatsink. The response?
Mine will work with that board, if
you’re willing to cut the locking lever, which
seems like an extreme measure to us. This is
a major oversight on Scythe’s part, obviously,
and we’re baffled that the company neglect-
ed to test compatibility with two prominent
passively cooled motherboards.
We ended up installing the Mine on an
Asus A8N Deluxe, and the fit was just fine,
but the installation itself was a pain in the
butt. The metal mounting levers are very
small and swing within a metal groove,
which makes them very difficult to secure.
It’s definitely one of the worst retention
methods we’ve encountered.
These faux paus are regrettable because
the Mine is a fantastic cooler. It’s so quiet you
literally cannot even hear it running, and its
temperature during our tests was superb. Its
“midship” 10cm fan helps move air through
the case (and heatsink), and can be replaced
with a fan as large as 12cm, if you so desire.
Motherboard removal is not required for
installation, regardless of platform (it’s com-
patible with every CPU socket available,
including AM2).THERMALTAKE TYPHOON MINI
This cooler’s predecessor is the Big
Typhoon—a great cooler,
as long as your PC doesn’t
have a side door. You see,
that cooler is so damn big
that it extends almost all
the way to the door of most
cases, depriving the cooler
of a source of fresh air.Thermaltake recognized the issue and thus
the Mini Typhoon was born.
The Mini’s “open frame” fan design
allows it to suck air into its maw from
above, and cool the CPU as well as the
components around the CPU socket. In
another major improvement, Thermaltake
has totally revamped its retention mecha-
nism with this cooler. Rather than using
long screws and requiring mobo removal
for LGA775, you now just drop the appro-
priate fastener over the base plate and
secure it using the stock bracket (for both
AMD and Intel). Issues we encountered:
There’s no way to secure the retention
mechanism to the cooler, so it has a ten-
dency to move around when you’re mount-
ing the heatsink. During testing, we thought
we secured the retention arm only to look
down and see that the whole mechanism
was misaligned. We’re also surprised that
the arm hits the unit’s fins when you’re
locking it into place, so you have to bend it
outward, which seems like a design flaw.
Its cooling performance is totally
acceptable, but it’s not a huge improve-
ment over the stock cooler. It’s relatively
quiet, but does run louder than other high-
end coolers we’ve tested. The only time
it was “silent” was when we enabled the
Q-fan setting on our mobo, which reduces
fan speed for quiet operation. With the fan
speed lowered, it cooled only as well as
the stock cooler, making it more of a lateral
move than an upgrade.Heatsink Hokey Pokey
Hey, CPU—are you ready to chill?
The Mine’s 10cm “midship” fan can
be replaced with a fan of any size
your heart desires, from 6cm all the
way up to 12cm.The Mini Typhoon is not for tech stragglers. It only
works on AM2, K8, and LGA775.$50, http://www.thermaltake.comTHERMALTAKE TYPHOON MINITHAI FOOD
Easy to install, cools
decently, and cools entire
CPU socket.
TYPHOON
A smidge noisy, and the retention
bar slides around.$54, http://www.scythe-usa.comSCYTHE MINEMINE
Very quiet, fantastic
performance, and no clear-
ance issues.
YOURS
Doesn’t fit on our A8N32 mobo,
and is too hard to install.AMD FX-60 TEMPS
SCYTHE MINE* MINI TYPHOON STOCK
IDLE (C) 33 41 44
100% LOAD (C) 48 49 53Best scores are bolded. All temperatures were measured from the onboard sensors using the utilities provided by the motherboard manufacturer. Idle temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of inactivity and full-load temps
were achieved by running CPU Burn-in for one hour. *Scythe Mine was tested on an Asus A8N Deluxe SLI due to incompatibility with our zero-point Asus A8N32 motherboard.