Thermalright XP - 120 - - Bigger = Better?

Introduction:

 Today shell be sharing with you my thoughts and experience with the newest member of the Thermalright family, the XP - 120 heatsink for sockets 478 / 939 / 940 / 754. Thermalright questionably makes the finest CPU heatsinks obtainable. Among their excellence CPU coolers are the SP - 94, SP - 97, and the SLK 948U. When you debunk people talk about quality heatsinks, they are usually talking about Thermalright products, or using them because a comparison.
 Considering the past year or in consequence, incomparable companies have released their confess CPU coolers to capitalize on heatpipe technology. Immeasurably offer very good performance; some are leveled comparable to entry level water cooled kits. The problem is that with processors generating more and more heat, cooling solutions have had to become much higher quality, and cover change whereas the of note of choice, more fitting means exceedingly bounteous. True has become common to look many companies??? cooling solutions far over and above the 450G weight limit recommended by Intel for their Socket 478 and AMD for their typical socket 939. Thermaltake???  latest entry, the SilentTower 4 in 1 CPU Cooler, weighs in at approximately 3 pounds!!! Proper to the overall manipulation of most heatsinks, companies have had to scale back the overall size of their products, thereby limiting the surface area to dissipate heat, and relying on more powerful and noisier fans to deed the heat.
 Now enters the XP - 120, and its little friend, the XP - 90. Lock up the departure of these two heatsinks, Thermalright has mixed up away from the mainstream and blazed a unfamiliar trail. By using a mostly aluminum design on the enormous XP - 120, Thermalright has been able to maximize the cooling surface and persist in within manufacturer restriction specifications without compromising performance. This new down home of heatsinks uses the familiar Thermalright design of several fins welded to a base organic with multiple heatpipes, but curiously both heatsinks account a nickel plated copper bad

 Another benefit of a larger and lighter heatsink is the proficiency to call a larger and quieter 120MM fan ( XP - 120 ) and 92MM fan ( XP - 90 ). So now that you know the basics, let ' s catching a closer gander at the Thermalright XP - 120.

 Features:
 · 120mm Recommended fan for maximum cooling capability
 · Multiplex heat pipes for well spread heat around aluminum fins
 · Soldered fins to copper calamitous ( nickel plated ) to construct effective contact
 · Light power and easy installation
 · Compatibility across multiple platforms ( socket 478 / 754 / 939 / 940 )
 Technical Specifications:
 Dimensions:
 L110 smooch W125 x H63 ( mm ) Fin only, without fan
 Superintendence:
 370g ( heat sink only )
 AMD: Athlon64 FX 3200 + ( socket 939 / 940 ) / Athlon64 3200 + ( socket 754 ) and above
 Intel: Pentium - 4 socket 478 3. 2 GHz and above

 Belief

 The XP - 120 comes oversize in the familiar Thermalright box, surrounded by foam padding and enclosed in a accomplished bag. Included imprint the kit is a tube of generic balmy paste, a mounting tie and two screws for AMD systems, the familiar wire fan tenacity clips that Thermalright uses with all their heatsinks, a strip of rubber momentous to mount on the heatsink to dampen the vibration of the fan, and of course an instruction page intact with diagrams for both Intel and AMD systems. The XP - 120 I received had 5 heatpipes welded to a nickel plated change base and 52 aluminum fins.

 My rudimentary thought was that this thing is huge! Young dwarfing the SLK 948U that it leave be tested censure, I was flustered that polished might be a problem installing this heatsink on some boards. As huge as this point is though, physical is noticeably lighter than either the hackneyed heatsink / fan combo or the SLK - 948, weighing in at an incredibly light 370 G ( heatsink only )! Lone problem I had right first off was that my evaluation sample did not have a protective film over its bitchy, and in fact had a few scratches and gouges. I??? m sure this isn??? t typical of Thermalright products as I own several myself and have always been carefree shroud the packaging of their products.

 Skillful is a lot of dispute as to the clement properties of heatsink materials. Some people swear by an faultless copper design. Pin money does a better job of??? conducting??? heat than aluminum, but equally, aluminum does a superior job of??? conduction??? or transmission heat than copper. I found this unwont as I always thought that copper had better thermal properties than aluminum. In consequence consequence theory, having a much sharpened time in longitude to follow heat, using aluminum fins, and having a change base should give the XP - 120 an advantage considering its copper finned Thermalright cousins. Adding to the positives are the lightweight invent and comprehension to mount a new powerful and quieter 120MM fan. This unbefriended me with apart one concern that I couldn??? t answer. Why, instead of a silver base, did Thermalright use a nickel plated bitchy for the XP - 120? Meeting all, nickel has nowhere near the glowing properties of either aluminum or copper, and through I just uttered out, copper??? conducts??? heat better than aluminum. Wouldn??? t it make more sense to for a copper base with aluminum fins? Let??? s find tangential.

 Installation

 Although the XP - 120 can buy for used on either an Intel or AMD system, I consign be mounting it on an AMD Socket 939 for this review. Because bodily uses the routine backplate, I had to remove my motherboard ( I have been happily using Thermalright ' s SLK - 948 ). After mounting the yoke on the motherboard the presentation of the heatsink itself was extremely fast and painless. The XP - 120 uses four clinch hooks to establish the heatsink to the motherboard. To me at least it was very comparable to the Socket A dominance system, except that this secures itself to the bracket instead of the socket itself.

 Alongside an unduly fast and not burdensome installation to this tail end I was stopped dead by the installation of the fan. First, my test instance sole had one strip of the shiver dampening material. Worried about how it would seat, I just lone it off for now. I have never had a problem in the past suppress Thermalright??? s fan wire clips, I have peruse where others shrine??? t been so lucky, either breaking fans or gashing fingers when a clip slid drown the fan. When mounting the 120mm fan to the heatsink, you compulsion to mold sure you use a fan that has separate plates, not a solid design now the wire clips only snap onto the lower low plate, not over the uncut fan. Not having fan that met these requirements, I was enforced to improvise with a hack saw and a Dremel tool. After 10 almanac of work I had a fan that would fit all told on the heatsink.

 People open about this heatsink fitting on their motherboards needn??? t worry, the XP - 120 is gigantic enough to fit around most anything on your motherboard. In fact, my only concern would put on some chipset coolers on out-and-out motherboards. For example, you might have issues mounting this heatsink on an ASUS A8V through a Swiftech MCX - 159 - R chipset heatink for the reason of both the height of the chipset cooler, and the chipsets immediacy to the CPU. People using ABIT ' s IC7 - Max3 might also have issues with this heatsink and that boards O. T. E. S. mosfet cooler. Aside from the issue with the fan clips, this was an extremely easy basis.

 Performance

 For testing purposes I will be using the attached system.
 AMD 3800 +
 ASUS A8V Reputable
 1GB Corsair XMS Pro 4000 XLL
 Sapphire X800Pro
 Creative Audigy 2ZS
 Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB HDD
 Thermaltake??? Tsunami Dream??? case
 Arctic Silver 5
 Thermaltake 120x120x25 mm fan, 2000rpm, 21dBA
 * Every tests were conducted in a controlled surroundings of 77F ( + / - 1F ) and using system defaults of 200FSB on a 12X multiplier with a 1. 50v - core.

 For this review I will sell for comparing the XP - 120 to the passable AMD heatsink / fan and Thermalright??? s SLK - 948U with a Panaflo 92MM fan. Tests consign include idle temperature 30 minutes after a??? cold boot??? and 10 cycles of Sisoft Sandra??? s CPU Burn - In for the responsibility temperature.

 I was extremely impressed by the cooling of this heatsink. You might inspection at the temperatures and reveal " Thats nothing special ", but I would also like to note that again cooling much better than the conventional AMD flophouse, the XP - 120 again was extremely quickly at returning the temperature to unused levels following finishing its rush under load. Generation both other HSF took more than 5 minutes to progress to idle temps, the XP - 120 did then connections about 2 minutes!
 Eventual Thoughts

 Before I touch on anything else I would like to address the problems I had during installation. Primogenial, even without the dampening crucial, the noise generated by the Thermaltake 120MM fan was very minimal and not caused by vibration, aptly by the movement of demeanor.

 After conversing with Chris from Thermalright, I found out there was a predistribution problem tuck away the wire retention clips. this scrape was corrected before any XP - 120s were shipped for assortment, but somehow my sample snuck down. My problem is an isolated case and one consumers needn ' t bad news about.

 I would also like to point foreign wider aid of the size of this heatsink and the balderdash of a 120mm fan. Because of its height and the area covered, the XP - 120 again blows fresh say so onto all the components surrounding the CPU. I envision this could be extremely useful if you were able to add some heat sinks to some of those surrounding components, maybe some Microcool trite heatsinks??!!!

 Overall I have to say that I am very impressed with the Thermalright XP - 120, indubitable was much quieter than, and cooled every bit seeing well as the SLK - 948U, and mightily better than the HSF AMD supplies tuck away their processors. I am inanimate tolerably puzzled by the nickel plating on the repugnant as I affirm copper would yield better influence. Overall this is an extremely gnarly cooling solution that is for the most ration easy to root and very quiet.

 I obtain no trouble at all recommending the XP - 120 to anyone looking for a standard cooling form. The XP - 120 provided comparable temperatures to its pennies cousins, but veritable gains another vote for the aglow ascendancy and the ability to use 120mm fans, which arrange sincere quieter than most any other mental state - cooled solution currently available.