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Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme


Date
: 08/2/07 – 04:15:56 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Thermalright, Inc.

Price
: $64.99

It's been a while since we've had some high end CPU coolers here at Overclockers Online. However, that ends today as we get the newest Thermalright cooler in our labs. Thermalright is one company that listens to consumers and makes revisions to suit their needs, a huge plus in my book already!

The High Riser family of coolers started off with the HR-01 that Michael reviewed and since then we've seen a number of advancements in the lineup. The Ultra 120 is a variation of that HR-01 and today we get to look at the Ultra 120 eXtreme.
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Page 2 : Package

If you've seen any Thermalright, Inc. product before, you know their philosophy on package is simple: less is more. Thermalright doesn't sell that many products in retail stores and rely on their quality background to sell products, not packaging.

As you can tell, it's pretty hard to figure out what's exactly in the box. All we know is that it will be
eXtreme
to your eyes.

On the bottom side of the package all you get is the UPC label and you find out it's made in Taiwan.

There's not a whole lot more to the exterior of the package so let's run through the specification.

Page 3 : Specification

I went to the Thermalright web site and the first thing I saw was a link to preview their new layout, awesome! In case you haven't seen it, here's the preview. It sure looks a lot more modern than the old site. Navigating my way around, here's the specification page and here's a link to the old site.

This is the exact same set of features seen in Jody's review.

It is pretty standard stuff except for the bent winglet design. It was the first thing I noticed when I pulled the Ultra-120 from its box and am intrigued to see just how quiet the Ultra-120 will run. Here is a photo of what I am discussing when Thermalright says ‘bent winglet’:

Here are the rest of the specifications.

Compared to the original Ultra 120, the Ultra 120 eXtreme has gained a little bit of weight. The difference is a mere 45 grams and that can be accounted for by the extra heatpipe. As we see in Jody's review, the Ultra-120 has a total of four heatpipes, whereas the new Ultra 120 eXtreme has six.

Page 4 : Package Contents

What comes with simple packaging is a very simple product. The Ultra 120 eXtreme doesn't have a whole lot inside the box, and minimal is more than enough in my mind. Lifting the lid on the cardboard box we see the heatsink surrounded by a lot of Styrofoam, an installation guide and a box of mounting equipment.

Here's a more detailed look at the instruction manual, it's pretty simple and we'll see in the next page that installation is a breeze.

The Ultra 120 eXtreme comes ready to mount on AMD AM2 and Intel Socket 775 motherboards.

The cooler is placed inside a cut out Styrofoam block that gives it ample protection. The box could be destroyed and you still wouldn't have to worry about your cooler being damaged.

Pulling the Ultra 120 eXtreme out of the bag we see the proprietary bent winglet design that minimizes airflow resistance. If you think this was a manufacturing defect or the cooler was dropped, don't worry. Thermalright has everything under control.

The base of the cooler is very smooth and somewhat reflective. Applying a little bit of thermal paste will ensure great contact and superior thermal transfer.

If you recall on the specifications page, the Ultra 120 eXtreme is 45 grams heavier than the Ultra 120. The reason for this is the addition of 2 heat pipes to the design. While it adds a little bit of weight, this will definitely help in cooling the processor. Due to the above average height of the cooler, some users may not be able to use it in certain cases such as the Antec Fusion, or some cube cases. It is worth nothing that the X-QPack2 was able to take my HR-01 which is 1mm shorter than the Ultra 120 eXtreme.

We've circled around the cooler a few times now and we'll move onto the installation page.

Page 5 : Installation

If you recall from the specifications page, I noted that the Ultra 120 eXtreme came with the necessary mounting equipment for both AMD and Intel platforms. I will be installing the Ultra 120 eXtreme on my old Intel machine but the first thing we need to do is prep the cooler for a fan mount.

The package included 2 rubber strips that are supposed to absorb any vibrations caused by the fan on the fins of the cooler. Simply peel off the adhesive backing and place them down onto the face of the cooler.

The next step is to slide the fan clips into position and pull them over the fan.

It sounds simple because it really is. Here's a photo of the cooler and an Antec Tri Cool fan.

With the fan in position, the next step is to prepare the motherboard for the cooler. To ensure equal force distribution and not stress the motherboard, Thermalright has included backplates for the cooler. It's worth nothing that S9393, 753 and 940 require a special backplate sold separately.

With the backplate in position, the Ultra 120 eXtreme uses a butterfly style retention bracket to apply pressure onto the processor.

Once the cooler and retention bracket are in position, the cooler is secured in place with 4 spring-loaded bolts.

If necessary, the fan can be mounted onto the cooler for added performance.

With the cooler in place, it's time we see how hot things can get.

Page 6 : Performance

The testing of a CPU cooler is pretty simple. I'll first leave you with the system details:

I started the test out by going into the BIOS and monitoring the temperatures for five minutes after the cooler was installed. This was to make sure the unit was properly mounted. Once that was done, I booted into Windows and stressed the system using two instances of Stress Prime 2004. I let this run for 2 hours and then turned off the computer for another 2. After that, I loaded up an instance of the Asus system monitoring software for temperature readings and fired up another two instances of Stress Prime. After three hours of testing, I took the CPU and motherboard temperatures. I shut off Stress Prime and let the system idle for two hours before taking the readings again. I followed this procedure three times over three days and averaged the results afterwards. The room temperature was a balmy 24C for all tests.

Here are the results:

There is no doubt that the numbers speak volumes and it clearly shouts ‘top performer’. The Ultra 120 eXtreme paired up with the Antec TriCool lead to a killer combo, beating out the Titan Amanda by 3 degrees on high fan speed and on par with it at medium speed. The motherboard temperatures are at the lowest ever with the Ultra 120 eXtreme.

For the sake of comparison, I decided to try the Ultra 120 eXtreme without a fan. To provide some sort of air flow, I added the Antec Tricool to the rear of the Nine Hundred. The temperature of the processor after three hours of full load was 78C with a motherboard temperature of 49C. The CPU idle was 35C and the motherboard idle temperature was 32. For passively cooling an overclocked Intel D930 processor, the temperatures aren't half bad. It's still at a temperature I would not want to run my system at 24/7, but for a lesser heat pumping processor, passive cooling could be an option with the Ultra 120 eXtreme and a well ventilated case.

Page 7 : Conclusion

Another Thermalright review comes to an end and the improvements made on the Ultra 120 eXtreme from its predecessor have been very beneficial.

It's obvious that I can't say anything about the noise generated by this cooler because the fan you end up using is up to you. However, the bent winglet design definitely has some advantages. The TriCool fan, while already quite, was virtually silent in all but the high speed operation when coupled with the Ultra 120 eXtreme.

Installation is simple and the included backplates give stability to the system and alleviates the risk of damaging your motherboard or having an improper installation. However, the Ultra 120 eXtreme shines most when it comes to performance. It was able to keep up with my TEC cooler with ease and it smoked the rest of the competition. While not the cheapest cooler on the market, I'm still pleased to give this cooler my Editor's Choice pick.

Advangages

• Superb cooling performance

• Simple package, simple installation
• Fan choice is up to you

Disadvantages

• Performance doesn't come cheap

• Limited use within HTPC cases

Overclockers Online would like to thank Thermalright Inc., for making this review possible.