Looks like a new air cooling king has been crowned - Ultra-120+

[The Sauce]

Looks like the Ultra-120+ thrashes the Tuniq Tower like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. I wonder if this will suddenly become the forum darling air cooler now?

Ultra 120+

 

[JAG87]

that heatsink pwns your cpu's IHS :laugh:

too bad ill never be able to use one. thermalright needs to shave off a few centimeters from the heatsink, 16cm is just too tall for my case. but wow, the tuniq gets completely raped. the more you overclock, the more the delta in temperature between the two.

 

[Markfw]

Where did you see the review ?

 

[The Sauce]

Oopsie....top post edited with link.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Very nice, may have to try that one if the price is not too high

 

[n7]

As much as i like AT's heatsink reviews, i need to see a redo of the Tuniq Tower review & the other top coolers w/ that same Scythe fan.

I believe that fan is the reason it "won" the air coolers tests thus fan.
I also believe it's a very good cooler, just that the other heatsinks would also likely do slightly better w/ that Scythe fan.

 

[lopri]

Really these top-class HSFs (Tuniq, Infinity, Ultra-120) are just about equal. I'd pay more attention to desirable size and shape, mounting mechanism, fitting (in your case), than chasing after the performance reviews. I've owned all 3 of them and each has pros/cons. In the end it comes down to figuring out the best air-flow in the case.

Oh and once again, if you're overclocking and/or your board components get hot, it's highly recommended to find a way to cool those hot spots on the board. With these L-shaped HSFs, often the board (and memory) doesn't get much air-flow and things can get brutal.

 

[Ketchup]

I couldn't agree more Lopri. I wonder how a cooler like the XP-90 would compare with these new coolers. I have been contemplating just getting an LGA 775 adapter for my XP-90 when I build my new Core 2 rig. That way the PWM area would also benefit from good airflow.

 

[swtethan]

I installed a infinity last weekend, i cut my hand in two places and it took about 15 mins to get it in. I should have installed it when the mobo was out of the case

 

[The Sauce]

Oh yah, you can't install that thing in the case!

 

[slag]

The ninja is way up there also in terms of performance. I got one for $25.00 less than the tuniq or $20.00 less than the infinity and it performs only 1 degree C worse than the infinity. I also believe a lot of that is in the fans and thermal goop you use.

IMHO, the majority of these coolers are made incorrectly. Nearly everyone uses a tower setup where the cpu is perpendicular to the ground which in turn makes the heatpipe parallel to the ground. Ideally, the case should be laid on its side and the heatpipe installed so its perpendicular to the ground so it works as intended.

2nd Edit.

OMG OMG OMG.. it "thrashed" the tower by 1 degree stock.. Wow, what a beating.. thats intense.. Call the press...

 

[The Sauce]

double post

 

[The Sauce]

Originally posted by: slag

OMG OMG OMG.. it "thrashed" the tower by 1 degree stock.. Wow, what a beating.. thats intense.. Call the press...

Someone obviously didn't look at the overclocking results. How quick we are to criticize... I knew we'd hear from the Tuniq fanbois sooner or later.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: slag
IMHO, the majority of these coolers are made incorrectly. Nearly everyone uses a tower setup where the cpu is perpendicular to the ground which in turn makes the heatpipe parallel to the ground. Ideally, the case should be laid on its side and the heatpipe installed so its perpendicular to the ground so it works as intended.

I don't know where you got that idea. The manufacturers say they shouldn't be used in a vertical orientation; they're designed to be used and work best when used horizontally.

edit: You were wrong, but so was I. It seems that orientation makes no real difference in cooling abilities. Of course, I'm sure that might not apply if the heatsink were mounted upside down, but when either horizontal or vertical, there isn't really a difference:

There is evidently no dependence on the orientation, the cooler works well (within the measurement error) in all modes. Why? That's because heat pipe manufacturers understand the need to get rid of gravitational "anisotropy". For this purpose, they put porous material inside heat pipes. So the liquid inside moves equally well along and against gravity due to the capillary effect, evaporating at the hot end of the pipe, wherever it is.

That paragraph is ~2/3 of the way down the linked page. I do know that Arctic Cooling recommends that both the Freezer 64 and the Freezer 7 not be used with the motherboard horizontal. I guess they don't use wicking/sintering in their heatpipes, like the more expensive heatpipes use.

 

[chizow]

The AT results were surprising for sure, but mostly because other review sites have the 4-pipe Ultra 120 getting its face stomped all over by just about everything else.

Would've been nice if some of these products and reviews were available when I built, but I'm not gonna lose sleep or remove my mobo to replace my HSF at this point.

 

[lopri]

How much does this new Ultra 120 Extreme weigh? I can't believe the review didn't specify this information. The heatpipes are made of copper outfit + whatever material inside and they'll add quite a bit of weight. Current Ultra 120 weighs 745g without a fan (easily a kilo with a fat fan) so for me this information is very important.

 

[traderonline]

i'd like to try this one

 

[hytek369]

yeah, it looks awesome, but would need a new case. just too tall for me.

 

[Cheex]

I don't think that it should "officially" count because with the fan added...that's not how it came!!!

 

[secretanchitman]

my thermalright xp-90 is one of the best cpu coolers ever. period.

why cant AT do a review of that...or just do like a 10-12 heatsink roundup? then again, that takes too long.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Cheex
I don't think that it should "officially" count because with the fan added...that's not how it came!!!

Neither the Ultra-120 nor Ultra-120+ come with a fan. You are meant to add a fan.

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: chizow
The AT results were surprising for sure, but mostly because other review sites have the 4-pipe Ultra 120 getting its face stomped all over by just about everything else.

Would've been nice if some of these products and reviews were available when I built, but I'm not gonna lose sleep or remove my mobo to replace my HSF at this point.

Are there some links about this? I've heard the Ultra 120 is pretty good overall.

 

[ineedaname]

I can't wait 4 this 2 come out i'm gonna get it asap.
I was looking for something 2 replace my TTBT cuz it just wasn't cutting it.

I used to have an xp-90 and it was a damn efficient cooler

Thermalright seems to really know their stuff and make really efficient coolers.

The ultra 120+ is big but coolers like the Scythe Infinity and Tuniq 120 are MASSIVE.

 

[skubidoobie]

Well I'm swapping my XP-120 out with an Ultra 120, I would have waited seeing as the next day I see reviews for the Ultra 120 Plus(or extreme) pop up. Now I've seen a new one. http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_ifx14.htm Check that out! The XP-120 cools my chipset and ram rather well, but it's too close to my top HR-03 VGA cooler and causing my CPU temps to raise so a stack cooler is needed in my application. I'm a huge fan (nice pun eh?) of Thermalright and will continue buying their best products because they are the best on the market!

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX

Originally posted by: Cheex
I don't think that it should "officially" count because with the fan added...that's not how it came!!!

Neither the Ultra-120 nor Ultra-120+ come with a fan. You are meant to add a fan.

You aren't "meant" to add a fan. It was made as a silent cooler.
Ok fine...If you want to dispute my point....Then fine but...

In that case...Tuniq Tower 120 is still the best right out of the package.