The Scythe Big Shuriken is actually a really small heatsink, well not so much tiny as low profile. From the CPU to the top of the fan, the Big Shuriken measures a scant 57mm tall. That's not a whole lot of space to cram in a heatsink, but somehow Scythe have packed in four 6mm diameter heatpipes, 60 or 70 razor thin aluminum fins and a 120mm fan. Low profile heatsinks are classed in one of three different sizes; 3U (slim cases) 110mm or less in height, 2U (low profile cases) 75mm or less in height and 1.5U (HTPC, miniITX type cases) which are less than 45mm tall.