Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

[cyburzaki]

It may be more than just a "select" few. Cooler Guys is convinced they'll be one of them (but their pre-order price yesterday was $54.95, and today it's $10 more!).

EDIT: just noticed CoolerGuys is $6 less on Amazon.

 

[herbiehancock]

Originally posted by: cyburzaki

Originally posted by: continuum
...the OCZ Vindicator that was just reviewed @ Anandtech, it looks decent-- but I'm surprised the reviewer didn't take SilenX's fan specs with a large grain of salt.

I had the exact same reaction. This quote:

• The SilenX IXTREMA 120 claims to provide the world's best noise-to-airflow ratio. The specifications certainly support that claim with an exceptional 14 dB-A noise level coupled with 72 CFM airflow.

is nothing more than a meaningless circularity. The specs are being cited as support of SilenX's claim that the fan has the "world's best noise-to-airflow ratio," when in reality it is the specs themselves that constitute the claim, and those go unchallenged by the reviewer.

I read that review, too, and what was written and had to laugh out loud. There is no possible way a fan can move 72CFM and maintain a <14dBA rating. Of course, you have to understand how SilenX actually measures and completely fudges their rating for sound production.

I guess it'd be easy for almost any half-decent fan to achieve a 14dBA rating if you tested like SilenX does........measuring sound production at ONE METER from the fan, measuring sound on three axes and then taking the mean of those three readings. Taking dBA reading at a yard from the fan.....sheesh!!!

So, if your frontal reading produced a 30dBA reading, but your two off-axis side readings read 10dBA, guess that's give you close to your 14dBA....and then it all depends upon what speed the rating is taken at, too. A lot of shady dBA ratings of fans, SilenX at the forefront, rate the CFM at max speed but get their dBA rating at the fan's slowest speed it can run.

And all the "reviewer" had to do was type SilenX into Google and he'd have seen a lot more about the bogus claims of their dBA ratings than anything else. I've seen testing done on those fans and they all seem to produce around 32dBA, nowhere near the 14 they claim.


But, that's not why I'm posting. I cannot figure out what the problem is with the BIOS settings question. The whole point of Speedstep, Quiet and Cool, C1E and all the rest is to throttle the cpu's speed at IDLE.......but allow the cpu to run full speed under LOAD. Therefore, during the load testing, there is no throttling of the cpu's speed....it's working at 100% and stays that way until the 100% load is removed. As long as the load is present, the throttle function is disabled completely....so the point that hox was trying to make is ridiculous and pointless in the least.

 

[continuum]

Originally posted by: cyburzaki
Thermalright now swears the Ultra-120 Extreme will be available at select U.S. resellers this weekend.

This weekend for the Ultra-120 Extreme? Hmmm.

Heatsinkfactory says April 24. $59.99.

 

[cyburzaki]

Tankguys is still at 54.99, and is accepting orders (but shipping is $8).

Now IN-STOCK at CoolerGuys ("Limited supply!")

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you find Joe Citarella's Ultra 120 test-review at overclockers.com, you'll see that the thermal resistance of the Ultra 120 is 0.11 C/W for that model.

The Anandtech review comparing the original Ultra with the Extreme version and many other coolers has a column for the "stock" test-bed setting. We know the TDP for the processor they deploy. So given the idle and load temperature values for both the ULtra 120 and the Ultra 120 Extreme, I've calculated an estimate of the latter's thermal resistance as:

0.97 C/W

While I'm sounding off, I'll try and provide some insight to the Ultra ThermalRight models as opposed to the "flat" design employed with the XP-120, XP-90 anc -90 Cu, SI-120 and SI-128.

The Ultra's fin design requires extra attention to air pressure. I would think you'd truly capture the unit's peak performance if you could have both a pusher and puller fan -- and they do not necessarily need to be hung on the cooler, but they should be close to it. Some other attention to motherboard cooling should receive attention, since the Ultra coolers don't direct air at the motherboard. All of these remarks apply equally to "original" and "Extreme" Ultra-120 flavors.

That being said, after using an XP-120, and SI-120 and an XP-90 -- I find the Ultra coolers very impressive.

Now . . . . . I want to see some thermal resistance measurements for that IFX-14, and I'd like to see how that "backside" cooler affects the temperatures. I'd say that anything that further reduces temperature and limits temperature change == no matter how bizarre in appearance -- would be great if it doesn't obstruct the motherboard and puts no more stress on the motherboard according to the cooler's weight than the Ultra models, the CNPS 9500 and 9700, etc.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I just ordered the Ultra from the Heatsink factory. They claimed 36 instock when I purchasd a few minutes ago, and claim they will ship tues 4/24. I ordered the hi flo 1600rpm sythe flex fan also

I will update when I get it, it should be a huge improvement as I'm currently using the stock Intel cooler on an E6400 that takes some voltage to o/c well and my temps are insane with the stock HSF. Should make an interesting test case.

Coretemp/TAT Temps with stock HSF (both agree within a a few degrees, Asusprobe show a few degrees lower)

My 24/7 overclock @2.8ghz
idle 46-48c
orthos load 60-62c
TAT load 63-65c

Overclock @3.3ghz
idle 58-60c
orthos load 72-75c
TAT load 78-80c

 

[graysky]

I'd like to hear from someone who owns a P5B-del if the ultra-120 extreme fits the board out-of-the-box. I'm planning to build a q6600 based system (o/c'ed to 9x333) in a few weeks and don't want any surprises if I go with that HS.

 

[yacoub]

I'd like to know if the Ultra 120 Extreme, the IXF-14, or this new Ultima 90, will fit on an MSi P6N-SLI Platinum.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I have the P5B-E and per the measurements listed it will fit, and the motherboard used in the installation guide on Thermaltakes website appears to be a P5B-E. Here
I think it will on most motherboards as long as you don't have a tall heatsink on the northbridge. I'm concerned because I have the tall thermalright HR-05 on the northbridge and it looks like I will have to orient the Ultra in a non optimal position (up towards the PS instead of back towards the exshaust fan) or change northbridge coolers

And I'm glad to see they took Anantechs advise and redesigned the 775 mounting bracket

 

[EvilRage]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
And I'm glad to see they took Anantechs advise and redesigned the 775 mounting bracket

I didn't see any information about the redesigned bracket anywhere... but I suppose it's possible I overlooked it. Mind linking me and pointing it out? I was going to order the Extreme for my new C2D setup, but the only two things keeping me from pulling the trigger are the sub-par mounting bracket and not knowing whether or not this tall cooler will fit in my Silverstone TJ-03 case.

 

[cyburzaki]

yes, it's redesigned. The X-shaped bracket is now formed by two discrete cross-pieces, secured at their common center by a screw. This pivot point allows the "X" to be collapsed so it can slip through the heatsink base, and then be re-expanded for attachment to the four backplate screws.

 

[graysky]

Originally posted by: graysky
I'd like to hear from someone who owns a P5B-del if the ultra-120 extreme fits the board out-of-the-box. I'm planning to build a q6600 based system (o/c'ed to 9x333) in a few weeks and don't want any surprises if I go with that HS.

I can confirm the Ultra-120 X indeed fits on an Asus P5B-Del

 

[alaricljs]

I can also confirm that (shockingly) it fits on the Gigabyte N650SLI-DS4. It's like Gigabyte got a sample (or used the original u120) and made their NB heatsink around the thing. Once I get this thing fully assembled I'll take a picture.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: EvilRage

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
And I'm glad to see they took Anantechs advise and redesigned the 775 mounting bracket

I didn't see any information about the redesigned bracket anywhere... but I suppose it's possible I overlooked it. Mind linking me and pointing it out? I was going to order the Extreme for my new C2D setup, but the only two things keeping me from pulling the trigger are the sub-par mounting bracket and not knowing whether or not this tall cooler will fit in my Silverstone TJ-03 case.

Click the link in my post above you and look at the pics, cyburzaki described it very well

 

[EvilRage]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy

Originally posted by: EvilRage

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
And I'm glad to see they took Anantechs advise and redesigned the 775 mounting bracket

I didn't see any information about the redesigned bracket anywhere... but I suppose it's possible I overlooked it. Mind linking me and pointing it out? I was going to order the Extreme for my new C2D setup, but the only two things keeping me from pulling the trigger are the sub-par mounting bracket and not knowing whether or not this tall cooler will fit in my Silverstone TJ-03 case.

Click the link in my post above you and look at the pics, cyburzaki described it very well

Ah, I see. Okay, so point #1 addressed. But I'm pretty doubtful this HSF will fit in my case - MFG specs state the TJ03 is only 20cm wide, and when I measured from the bottom of the mobo tray to where the side panel would be, it came out at almost exactly 16cm... Since the Extreme is 161mm tall, and my measurement doesn't include the mobo or the distance from the standoffs to the mobo... I don't think it'll fit. So I think what I'll do is pick up a TJ07 (22cm wide) and use a zalman 9700, since it's slightly shorter (unless someone can confirm the extreme fits in a TJ07 with an eVGA 680i mobo).

 

[noobzter]

Anyone with the new Ultra 120 Extreme using the stock thermal paste? Is it sticky? I kinda hate those sticky thermal paste that comes with most heatsinks.