Tuniq Tower 120: Air Cooling to the Max

Final Words

Effective CPU cooling means lowering the processor temperature compared to the Intel retail HSF which comes with most Intel processors. If an after market cooling solution does not perform better than the kit heatsink, there is no real reason to buy it. A cooler CPU could result in a longer CPU life, but most users upgrade cooling to overclock even further than is possible with a stock HSF. The second characteristic of effective cooling, then, is that it allows a better overclock than the stock HSF.

The Intel Core 2 Duo is unarguably the most overclockable CPU in the current market. It is therefore the logical processor for evaluating the effectiveness of cooling solutions. There is a problem, however, in that the stock Intel retail HSF is really very good at cooling and very quiet. Intel seems to have learned a lot about cooling in working with the incredibly hot Pentium 4 NetBurst processors and they have applied what they learned to cooling the Core 2 Duo, which is not nearly as demanding. This is just to put in perspective the fact that the average heatsink/fan is likely to have a difficult time outperforming the Intel retail HSF. It is a very good kit HSF.

Having said that, it is clear the Tuniq Tower 120 is definitely up to the task. At the highest stressed speeds we could reach with the Tuniq, it still performed better, under demanding gaming conditions, than the Intel HSF at idle. That is certainly not faint praise.

In the second part of our definition, the Tuniq Tower 120 allowed a 200MHz greater overclock than the Intel HSF with the top-line Core 2 Duo X6800. The final overclock with the X6800/Tuniq Tower 120 was a stable 3.90GHz - a 1000MHz boost over the 2.93GHz stock speed. This is with the fastest Core 2 Duo, and we know from other testing that you can get overclocks much higher than 1000MHz with lower C2D processors because your starting point is a lower CPU speed.

For those who also consider lack of noise at least as important as performance we can only say you will also find the Tuniq Tower 120 satisfying. At the lowest 1000RPM measured noise remained below the system floor all the way to the highest overclock of 3.9Ghz. In fact, measured noise generally remained below the system noise floor as long as the fan speed was kept below 1600 RPM. You can squeeze out a few more degrees of cooling at the highest and noisier 2100 RPM, and with some CPUs that will also translate into a higher overclock. Silence is in your control with the Tuniq, since the fan is only manually adjustable, and the kit comes with a slot mounted fan speed rheostat.

From both our criteria for effective cooling the Tuniq Tower 120 is an outstanding CPU cooler. It does what a cooler should do with exceptional performance at all tested levels. Our noise measurements also confirmed Sunbeam's claim that the Tuniq Tower 120 is an "Ultra Silent CPU cooler" - at least at the lower fan speeds.

The performance of this air cooler is beyond reproach, but we did find installation was often not much fun. You have to use a bottom plate for attaching the Tuniq through the Socket 775 mounting holes. This means the motherboard must be removed from the case to install the Tuniq. We wish Sunbeam could find a better way to mount, but we do prefer secure mounting of this large and heavy cooler to an easier solution that might be less secure.

The other issue is the top mounting plate, which must be mated to a pin on the back of the copper CPU mount. It requires a lot of maneuvering to line up those parts and the sharp cooling fins are ready to cut or slice your hand if you're not careful. We suggest you take your time and stop a while if you find you are getting frustrated. Once properly mounted you will be rewarded with some of the best air cooling performance you can find.


Last, many enthusiasts will tell you the smoother the contact surface the better the cooling. Frankly they will not be happy with the relatively rough copper bottom of the Tuniq. If that matters to you, then you will probably want to do a little surface polishing before mounting the Tuniq. An even better solution would be for Sunbeam to provide a more polished mounting surface on future Tuniq Tower 120s.

We have seen comments that claim the Tuniq is the best air cooler you can buy. Others have said the cooling is as effective as many water cooling solutions. We have more testing to do before we can support either of these claims. However, we can say with certainly that the Tuniq Tower 120 is one of the best cooling solutions we have ever tested. When you consider the cost is about $50 the Tuniq also has to be considered an incredible value. We can't think of many other products that cost $50 that will do as much for system performance as the Tuniq Tower 120.

We extend our sincere thanks to Frozen CPU for providing the Tuniq Tower 120 for review. Sunbeam has delivered a deceptively simple product that does what it is designed to do - provide exceptional cooling performance for a wide range of current processors and motherboards.