Conclusion
Performance
The Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct cooler is an impressive piece of kit, performing well with a stock speed and overclocked processors. When paired with the X99 board, the cooler performed only slightly warmer than the top-rated Noctua NH-D15 cooler. More impressive is the size and stature of the True Spirit 140 Direct cooler in comparison with the Noctua cooler, given its performance.
Pricing
As of June 19, the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct cooler was available at Newegg.com for $46.95.
Conclusion
Coming into the review, I didn't know what to expect performance-wise from the TRUE Spirit 140 Direct cooler because of its small single tower radiator and non-traditional base plate assembly. I refer to the base plate assembly as non-traditional because the heat pipes are press-fit into the base plate, making for slight valleys in the base plate rather than the continuous flat surface in more traditional designs. However, Thermalright did their due diligence with this design since the cooler managed to perform very well in comparison with the much larger Noctua air cooler. The five nickel-plated heat pipes are integrated tightly into the radiator's aluminum fins, making for an optimal heat dispersal path from the CPU to the radiator fins by way of the copper heat pipes. The radiator's thickness also allows it to be compatible with most socket designs, even when paired with dual fans in a push-pull configuration. The only oddity with the cooler's design is with the base plate, requiring use of a bit more thermal paste than normal to get good contact between the cooler and the CPU surface.
Strengths
- Performance under stock and overclocked conditions
- Build quality of the cooler
- Compatibility with most motherboard socket designs
- Nickel-plated copper heat pipes
- Low noise, high-performance 140mm fan
- Easy to use fan cooler mounting brackets
Weaknesses
- Retail availability
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?