X-bit labs

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme vs. Super Coolers (page 2)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 07/11/2007 | 07:13 PM ]

Design

The Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is very tall, equaling the Scythe Infinity at 160mm. Its heatsink is 132mm wide and 63.4mm thick:

The Thermalright heatsink has a tower-like design. Six copper heat pipes, 6mm in diameter, go through the copper base and carry curiously shaped aluminum plates. The plates are curved, resembling a plane’s propeller.

This increases the heatsink area in comparison with straight plates, but the manufacturer doesn’t declare the total heat dissipation area. Every heatsink component is nickel-plated. The weight of the heatsink is 790g.

The top view shows that the pipes are placed not linearly, like in the Scythe Infinity for example, but with a shift, forming two ovals:

That is, having a less thick heatsink, this cooler accommodates as many heat pipes as the Infinity. I guess this solution also has an unobvious additional advantage that the shifted heat pipes distribute heat more uniformly in the heatsink than if they were placed in a line.

On the other hand, the airflow from the fan meets more resistance with this design.

The pipes lie in special grooves and the minimum thickness of the base is about 3 millimeters.

The heat pipes have contact with the base by means of some thermal glue. You can see traces of it on the edge of the plate. This is no solder.

The cooler’s base is not protected with anything:

No one took the trouble of finishing it. The structure of its base is made up by semi-rings you can easily feel with your fingers:

Well, some people think that a surface like this allows for a more efficient transfer of heat from the CPU heat-spreader to the heat pipes than a polished base does if you use thick thermal grease.