Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme Rev.C Review

Testing:

The TRUE from Thermalright has been a proven performer. For this revision, I will be making a comparison of the temperatures at idle and under load. Both will be made while the CPU is at the stock voltages and clock speeds, as well as when the CPU is overclocked and 'over-volted'. This will help to show what kind of cooling performance that this updated cooling solution from Thermalright has to offer. These cooling systems will be tested head-to-head as they are delivered from the manufacturer. I could throw in a bunch of testing variables such as adding fans, but that isn't what the products delivered with. To test the idle temperatures, I will allow the computer to stay in an idle state for 30 minutes and take the idle temperature at this point. For the load testing, I will use Prime95 version 25.11 and choose the blend testing and allow the processor and memory controller to heat up to the maximum temperatures. The time frame is a four-hour run, to allow the temperature to peak - usually during one of the CPU only tests. I will use Real temp 3.0 to take the high and low temperatures and average the temperatures generated over the four cores as my reported temperatures. Testing is performed inside of a case for real world results.

Testing Setup:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 133x20(Stock) 166x20 Overclocked
• Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
• Memory: Mushkin Redline PC3 12800 990805 6-8-6-24
• Video Card(s): Nvidia GTX 260-216
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Asus DVD-R
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
• Chassis: ThermalTake Armour +

Comparison Heat sinks:

• Coolit ECO ALC
• Coolink Corator DS
• Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
• Thermalright TRUE
• Noctua NH-D14
• Noctua NH-U9B SE

The temperatures delivered by the TRUE Revision C as delivered, gave results that matched the original TRUE I have been using in my testing when overclocked. Even with the reduced surface area caused by opening up the fin array, the results are similar. The differential of 1°C in the stock testing when comparing the two shows that they are pretty much spot on performance wise. What was kind of surprising was that the TRUE copper gave a slightly better idle temperature when overclocked and the same load temperatures as the Revision C. That makes the TRUE Revision C still one of the top performing heat sinks I have tested, yet the Copper version was a slight let down with temperatures that were almost identical to the Copper/Aluminum models.