Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink Review

**gvblake22** · August 21st, 2006

Quote:

As CPU manufacturers keep pumping out more gigahertz and cores, the heat emitted by the CPU continues to rise, thus increasing the need for quality cooling systems. Today we're looking at one of Thermalright's most popular air-cooling solutions.

I encourage everyone to make it to the front page sometime today to read this review. It is one of the more comprehensive heatsink reviews I've ever read. You don't see too many sites running tests on both Intel and AMD chips as well as overclocked performance. Looks to be one heck of a nice heatsink too, great review guys! :thumleft:

**Capper** · August 21st, 2006

An excellent collaboration between Bo and Josh. As Blake pointed out, its great to have a review that includes both AMD and Intel processors.

Jokerswild · August 21st, 2006

Good writeup guy's. I like the heat sink except the retention clips for the fan, I would be tempted to make my own retention mechanism.

**Capper** · August 21st, 2006

yeah, as good as Thermalrights are, their fan retention methods have always left a bit to be desired

Jokerswild · August 21st, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capper

yeah, as good as Thermalrights are, their fan retention methods have always left a bit to be desired

Thats too bad. You would think that a engineer could come up with something better than what they have. Having been in the electronics industry though I know that the electrical engineers usually had to do the mechanical engineering as well even though that wasn't their expertise. I suppose the same thing goes for thermal engineering.

fps justin · August 21st, 2006

how well does the ultra 120 compare the the CNPS 9500?

Lead Head · August 21st, 2006

Im pretty sure the Ultra 120 will beat it...Zalmans are more built for silence over cooling performence

Looks like an awsome cooler though! over 10*C better temps then the stock cooler on the intel side....although the AMD tests were less then amazing

**Capper** · August 21st, 2006

Two different people wrote the reviews....kind of hard to compare the two unless they are compared on the same system, under the same conditions.
Look at the results from both and draw your own conclusion

**Capper** · August 21st, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lead Head

Im pretty sure the Ultra 120 will beat it...Zalmans are more built for silence over cooling performence

Looks like an awsome cooler though! over 10*C better temps then the stock cooler on the intel side....although the AMD tests were less then amazing

I wouldn't say that either, The CNPS9500 is seeing some very good results, much better than previous Zalman cooling solutions

Lead Head · August 21st, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capper

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lead Head

Im pretty sure the Ultra 120 will beat it...Zalmans are more built for silence over cooling performence

Looks like an awsome cooler though! over 10*C better temps then the stock cooler on the intel side....although the AMD tests were less then amazing

I wouldn't say that either, The CNPS9500 is seeing some very good results, much better than previous Zalman cooling solutions

Yes, I agree there, it is a very good cooler, but im still pretty sure the Ultra 120 will beat it :?

August 21st, 2006	#2
Capper We take both criticism and positive comments very positively Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,875 Blog Entries: 6	An excellent collaboration between Bo and Josh. As Blake pointed out, its great to have a review that includes both AMD and Intel processors. INTEL E8400 // Gigabyte EP45 Extreme // 4GB DDR3-1600 // Palit HD 4870 // Antec 1200 // Seagate 750GB HDD // Zalman CNPS9700 // BFG ES 800W PSU

August 21st, 2006	#4
Capper We take both criticism and positive comments very positively Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,875 Blog Entries: 6	yeah, as good as Thermalrights are, their fan retention methods have always left a bit to be desired INTEL E8400 // Gigabyte EP45 Extreme // 4GB DDR3-1600 // Palit HD 4870 // Antec 1200 // Seagate 750GB HDD // Zalman CNPS9700 // BFG ES 800W PSU

August 21st, 2006	#6
fps justin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,199	how well does the ultra 120 compare the the CNPS 9500? E2140 @ 375 x 8 = 3.0ghz 2x1 ocz system 1337s pc2-6400 5-5-5-15 @ 450mhz gigabyte P35 S3L eVGA 7600GT Stock 120 gig seagate ULTRA X-Finity 600w Sonata 2 w/ top fan G5 Lazer Mouse

August 21st, 2006	#7
Lead Head Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rhode Island USA Posts: 1,716	Im pretty sure the Ultra 120 will beat it...Zalmans are more built for silence over cooling performence Looks like an awsome cooler though! over 10*C better temps then the stock cooler on the intel side....although the AMD tests were less then amazing Opteron 64 165--1.5GB DDR--ECS KA1 MVP(thanks HL!)--x1800GTO 256MB--Seagate 320GB SATA--Antec 550 Watt--Antec P180

August 21st, 2006	#8
Capper We take both criticism and positive comments very positively Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,875 Blog Entries: 6	Two different people wrote the reviews....kind of hard to compare the two unless they are compared on the same system, under the same conditions. Look at the results from both and draw your own conclusion INTEL E8400 // Gigabyte EP45 Extreme // 4GB DDR3-1600 // Palit HD 4870 // Antec 1200 // Seagate 750GB HDD // Zalman CNPS9700 // BFG ES 800W PSU

August 21st, 2006	#3
Jokerswild ButtHead Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,118	Good writeup guy's. I like the heat sink except the retention clips for the fan, I would be tempted to make my own retention mechanism.

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