Scythe SCNJ-5000 Ninja 5 CPU Cooler Review

Final Thoughts

Price

For a price in the region of £59.99, the Scythe represents what can fairly be called the middle ground in terms of air cooler prices. While not as inexpensive as an entry-level model, it’s certainly got more than enough to distinguish itself from the truly high-end products on the market.

Based on the performance, this ‘middle ground’ pricing perfectly suits the Scythe 5. While you can not necessarily argue that it provides insane value, for an air cooler in that price range, it is certainly far more than impressive when compared to many of its contemporaries and definitely in terms of relatively priced AIO systems.

Design and Ease Of Use

For such a large cooler, the Scythe Ninja 5 is both remarkably easy to handle and install. In addition, again for a bulky cooler, this manages to very effectively pull off a very impressive aesthetic. While air coolers may not be the most attractive option to many, Scythe has attempted, wherever possible, to make this cooler attractive not only in terms of its price and performance but also in its aesthetics.

In truth, I think they have succeeded in every regard.

In terms of ease of use, for Intel users, this is very straightforward thanks to a decent manual and well-packaged items. For AMD users, however, as above, the lack of a supplied backplate (and the reliance on the manufacturers) is a little disappointing. As such, buyers will have to make some prior checks before purchasing to make sure this will be able to fit into their system.

Overview

It can be very difficult for a large air-cooler to both look good and perform well. It’s a battle that many manufacturers have fought and frankly, some don’t even bother with looks and just concentrate on performance instead. The Scythe Ninja 5 does, however, look to marry all of these aspects into a single design and in truth, they have done so with a notable amount of success.

The performance figures, especially in terms of overclocking, are more than impressive and even the most ardent PC design snob couldn’t fail to appreciate the effort which has gone into making this cooler look attractive.

Without naming names, there is generally only one big name in terms of high-end air coolers and while the Scythe Ninja 5 may not necessarily meet them in terms of performance figures, they certainly have them beat for the looks and price.

The short version, however, is this – For the price the Scythe Ninja 5 is retailing for, you could buy an entry-level AIO liquid cooler. I promise you though, that it would probably not be as functional, durable, perform as well nor indeed perhaps look as good as the Ninja 5.

For presenting something that has a strong performance and a unique design, you have to credit Scythe. The Ninja 5 is a great example of how good air coolers can be!

Pros

• Unique and impressive design.
• Dual fan allowing good air flow.
• Impressive performance figures – Particularly in overclocking.
• Well priced.
• Easy to install.
• Beats many much more expensive AIO systems in both performance and noise!

Cons

• None

Neutral

• The lack of a product based AMD mounting system is disappointing. Albeit not uncommon. Scythe does, however, make more reference to the socket compatibility rather than this requirement. This, I suspect, will catch more than a few AMD owners out.