Hardware Thermalright vs Zerotherm: Cooler Faceoff

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/01/04/thermalright_120_extreme_zerotherm_nv120/1

We test two 120mm heatsinks designed for the hardcore enthusiast to determine which one dons the crown in this cooler faceoff. How will the widely praised Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme compare to the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 on the bit-tech grill? Let's find out...

 

Several months ago I purchased a Tuniq Tower 120 because it was "almost as good" as the Thermalright cooler, but at half the price (on sale). I'm about to change the fan but now I just wish I'd bought the Thermalright.

 

Greetings!

And with that you hit the nail in the head.

The price of air cooling is still low when compared to other cooling solutions (and easier to install and maintain), there is no point in geting the second best cooler.
The TRUE120 is the king of air coolers and has been for a while now, the longer it continues in the throne the happier I am with it.

 

But the PWM cooling doesn't look too good. Which would be better, the Ultra-120 Extreme, or the Thermaltake MaxOrb? How important is the extra heatpipe cooling? I'm trying to decide what to put on an EVGA 780i board, once they come off of back-order!

(Total n00b post/longtime-lurker/first-time-poster -- LOVE the site: I've learned tons in the past few months!)

 

did I see a 10/10 score? Or did I just imagine it.

I could have said: "I told you so" but i did not.

 

it probably would have got a 10 overall if the support for AMD users had been better.

 

From the second page: "Next the fan clips are hooked around the ends of the heatpipes and pushed taught into the corners of the fan to keep it there..."

Couldn't have meant "taut" by any chance?

 

I can honestly say the Thermalright is an excellent piece of kit, have one on my Asus Striker Extreme and Q6600, though I must say its a very tight fit on this mobo, the heatpipes actually touch some of the mobo heatsinks. Nice slow 120mm fan, can barely hear it and it keep the chip as cold as the British weather at the moment (read cool) even running at full tilt. Only concern I have with it at the moment is the lack of air directed towards any of the chipset/power heatsinks on the motherboard, as a result the system temp is a little high.... Looking at ways to redirect a little air over them at the moment.

I found installation to be a breeze, just make sure you have a nice flat surface and plenty of space.

Also of note, you might find the fan clips easier to use if you clip them in the right place, they are designed to clip in between the fins of the heatsink and not onto the heatpipes themselves. As shown right at the bottom of the installation guide here -> http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/cpu/u120ex/installation_cpu_cooler_u120ex.html


Top notch piece of cooling hardware.

 

Cool, thanks for the link but where ever you put the fan clips I always found I had one too tight and one too lax or one would ping off as I was putting the other on - there is just better solutions out there.

 

Oh yeah, no doubt there friendlier systems out there, don't know how may of these I would class as "better" though , have owned many different thermalright heatsinks over the years and they have always been a fan of the wire clips.

I think the important thing with the ones with the U-120 EX is that they go in between the fins (hooking into the notches down the middle of each of the fins and then onto the bottom of the fan (not right over the top). Made the mistake of trying to get them right over the top of the fan myself and bent one of the clips out of shape (nothing a pair of pliers couldn't fix though)

Either way, nice to finally see a Bit-Tech review of the Ultra-120 Extreme, and nicely done as always.

 

Richard, cant see why you think thats hard to mount the fan. If you read the faninstallation you see that theres two holes that you need to use with the fanwires. http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_p...120ex/installation_cpu_cooler_u120ex.html#fan

Nice review.

 

I personally like the ZeroTherm, but that's just my oh-so-not-important-opinion.

Does any one know which HSF is the quietest? I'm looking to build a near silent computer for a disabled person who needs to interact with the computer through voice, so background / fan noise must be minimal, but water cooling is not within budget. I was looking at getting the Zero Therm, but I'm open for other suggestions.

 

A Scythe Ninja should passively cool most (non overclocked/super high end) CPUs.

 

depends on if you are overclocking the northbridge and southbridge. the maxorb installs easily if that matters to you. no force is required to get the pushpins into the board. kind of a pain to clean the maxorb though, if you hit it with compressed air the dust blows onto the motherboard and then you have to clean it off. not that big of a deal though, since i would do that anyway.

 

finally! TRUE120 reviewed.

i love mine 120 eXtreme, it's the best topping almost every single heatsink tests with a good fan on low speed. it even beats those cheap under 100 pounds water cooling solutions it's so good at taking heat away from processors, going from 1.5v to 1.6v didn't change load temperature much at all, was just under 70 for 1.5v, now just over 70 for 1.6v. (no, i didn't leave it for a long time)

only thing is, when you are installing TRUE120, get someone else to hold the cooler, otherwise it may slide about when you try to screw it in.

for a better PWM temperature, you can stick a piece of paper to the fines, to direct air into the PWM. i didn't do that yet my Abit iP35 Pro (rather famous for hot PWMs and bad thermal past on those) is idling at 42c.

 

was gonna buy a 120 extreme ]
this just make me wanna buy it quicker

 

LoL! Thank you for putting at least one stock temp in there. Those temps are much better than my Arctic Freezer 64Pro cooler. With a 3800+ I get 28C idle and 40C load. With it overclocked to 2.5GHz I get 30C idle and 50C load. I could really use a better cooler or maybe a new system since Phemom don't work with my MB

 

I love English. So logical.

teach/taught

tight/taut

tit/teat

/spam

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html

 

Hey, I noticed an error about the fans - Noctua doesn't make a 1400RPM model, only 800, 1200, and 1300RPM-ers. The 1300 is also a drastically different design than the 800 and 1200RPM fans, so it would be nice if the model number was listed as well.

 

A bit of information. I have the Nirvana 120, and the fan is removable, making it easier to install those 2 mounting screws. I would assume that those sold in the UK are of the same design as those sold in the US. Simply remove the fan before installation, and replace after installation. All you have to do is pinch the 2 ears on the mounting tab at the bottom of the fan stand.

As for the member above that asked about routing air to the other heatsinks, I did that by simply using a 2 rulers and bending the bottom fins on the back downward to direct air at it. Works great and looks stock when done right. I forget what heatsink that had this little feature recently, but it came in handy for me. This again is with the Nirvana 120.

One other bit of info. If you look at the results, the Thermalright always has a lower ambient temp than the Nirvana. By guestimating (I'm not a rocket scientist), this would bring the 2 a little closer to each other after adjustment in temps I believe.

I got my Nirvana on sale for half the price of the Thermalright (not seen the thermalright on sale at all). For the little difference in temps, I think this heatsink does quite a good job in price/performance. Fits my needs well.