| Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
|
Conclusion:
The Thermalright Ultra-120 is an extremely well designed heatsink capable of providing just about the best cooling available at this time. Thermalright boasts that they are number one, and they may have a case under the right circumstances. The Tuniq Tower 120 might have something to say about Thermalright's self proclaimed championship, but the differences in performance are so slight that they may have to settle for being co-champions.
Despite providing excellent thermal results and being ideal for avid overclockers with a modern AMD or Intel system, I did have a few issues with the Ultra-120.
The first was the force that had to be applied to the screws during installation. Most coolers that screw through the motherboard are able to engage the first few threads with minimal effort (sometimes with thumbscrews), but I found that a good deal of pressure was necessary. While nothing bad happened in this review, exerting this type of pressure on the head of a small screw is just asking for a screwdriver to fly down into the board, doing who knows what kind of damage.
The second issue was with the design of the fan mounting clips. They are not compatible with all 120mm fans, and even if you find an appropriate fan I found that you might not be able to trust the clips to hold the fan securely. One fan used during test wouldn't install at all, while another would occasionally work one corner loose without cause. Thermalright uses this sort of clip often, and I have never had a problem before, but this implementation doesn't quite cut it in my opinion. If you're clever, you should be able to think of some other way to keep a fan on there.
A search of PriceGrabber only turns up one store with the Ultra-120, but looking around the web shows it is more readily available than that. The price tag at all stores I checked was between $42 and $48 (US), which seems to be about the norm for a high performance CPU cooler these days. But what this price does not include is a fan, so be prepared to tack on another $10 or so, unless you have one worth using laying around.
The only cooler I have tested that can keep up with the performance of the Thermalright Ultra-120 is the Tuniq Tower 120, which includes both a fan and a fan speed controller for the same amount of money.
The cooling performance is excellent, but the Thermalright Ultra-120 misses the highest award due to the issues with the fan mounting clips and the fact that the price will climb even higher once you add a compatible fan. That said, the final rating of this cooler is still quite favorable and it earns the "Recommended" award.
Pros:
» Excellent cooling performance
» One of the top two ever tested!
» Can be near silent and still cool incredibly
» High quality design
» "Bent Winglets" are a great idea that work well and look cool
Cons:
» Mounting cooler to motherboard required more force than should be necessary
» For the price, a fan should be included
» Fan mounting clips do not seem reliable
» Fan mounting clips will not work with all 120mm fans
Special thanks to Thermalright for providing the Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatpipe CPU Cooler to Bigbruin.com for review!
Please drop by the Bigbruin.com Forum and feel free to post any comments or questions.
|
|
|
|
