Conclusions
The Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink delivered the best thermal performance of any HSF I have tested. It produced excellent cooling with a virtually silent fan and produced outstanding cooling with higher airflow. The Ultra-120 cooler proved very easy to mount and includes hardware for both AMD K8 and Intel LGA775 processors. (A new AMD M2 version is expected next month.)
The overall construction and build quality of the Ultra-120 is excellent. Thermalright continues to perfect the art of fine-tuning heat pipe technology in their new Ultra coolers to closely match the thermodynamics of modern CPU cooling.
Because of the Ultra-120’s relatively large size, it may not work in some SFF enclosures. In that case, the slightly smaller Ultra-90 may be a better solution. My only minor complaint (which applies to nearly all Athlon64 coolers) is you can’t always mount the cooler so the airflow is pointing in the direction you want. The orientation of the Ultra-120 heatsink is pre-defined by the position of the heat pipes and alignment of the K8 retention frame holes. Some users might also feel the lack of a bundled fan is a weakness but I believe it is an advantage because it allows each user to select the fan that best meets their particular needs and doesn’t force a one-fan-fits-all solution on every one.
Strengths:
· Outstanding cooling performance
· Very good build quality
· Easy installation
· Virtually silent when used with a low speed fan
· Accepts a full range of 120mm fan options
Weaknesses:
· Large size may be an issue for some installations (SFF cases)
The new Thermalright Ultra-120 is an excellent cooling solution and clearly deserves the PCPerspective Gold Award for outstanding thermal performance!
The Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink has a list price of $54.95 USD and a typical street price of $44.99. I would like to thank Thermalright for sending us their new Ultra-120 heatsink to review — great job and thanks guys!
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