Introduction:

Thermalright TRUE Black 120 Edition

    Mercedes, Rolex, Sony, Don Perignon, Thermalright. Chances are, 99% of people immersed in this luxury loving culture have heard of those first four. But Thermalright? Just who are they? For those of you in the audience who are new to the world of performance computing, Thermalright is, and has been one of, if not the single most reputable premium thermal solutions provider in the enthusiast marketplace. Considering their humble roots, producing copper heatsinks with easy to use mounting mechanisms, and those evil wire mounting clips, this company has kept pace with technology, and usually, comes out consistently on top.

But, what is it you do when you're on top? You celebrate, you illuminate the ideas of the future, and in some cases, you just show off. This heatsink, tends to be the latter. For the last year or so, Thermalright's Ultra 120 Extreme Heatsink has been widely regarded as the top option for air cooling. In the time before that, it was the Thermalright Ultra 120. So, while it may seem that innovation has been left to the curb for a while, just remember that this sink has done well enough to withstand the test of time. But, in the spirit of showing off, Thermalright has decided on releasing a beauty bathed in black nickel, bundled with an extra set of fan clips, and packed inside a box, inky as a moonless night. If ECS taught us anything this month with their Black is Power mantra, it's that we've got a real winner on our hands... but let's not jump the gun... there's still testing to do.

Features & Specifications:

• Quiet and powerful cooling due to multiple heat pipes and large aluminum fin area

• Proprietary bent winglet design to minimize airflow resistance

• 6mm heatpipes Black nickel plated to prevent oxidation maintaining best heat transfer condition

• Heat pipes soldered to base and fins for optimum heat transfer

• Include both bolt-thru-board retention brackets for Intel and AMD

• Include NEW thermal paste Chill Factor 2

• Include 2 sets of fan wire clips for 2 fan installation 

• Dimension : L63.44 x W132 x H160.5 mm

• Weight :790g (Heatsink Only)

• Heat pipe : Six heat pipes with black nickel plated

• Recommended Fan :All 120mm*25mm Fan

• Base material :Copper base with black nickel plated

A Closer Look:

The art of packaging - when there's two identical choices on the shelf, that one item which stands out the most will definitely snap the user's eyes to it. While I don't particularly pay attention to the box art myself when shopping for hardware, it's so very hard to deny that Thermalright's black box with oh-so-little lettering is bound to hold someone's gaze long enough for a sales associate to saunter over, and ensure them that yes, the $79.99 MSRP is worth it. Let's get one thing clear from the start - this heatsink isn't about value. It's about performance, and style. Packed in with the heatsink, in a little white cardboard carton is everything you'll need to get set up - bar a fan or two. Each is packed inside a permanently sealed clear plastic bag, and it's all rather clearly labeled so even the greenest of users shouldn't have too much trouble.

Stylish, No?

An Artistic Shot

Inside the Box

As to the heatsink itself, this isn't exactly any diminutive affair. Considering it's height of over 160mm (past 6" for all you imperial people), and it's weight of 790g before the fans are frustratingly attached, this isn't exactly the ideal cooler for people who tend to move cases around roughly, or have closed quarters to work in. That's not to say, however, that the heatsink itself doesn't scream quality, and beauty at you, immediately from the box. It's worth noting, however, that beauty is but fleeting - a finish such as this will attract fingerprints, make them incredibly difficult to remove, and if you're the sort to leave your hardware alone for months on end, don't expect it to look pristine when the dust has caked up. Nevertheless, this is more of a heatsink for the caring, involved owner - one that's going to show that it's being maintained. In relation to it's less stylish sibling, the heatsink bears the exact same physical characteristics, benefits and flaws inclusive.

A Profile Shot	Ariel view of the twins	A Paired Profile Shot
Pick your Poison	Identical Bases	Identical Heatpipes

If you're a sentimental sort, you may want to take a long, last gaze at the base of the heatsink before it's installed onto your processor - most likely atop a painting of Thermalright's new, and excellent Chill Factor 2 thermal paste. Once the heatsink has been bolted down (something of slight frustration, in a tight case), you can kiss that perfect finish goodbye. Don't believe me? Take a look at that last picture in the row below.

Luscious Base

Great Contact

But Devastating Results

Installation & Testing:

• Intel E8400 Wolfdale CPU @ 4.00 GHz, 1.42v

• ASUS P5K-E Wi-Fi AP

• 4x1GB Kingmax Mars DDR2-1066 @ 1066, 5-5-5-15

• Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4850 Crossfire-X, @ 680/1050

• Coolermaster RC690 with Yate Loon DS12DL fans

The testing part of this review is rather simple - make sure each sink is well seated, fire up OCCT for a 15 minute run, and record the results in the form of a graph. For those wondering about the seeming lack of discrepancies, or testing methodologies, you may be right - I tested this with the processor's clock left ramped clean up, the only difference between tests being a fresh coat of thermal paste. While normally I would do a few runs at the processor's heatsink, such things seem slightly pointless to do when two (nearly) identical heatsinks are being tested, both of which can easily handle the heat load produced by this chip. With that said, it's everybody's favorite, graph time!

Black Low 1	TRUE Low 1	Black High 1	TRUE High 1
Black Low 2	TRUE Low 2	Black High 2	TRUE High 2

As you can pretty clearly tell, that thin coating of pretty along the surface of the TRUE Black Edition hasn't limited it's performance in the slightest. Now, had I tested each sink to the capacity of it's included parts, a difference would have shown, but considering the fact that the additional set of fan clips can be purchases for somewhere around $3, or done for free if the user feels like wrapping rubber bands around their sink, I didn't see much of a point in making light of this difference. For those of you who don't like pretty charts, here's a graph. Keep in mind that lower is better, and temperatures which are 1-3c apart from each other fall into the margin of error, on account of the differences in mounting quality.

Conclusion:

    So, do you NEED this heatsink? Should you rush out, and snap up the first one available? As much as I'm thinking Thermalright would love us to say yes to that, the answer is really no. For standard cooling needs, a regular old Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme will do the job just fine, and if you throw in, what, a $3 set of fan clips, an $8 tube of thermal grease, and a $12 fan, you're still running a surplus. Is that the point? Hardly. What this product is, is one of the best looking heatsinks that you can get a hold of, not to mention one of the best performing. When people see it through your case's window, not only will it say "I chose Thermalright", but it will also say "I spent a little extra, to get the best". It's a little something like I imagine the Voodoo 5 6000 was back in it's time. You spend a little more, you get a little more, but hey, you'll enjoy it a lot more.

   In short, if you don't mind paying the bit of an extra price over the standard heatsink, and you want something deliciously stylish, pull the trigger and go for it. If you've already got the last generation of this unit, I'd suppose I'd recommend to sell it before you go buying this one... after all, if you only have one system, what would you do with it? With that said, it's good and time to give a major thanks to Thermalright, who, with any luck, we'll be seeing a lot more of in the coming weeks. You can grab this incredible cooler right now at Acoustic PC.

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