Cooler Comparison Testing
Cooler Testing Methods
To best gage the quality of the system coolers under review, system CPU temperature and cooling system audio measurements were taken with the CPU idle and under load. To replicate CPU idle conditions, the system was rebooted and allowed to sit idle for 10 minutes. To replicate a stress system load, AIDA64 System Stability Test was used in conjunction with EVGA OC Scanner X for 30 minutes per run. After each run, the system was shut down and allowed to rest for 10 minutes to cool down. Then the CPU cooler was removed, cleaned, and remounted to the CPU with fresh thermal paste applied. This procedure was repeated a total of six times for each cooler – three times each for the stock and overclocking speed runs on the X99-based system.
Temperature measurements were taken directly from the CPU thermistors using CoreTemp v1.61. Because of the volatile nature of the Haswell-E thermistor readings, the system temperatures were measured as follows. For idle temperatures, the highest recorded value was used for the run. For load temperatures, a series of three values were notated: the average (high and low) across all cores, the average (high and low) across the single highest core, and the high temperature.
To adequately measure the performance of the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct CPU air cooler, performance testing was done using two different configurations – in its default configuration with a single fan mounted to the front of the radiator in a push configuration, and in a dual fan setup for a push-pull configuration (both configurations are shown on the Test Configuration page).
Note that the temperature values are reported as deltas rather than absolute temperatures with the delta value reported calculated as CPU temperature – ambient temperature. For all tests, room ambient temperature was maintained between 23-27C.
Intel X99-based Haswell-E System Testing
CPU Stock Speed Testing
The CPU stock speed testing was conducted with the BIOS defaults set for the CPU and Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 3.0GHz CPU speed, 2133MHz memory speed, 3.0GHz ring bus speed, and 100MHz base clock. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.
With the Haswell-E processor at stock speeds, the TRUE Spirit 140 Direct gives the Noctua NH-d15 a run for its money with its performance staying within an impressive 1-2C across the board.
CPU Overclocked Speed Testing – Maximum air-cooled speed
The CPU overclocked speed testing was conducted with known stable settings from a previous board review with Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 4.20GHz CPU speed, 2666MHz memory speed, 4.0GHz ring bus speed, and 100MHz base clock. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.
Board voltage settings were configured as follows:
- CPU Core Voltage – 1.275
- DRAM Voltage – 1.23
- All other settings set to Auto or stock settings
The performance picture changes a bit for the TRUE Spirit 140 Direct when paired with the overclocked Haswell-E processor. It still performs very well, keeping the processor relatively cool under the high stress loads with its delta compared to the NH-D15 increasing to 5-6C. However, don't let the numbers fool you, the TRUE Spirit 140 Direct's performance is nothing short of amazing given its single slim tower radiator design compared with the Noctua's massive dual tower.
Sound Testing
Even with two fans, the TRUE Spirit 140 Direct cooler was whisper quiet with the fans going full speed. Thermalright did their homework on this design, optimizing the air flow path to best utilize a lower power 140mm fan without compromizing performance.
link on the main page leads
link on the main page leads to pcper main page, not to the article
Fixed, thanks for pointing
Fixed, thanks for pointing that out…
thanks for the
thanks for the review
relatively small footprint and stands up very well against the mighty Noctua, so definitely going on my list of parts to consider for future builds
and it has ryzen support, awesome
At the bottom of the
At the bottom of the ‘Features and Design’ page:
‘If their was any variation in height between the heat pipes…’
Under ‘Included Accessories’:
‘The socket top is then put on top of the CPU / space plate adn locked in place.’
At the top of the ‘Conclusion’ page:
‘… impressive peice of kit…’
In the middle of the ‘Conclusion’ page:
‘…small single tower radistor…’
Also, you spell ‘upper-most’ with a hyphen, but ‘innermost’ without one. I don’t know which spelling is correct, but surely you should at least be consistent.
Thank you for the feedback,
Thank you for the feedback, this has all been corrected…
one hell of a review. i
one hell of a review. i usually would look passed thermalright, and would focus on enermax, coolermaster and deepcool. i may consider getting one for my ryzen 5 1600.
Thermalright have been around
Thermalright have been around for a long time, way before Noctua became popular.
I am still using my first Thermalright that i had mounted on my AMD 6400+ , just had to buy a different mounting kit for socket 1151 when i upgraded. it is a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and its been in use for almost 10 years now ,replaced the fan about 3 times so far and have a Noctua fan on it right now.
I considered buying the True
I considered buying the True Spirit Direct for my personal Ryzen 1800x build, but opted for the larger True Spirit Power with the 8mm pipes, simply because I was curious and have a big enough case. Thermalright’s site rates the 140 Power at 325 watts, but don’t seem to have a rating for the 140 Direct. That’s a lot of watts, I wonder if it would handle the new Intel X299 chips. (?)
The Power is intended for a big case, it’s over 171mm tall and weighs 725 grams vs 161mm and 650 grams for the Direct. Honestly, the Power is overkill for the 1800x which runs cool no matter what I do to it. The Direct would have saved me $10, and kept it almost as cool.
I like the True Spirit series. They have great performance and are very space efficient. They are well built and look really good. Their fans seem to be excellent.
IMHO Thermalright is the Rolls Royce of air coolers. All four of our family computers are equipped with Thermalright coolers. I have a box full of old Thermalright video card and CPU coolers that I would like to use some day; these coolers seem to last forever.
I personally am a big fan of
I personally am a big fan of their Macho series, although they are huge. But you must believe me, they’re great coolers, and nobody does them as good as they do.
what are your temps at with
what are your temps at with that cooler?