Cryo Laboratory Forums - View Single Post - Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Review

rhino56 · 06-22-2007, 10:56 AM

UPDATE:

After filling the gaps with Arctic Silver Adhesive, (I couldn’t get the silver solder to stick well enough onto the nickel plating) I ran the same tests in exactly the same conditions with no improvement at all in temps. That didn’t surprise me as the gaps were quite small anyways.

I got the heatsink lapped

I ran all the tests again and much to my amazement I had no gains at all. It was the same thru every test as it was before lapping. I thought perhaps it was due to me mounting it differently, using too much thermal paste or something, because I really did expect at least a small drop in temps. After remounting it again with just the right amount of thermal paste it was again the same.
I am really impressed that not even 1 degree Celsius could be gained by lapping it.

If the mounting system they use were improved upon I would most definitely rate this heatsink a 10. I have lapped several heatsinks in the past and have seen gains of 6 Celsius in lower temperatures.
I will lap the CPU and test it again, but since that has nothing to do with the heatsink I will post it within the forum and conclude this review on the fact that this heatsink rocks.
The convex surface seems to be no problem for it on this Processor. Thermalright has done their homework on this design and they have proved me wrong. I guess flatter isn’t always better. Congrats Thermalright on a heatsink I can honestly recommend to anyone as an excellent choice for air cooling.
I look forward to pitting this monster against the Apogee GT in my air vs. water cooling comparison coming soon.

UPDATE #2:
i figured i might as well add this information in here to keep it simple and organized.
After lapping my CPU and testing under the same conditions i had 0 gains. every temp was the same. at 4.4 GHz full load it looked like it might be 1c lower but it was too close to tell.

06-22-2007, 10:56 AM	#2 (permalink)
rhino56 Administrator General Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 6,813	UPDATE: After filling the gaps with Arctic Silver Adhesive, (I couldn’t get the silver solder to stick well enough onto the nickel plating) I ran the same tests in exactly the same conditions with no improvement at all in temps. That didn’t surprise me as the gaps were quite small anyways. I got the heatsink lapped I ran all the tests again and much to my amazement I had no gains at all. It was the same thru every test as it was before lapping. I thought perhaps it was due to me mounting it differently, using too much thermal paste or something, because I really did expect at least a small drop in temps. After remounting it again with just the right amount of thermal paste it was again the same. I am really impressed that not even 1 degree Celsius could be gained by lapping it. If the mounting system they use were improved upon I would most definitely rate this heatsink a 10. I have lapped several heatsinks in the past and have seen gains of 6 Celsius in lower temperatures. I will lap the CPU and test it again, but since that has nothing to do with the heatsink I will post it within the forum and conclude this review on the fact that this heatsink rocks. The convex surface seems to be no problem for it on this Processor. Thermalright has done their homework on this design and they have proved me wrong. I guess flatter isn’t always better. Congrats Thermalright on a heatsink I can honestly recommend to anyone as an excellent choice for air cooling. I look forward to pitting this monster against the Apogee GT in my air vs. water cooling comparison coming soon. UPDATE #2: i figured i might as well add this information in here to keep it simple and organized. After lapping my CPU and testing under the same conditions i had 0 gains. every temp was the same. at 4.4 GHz full load it looked like it might be 1c lower but it was too close to tell.