UPDATE: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme - Retail
by Wesley Fink on May 4, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Our Take
In revisiting the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme we had the opportunity to compare performance results from a retail eXtreme to those we found in our initial review of the Ultra-120 eXtreme. We are very pleased to report that the retail Ultra-120 eXtreme performed in every way just like the prototype we tested.
The Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is the best cooler tested so far at AnandTech. Our complaints with the prototype about the poor socket 775 adapter have also been addressed in the production cooler. The revised adapter makes mounting an eXtreme on a Core 2 Duo an easy task now.
However, we do wish Thermalright could make the socket 775 adapter just as rigid and secure as the current AM2 adapter for the eXtreme. Performance certainly didn't suffer with the new bracket, but it is always an uneasy feeling when you find you can still turn a mounted cooler, as you can with the eXtreme with the new bracket. A little more metal on the folding cross bars could make the 775 install just as secure as the AM2. Another alternative might be slightly repositioning the bends on the adapter for secure nesting with the cooler CPU base plate.
That is a small thing when you consider the larger picture, which is a cooler that performs better than any of the 21 heatpipe towers recently tested at AnandTech. The eXtreme cools better than anything else we have tested. It was also nice to be reminded in this test of how small the Ultra-120 eXtreme really is compared to most other tower coolers. It is just as wide, but the eXtreme is compact in thickness, and you can actually mount the cooler on a socket 775 from above, without having to perform contortions better suited to a gymnast just to mount the cooler.
The Thermalright mounts easily without the fan, and if you use a prop like a foam block on the bottom to hold the plate while screwing in the spring-loaded screws, you can mount the cooler by just unscrewing the board in your case, and leaving all the peripherals attached. The back plate has screw posts that extend through the motherboard and the thinner depth means you can actually reach the spring mounting screws with the cooler installed. We also found it easiest to install the fan wires before screwing the cooler down, so you're ready to pop in the fan as the final step.
We have quite a collection of 120mm fans at AnandTech these days, but we tested with the same Scythe S-FLEX fan used in the original tests. The SFF21F is still a nice balance of airflow and noise and it matches the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme very well. We will test other fans with this cooler in our fan roundup, but until we have other hard evidence there are better fan solutions out there you certainly won't be disappointed with a Scythe S-FLEX on the eXtreme.
It is always a pleasure when reviewing a product turns into collaboration. The reviewers at AnandTech are first and foremost computer enthusiasts just like you are. We normally try to point out grave errors to manufacturers, and we try to mention smaller things that might be improved in our reviews of their products. When a manufacturer pays attention and makes corrections to a product it is clearly evidence they care about the users of their products. Thermalright corrected a problem socket 775 adapter before production, and contacted us with a final retail sample. That is one example of the attention to detail that is in the best interest of buyers.
Online prices of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme look to start at around $55 plus shipping, which is about $10 more than the standard Thermalright Ultra-120. Add to that the cost of a reasonable fan (unless you're going for silence and want to run fanless) and the total price with shipping is likely to be $70-$75. In contrast, the Tuniq Tower 120 will cost around $55 with the included fan, plus shipping. While spending 20% more relative to the Tuniq Tower might not seem like the best return on investment, for those looking to maximize system performance and reduce temperatures we feel the extra $10 is money well spent. Besides, when viewed as part of a typical enthusiast system, that $10 is probably less than a 1% increase in cost for a drop in CPU temperatures of up to 6C.
In revisiting the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme we had the opportunity to compare performance results from a retail eXtreme to those we found in our initial review of the Ultra-120 eXtreme. We are very pleased to report that the retail Ultra-120 eXtreme performed in every way just like the prototype we tested.
The Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is the best cooler tested so far at AnandTech. Our complaints with the prototype about the poor socket 775 adapter have also been addressed in the production cooler. The revised adapter makes mounting an eXtreme on a Core 2 Duo an easy task now.
However, we do wish Thermalright could make the socket 775 adapter just as rigid and secure as the current AM2 adapter for the eXtreme. Performance certainly didn't suffer with the new bracket, but it is always an uneasy feeling when you find you can still turn a mounted cooler, as you can with the eXtreme with the new bracket. A little more metal on the folding cross bars could make the 775 install just as secure as the AM2. Another alternative might be slightly repositioning the bends on the adapter for secure nesting with the cooler CPU base plate.
That is a small thing when you consider the larger picture, which is a cooler that performs better than any of the 21 heatpipe towers recently tested at AnandTech. The eXtreme cools better than anything else we have tested. It was also nice to be reminded in this test of how small the Ultra-120 eXtreme really is compared to most other tower coolers. It is just as wide, but the eXtreme is compact in thickness, and you can actually mount the cooler on a socket 775 from above, without having to perform contortions better suited to a gymnast just to mount the cooler.
The Thermalright mounts easily without the fan, and if you use a prop like a foam block on the bottom to hold the plate while screwing in the spring-loaded screws, you can mount the cooler by just unscrewing the board in your case, and leaving all the peripherals attached. The back plate has screw posts that extend through the motherboard and the thinner depth means you can actually reach the spring mounting screws with the cooler installed. We also found it easiest to install the fan wires before screwing the cooler down, so you're ready to pop in the fan as the final step.
We have quite a collection of 120mm fans at AnandTech these days, but we tested with the same Scythe S-FLEX fan used in the original tests. The SFF21F is still a nice balance of airflow and noise and it matches the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme very well. We will test other fans with this cooler in our fan roundup, but until we have other hard evidence there are better fan solutions out there you certainly won't be disappointed with a Scythe S-FLEX on the eXtreme.
It is always a pleasure when reviewing a product turns into collaboration. The reviewers at AnandTech are first and foremost computer enthusiasts just like you are. We normally try to point out grave errors to manufacturers, and we try to mention smaller things that might be improved in our reviews of their products. When a manufacturer pays attention and makes corrections to a product it is clearly evidence they care about the users of their products. Thermalright corrected a problem socket 775 adapter before production, and contacted us with a final retail sample. That is one example of the attention to detail that is in the best interest of buyers.
Online prices of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme look to start at around $55 plus shipping, which is about $10 more than the standard Thermalright Ultra-120. Add to that the cost of a reasonable fan (unless you're going for silence and want to run fanless) and the total price with shipping is likely to be $70-$75. In contrast, the Tuniq Tower 120 will cost around $55 with the included fan, plus shipping. While spending 20% more relative to the Tuniq Tower might not seem like the best return on investment, for those looking to maximize system performance and reduce temperatures we feel the extra $10 is money well spent. Besides, when viewed as part of a typical enthusiast system, that $10 is probably less than a 1% increase in cost for a drop in CPU temperatures of up to 6C.
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TA152H - Sunday, May 6, 2007 - link
OK, first of all, I apologize for being so rude, but ...I think you should stop making excuses about how your test bed is set up, and set it up properly so you can test it. Not to be rude (again), but this is what you do, review items, and you should take a more serious approach to it. Read some old Byte magazines and use them as a baseline as to what technical journalism and reviews should be like. There is no reason you can't be as good, I just think you are setting the bar a little too low rather than any inherent inability. Hiding behind "we're a kiddie site and we don't review that type of stuff or that stuff in that way" doesn't sound very credible either, although it's used a lot.
Also, never assume people have read previous articles and remember everything in them, that's just basic journalism. Minimally, provide a link to that page, but expecting people to remember this was tested in a previous review when you didn't in this review is a little bit of a stretch.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, May 8, 2007 - link
It is beyond rude to apologize while you are taking off the gloves so you can use bare knuckels. I will not apologize for not providing fanless results that are not likely valid just becuase you want them. Our current test setup was not conceived for fanless testing, and we make every effort not to make changes in test beds.We do try to listen to readers, but review comparisons are only valid if the test bed is the same, and a change of setups requires retesting of all the components tested to that point. For that reason, we normally make test bed changes only after completing a roundup summary, since we can retest just the top performers for future comparison with tested components on the new test setup.
This is very different approach from web sites that test whatever they want without valid comparisons to other results. Reviews without comparisons are ads in our opinion.
Byte is a great name from the past, but Computer Magazines appear to be fading in the marketplace since print info ages quickly in a fast moving market like computers. What works for Byte magazine is not necessarily what works for web readers. Before you pull out the "kiddie site" criticism you might consider that AnandTech is the largest and most respected of the computer review sites, as measures by real data, not speculation.
Bull Dog - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
Thermalright ROCKS. I personally hope they never change the packaging of their coolers either. Plain brown box. No need for flash colors and marketing hype, because what's inside is so good, it doesn't need it.etech - Sunday, May 13, 2007 - link
Good review but I would like to see the Enzotech Ultra-X and possibly the 3RSystem Iceage 120 added to the line up.The Enzotech because it seems to be the closest competitor to the Ultra and is a few dollars cheaper. I also like the cooling of the board that you have with the Ultra-X style coolers. Perhaps some chipset temps could be included.
The Iceage 120 just because I think it could be interesting with the heatpipes directly on the IHS.
Thanks.