Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme Review

Testing:

Before testing for the data found on this page, I had to adjust a few of the thumbscrews (that I could reach) so that I could make sure the base had even contact with the processor. I noticed I needed to do this during my first run of testing, where the temperature was higher than I expected. So I put some pressure on the cooler and I watched the temperature drop a few degrees. I loosened some screws, then tightened the others. This process took me 20 minutes of trial and error, between removing the GPU, RAM, and a few fans to reach some of the screws, then replacing them all to check the temperature. I knew I had reached a stopping point when I couldn't get the temperature to go any lower.

Testing of the heatsink will involve load simulated by Prime95 using small FFTs in stock and overclocked scenarios. Idle and load temperatures will be recorded. Load temperatures will be the maximum value displayed in RealTemp after running eight threads in Prime95 for over one hour, and idle temperatures will be the minimum value recorded by RealTemp with no computer usage after one hour. The temperature values for each of the four cores will be averaged. The ambient temperature is held at a constant 25° C throughout testing of the Tower 120 Extreme, as well as the comparison heatsinks. All the data shown in the graphs is in Celsius. The TX-3 thermal paste included by Tuniq will be used during testing.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel i7 920 (Stock 2.66GHz and Overclocked to 3.40GHz @ 1.27v)
• Motherboard: MSI Eclipse SLI
• Memory: Mushkin HP3 12800 7-7-7-20
• Video Card: Nvidia GTX 260
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800w Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-on DVD-RW
• Case: NZXT Lexa S
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
• Ambient Temperature: 25° Celsius

Comparison Heatsinks:

• Stock Intel heatsink
• Cooler Master Hyper N620
• Titan Entertainer TTC-NK95TZ

Overall, the Tower 120 Extreme performed quite well, and close to the very similar Cooler Master Hyper N620. It provided the lowest temperatures in 3 of the 4 tests, falling to second best in the overclocked load. On the next page, I will add my final thoughts and conclude this review.