First Impressions


On first glance you could easily mistake this cooler for an object d’art, maybe even a post modernist rendition of a skyscraper done in copper. One thing is for certain, with its heatpipes coming out of it from all 4 sides, a big hole in the center and deep groves in each corner; it doesn’t look like a normal tower heatsink. Or for that matter, any other heatsink we have ever seen (except for its predecessor the Scythe Ninja). This of course is to be expected as Scythe was never one to play follow the leader and when the original Ninja came out its odd yet strikingly good looks charmed many a reviewer and silenced numerous critics. This A.E. copper model is at heart a Scythe Ninja just with all the cheaper (and lighter) aluminum replaced with heavier, more expensive (high “bling”) copper.


While it is a called the Scythe Ninja and it does take its overall general appearance from the Ninja cooler, Scythe’s technical engineers did take this opportunity to improve upon the original Ninja design. One change they made was to nickel plate the copper base. As many Ninja enthusiasts quickly found out copper tarnishes way too easy and this way the Scythe Ninja Copper will stay bright and shiny for years to come. The next thing that has been changed is that unlike even the Rev. B of the Ninja, that had its heatpipes grouped together in the center of each side of the cooler, this copper one has its heatpipes spread out evenly across the full width of each side. This redesign allows for not only better heat distribution but also decreases the air turbulence making air movement through the fins easier.

One change that while is not as obvious as the relocation of the heatpipes is the fan that is included with the Ninja Copper. Unlike the updated Ninja Plus Rev. B that ships with a 1200rpm 7 bladed fan this model uses a slower 9 bladed 800 rpm fan. Apparently moving those heatpipes, and swapping out the aluminum for copper must really lower the need for active cooling. We sill see later in the review exactly how much cooling this unit really needs.

One thing worth mentioning before we continue is the fact that Scythe places a warning label on the bottom of the base of the Copper Ninja to help protect it from being scratched in transit. Usually this is where I would mention a common pet peeve of mine about companies putting stickers on the base of their coolers and how you now have to spend extra time to thoroughly clean off all the gunk before you can use it; however, Scythe got it right. This warning label is not a sticker, rather it is very similar to those little plastic reminders that your car dealer puts in the top corner of your window to tell you when you next servicing is due. The amazing part of this is that the plastic film stays in place just by static cling and does not require any glue to do its job. This means you just have to peel off the warning / protective label and use it with no time consuming cleaning is required. It is great attention to detail that help distinguish Scythe from its competition. Hopefully, other companies will follow suit and get rid of the glue!


Also on the positive side, the base of this cooler is not only perfectly flat but has been polished to a mirror-like finish. This level of quality was well above average and was easily one of the best we have had the pleasure of seeing. High price tag or not, good quality and attention to details like this really highlight how much time, money and expertise was used in the creation of this CPU cooling solution.

Overall, it is very nice to see that there were multiple changes made to the new Scythe Ninja Copper and that they didn’t simply replace the aluminum fins with copper but actually took the time to tweak the basic design into a more modern revision of the original.