TRUE Rev. B - Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 Revision B & C Review

Date:: Sunday , October 18, 2009
Category:: Cooling
Manufacturers:: Thermalright
Author:: Marc Adams
Editor:: Kyle Bennett

Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 Revision B & C Review

All hardware enthusiast and many gamers are very much aware of just how good Thermalright's Ultra Extreme 120 (TRUE) CPU heatsinks are. Contenders over the last two years have been few. Today the original TRUE vs. TRUE Rev. B and the TRUE Rev. C. Thermalright decided to challenge itself and give the enthusiast a better product.

continued...

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme Rev. B

As stated before this is not a new design from Thermalright but rather the same design that has worked so well for them with a few modifications to bring it up to speed with the new Core i7 CPUs. With a new fin array and modified base we will see if the Rev. B is able to beat the original TRUE as well the rest of the competition out there. As we get ever closer to ambient temps, even a single degree drop in temperature could mean the difference between top spot and bottom of the pack.

Package & Specs

The first thing you'll notice is the new packaging Thermalright is using. It is weird that such a small thing would cause you to pause. On the one hand I like the packaging and this it is very sleek. On the other hand it is sad to see them move away from their iconic "OEM" brown cardboard packaging. At the end of the day it doesn't much matter what the packaging looks like so long as it does its job and doesn't add cost to the sale price.

Dimensions: (L) 63.44mm x (W) 132mm x (H) 160.5mm

Weight: 790g w/o fan, 1050g w/fan

Material: Nickel plated, copper heat pipes with 53 aluminum fins

Heat Pipes: 6 full length

Compatibility: LGA 1366

Fan:

Size: 120 x 25mm
Speed: 1600 RPM
Noise Level: 28 dBA
Max Air Flow: 63.7 CFM

Contents & Flatness

Thermalright tosses in all the hardware in a pouch along with a quick install guide which is handy thanks to the new mounting system.

The base of the TRUE Rev. B shows a very wavy pattern and this is most likely due to it being designed specifically for the LGA-1366 CPUs. When the original TRUE came onto the scene its base was slightly concave to give better contact with the Core 2 Duo’s convex IHS. We’ll see if this is the case or just a bad sample.

Photos

Here are a few photos of the TRUE Rev. B from different angles. Take note of the last image and how the fins now have a hole punched into them. The Megahalem was completely divided down the middle and it seems Thermalright is trying something similar here given the success of the competition.

Installation & Contact

Our first photo shows off the new mounting system used by Thermalright. It mirrors what we saw first with the Noctua coolers we tested as well as the Prolimatech heat sink. It is a solid method of mounting a heavy heatsink that requires only two screws in the end be tightened. This limits uneven pressure and ensures maximum performance. Just don’t expect to use your first DIMM slot on all motherboards.