# Thermalright HR-03 GTX Review!



## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

With my new spanky Thermalright HR-03 GTX GPU cooler arriving today I thought I'd make a proper user review seeing as I can find as few as 2 other reviews on the net.





So, on to the cooler! This cooler is designed for the GTX 260 (65nm) and the GTX 280 primarily, however is installable via additional heatsinks + ram sinks to both the newer revision GTX 260 (55nm) and the new GTX 285. The cooler comes as a passive solution, however Thermalright strongly recommend use of a 12cm fan to aid cooling ability. In the following review, I shal detail:

1. Steps of installation

2. Performance - the HR-03 GTX with a 12cm fan

- Performance tests will be idle temperature, Synthetic load temperature (Crysis benchmark utility, 3x 3 pass runs, average highest temperature, ATItool scanning for artifacts, 10 minute runs, average) and Game temperatures (Games include Crysis, COD:4, Test Drive Unlimited and Team Fortress 2 - this is a broad spectrum of games each varying in intensity, from crysis down to TF:2 - short periods of gaming, max temperature recorded). 

So, as soon as the cooler arrives, ill do a step by step installation account and then the ever important thermal tests. How fun will today be?!


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

So, the step by step guide . . . oh boy . . . 

So, you of course need to start out with your graphics card of choice - mine being my Gainward GTX 260 (192), and your tools - 2 philips headed screw drivers (one regular, one precision), a sharp device such as a stanley knife or a fine flat head screw driver.






First port of call - remove the rubber plastic SLI bridge protector thing.






Then I set about removing all 10 of the screw holding the back plate to the GTX itself - not such an easy task as these screws can be stripped very easily if you use a bit too large or go too hard, so take your time and do it right so that in the event of having to replace the stock cooler, you can do so easily.






Once you have removed all the screws, you will need to use your very fine flat headed object to prise the card back-side cooler away from the clips holding it to the main section of the HSF. go slowly and dont use an excessinve ammount of force, once you have seperated the two and removed the heatsink you will be left with a nice mess to clean up






After a thorough cleaning, you should be left with something along the lines of . . .






Its important you clean everything thoroughly as the ram sinks will not stick to gunked up surfaces for very long, if at all.

Now you need to remove the small screws that are holding the main card onto the large heat sink, twist gently from side to side - DO NOT USE A TONNE OF FORCE OR ELSE YOULL DAMAGE YOUR CARD! BE WARNED!!!






Then you'll be needing to clean all the chips on this main side of the card too - you should also clean off the TIM on the main core and replace it with either your own thermal grease or the supplied Thermalright "The Chill Factor" (I have used MX-2). 

So, after your card is prepped, its time to break out the goodies, and I must say, despite this thing only being a cooler, its a gorgeous thing, it really is:











Everything is packaged extremely well in a slick black cardboard box - all the ramsinks, screws and bits are secured in tough plastic bags, and the GTX itself is protected by a thick foam at the top to prevent fins being bent during transit:











 . . . remember when I said guide ish at the start? Yeah well this is where it ends im afraid. My camera decided to crap out at this point and my BlackBerry doesnt take decent enough pictures to warrant using it, so I am apologising to you lot 

The installation itself was very simple, the instructions are actually quite good - as long as you have cleaned the old thermal pads off thoroughly, the installation is a breeze. Out of 10 for difficulty? Id give it a 6, purely because when installing the bolt through bracket to hold the cooler to the card, I could really have done with a third hand as it was quite fiddly - up until that part is was very simple.

So, the next update on the post below will be gaming performance - where you will see the utterly brilliant performance of this cooler. Again, I apologise for the lack of install instructions / pictures, just blame my camera


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

*Temperature performance time!*​
Bear in mind that this is using the GTX with a single, slow 12cm fan (pictured below):

The fan in question - a single stock Coolermaster fan, mine was included with my old Cosmos, its a slow turner that shifts an Ok ammount of air, id recommend a more powerful / higher cfm fan if you have the funds.






Right, on to the synthetic tests - Ill be using the Crysis benchmark utility and ATItools artifact scanner. (I cannot for the life of me get furmark to run, something about open GL2.0, something crazy) 

First up, the Crysis benchmark utility - this program runs a high speed pass of a section of the island and measures your systems performance. I will run this test on stock - 1280 x 1024, all settings on medium with no AA (this is a very typical lineup of settings), Medium (1680 x 1050, all medium, no AA) High (1680 x 1050, all high + 2xAA) and Ultra - (1680 x 1050, all very high with 16xAA). The utility will run in loops of 3 in DX10, fullscreened for maximum validity. The highest temperature will be recorded and used as a guide for the resolution / settings in question. 

So, first round - stock:

*PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT MY IDLE TEMPERATURE IS 35 DEGREES CELCIUS THROUGHOUT ALL THIS TESTING, AND MY QUAD IS CLOCKED AT 3.6Ghz. THANKS!*






The temperature, as you can see, peaked at a lowly 43 degrees - just 8 degrees higher than idle. 

Next, after allowing the card to return to idle temperature, Medium:






Just a 1 degree increase over the previous test with quite a hefty resolution increase. But surely these next 2 runs will bring the cooler to its knees?

Next up, high - this is the configuration I personally use whilst playing crysis.






A small jump this time, up to 47 degrees.

Now, for the monster test, the ultra trial. 






Wow. At the highest settings I can go, the temperature only hit 48 degrees, which is absolutely staggering. Remember, my old reference cooler kept my card at 50 degrees IDLE, thats how good this thing is.

The next synthetic test will be our very own ATITool running on the artifact scanning mode. This will run for approx. 10 minutes.






So, next up is actual down and dirty gaming temperatures.

**ALL GAMES PLAYED @ 1680 x 1050, FULL AA ON HIGHEST DETAIL AVAILABLE! (Apart from crysis, 1680 x 1050, 2xAA all high)* *

Ill start out with a personal favourite of mine, Team Fortress 2.






A brief online playing session results in . . . 






An impressive result, but lets remember its a low graphical intensity game 

Next up is Test Drive Unlimited:











Again, this cooler just wont allow my GTX to break into the 50 degree mark!

On to the second highest graphically intense game in this short review - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.











Again, not nearly enough of a challenge for the GTX.

On to our final game, Crysis:






An extremely graphical and CPU intensive game. During this test my processor is running @ 3.2Ghz, the GTX completely on stock:






Even the mighty crysis cannot bring down the HR-03. I am truely staggered with this result, and have yet to see temperatures to exceed 50 degrees!



*So, in conclusion?*​
This graphics card cooler is truely epic. To reduce the idle and load / gaming temperatures of such a hot running card as well as it has really is an amazing achievement. Granted the installation was a little bit fiddly, but thats one con against a huge line of pro's:

1. Runs so cool it unreal

2. Runs silent (results may vary on fan used)

3. Looks awesome 

4. Isnt too expensive - at £45 I could think of worse things to spend that ammount on

5. It isnt nearly as heavy as I assumed it would be, and its alot smaller than youd think too!

All in all, id give this cooler, the Thermalright HR-03 GTX a 9/10, with a single point being knocked off for the at times fiddly install. 

Thanks guys, and I have a treat for you all, its uploading now . . .


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

Looking forward to it matey.

At least your stuff will arrive, eBuyer just told me i have to wait an extra day on my order!


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## Cold Storm (Apr 16, 2009)

Swweet Kyle Can't wait to read another person's thoughts on the Thermalright HR-03 GTX!


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## alexp999 (Apr 16, 2009)

Based on your review Cold Storm, is it going to be worth Kyle using the original backplate to give the PCB some support?


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## Cold Storm (Apr 16, 2009)

You know, I never tried to see if that would work... I guess I could of after I changed the tim on everything to do so.. Yeah, he may have something to think about if he hasn't all ready done so.


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## alexp999 (Apr 16, 2009)

I doubt it has arrived yet, only 9:23am here atm.

Just thinking if you do away with the ram sinks and brace on the back and use the original backplate, I see no reason why it wouldnt work, and it would save the PCB. Pretty sure that is what was done on here for the Accelero GTX review.


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

Whos it coming from Kyle? My Royal Mail delivery arrived at 8:45 yesterday :O and 10:30 today.. lol.

Where did you get it from aswell?


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## alexp999 (Apr 16, 2009)

He got it from Scan so it will be coming through City Link


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

i kinda wish i had done this when i got my T-RAD2. That thing was awesome. An overclocked 4870 with idle temps of 23c and load temps of 35c... lol. That was on low fan speed too.


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

Still waiting on the postman - yes, its 1:20 and he still hasnt been, and citylink for the GTX. Im getting annoyed now.


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

GTX? you getting something else aswell as the Heatsink?


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

Thermalright HR-03 GTX 

*edit*

If you meant via the post, im waiting for my carbon fiber vinyl and my psp pandoras battery.


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

Oh, thought you had a new card coming aswell... lol.


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

Just a quick teaser - Its all installed, im off to work but will upload the full (ish, youll see why lol) review. The teaser? Crysis used to make my stock cooler hit the 80's - the GTX? 46 degrees  thats close to half cut off by this amazing cooler.

Ill be back after 8!


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## Cold Storm (Apr 16, 2009)

kyle2020 said:


> Just a quick teaser - Its all installed, im off to work but will upload the full (ish, youll see why lol) review. The teaser? Crysis used to make my stock cooler hit the 80's - the GTX? 46 degrees  thats close to half cut off by this amazing cooler.
> 
> Ill be back after 8!



Yeah, I saw around the same cut on temps when I started to play games.. I never played Crysis since my 8800gt 1gb, but the other games where cut quite well.

Can't wait to see it all done!


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## kyle2020 (Apr 16, 2009)

Bump for the review being 2/3 done!


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## alexp999 (Apr 16, 2009)

Sweet, just want to see the thing on the card now!


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## MoonPig (Apr 16, 2009)

i think your delaying this on purpose. Look what your doing to Alex! lol.


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## shadapar (Apr 16, 2009)

*also..*

The hr-03 GT works amazingly well on the 4850 as well and if your case allows for it width wise you can mount it slid over to the outside and use the pci-e slot with a half height htpc card. you normally lose that on some boards...like the msi k9a2 platinum


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> Sweet, just want to see the thing on the card now!



Ill take it out my case, fix the camera and get some pictures up for you tomorrow


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## 1Kurgan1 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice review, but where's some pics of the Thermalright on the card?


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

Those are coming today after I sort the camera out. Oh and my CF vinyl just arrived


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

That grin has to be the best smiley on TPU. Cant wait to see both


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

Bump for results all uploaded - getting the "Money shots" taken now


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

Finally


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

Sneak peek  (my favourite shot of the lot)







Just to wind alex up  photobuckets being slooowwwwww 

Alex, just order one, install it and have a look for yourself - you'll be done before photobucket is lmao.


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice, does it look likes it going to bend the PCB? If it was me I would have probably used the stock backplate.


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> Nice, does it look likes it going to bend the PCB? If it was me I would have probably used the stock backplate.



No bending so far, its not heavy enough IMO. 

I would use it anyway, these heatsinks do a much better job. Actually, you have that sexy flame design from EVGA - if you get one you might want to use it.

Pictures are at 65%.


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

I more into buying that case than this atm, I think my GTX does quite a good job at keeping itself cool. Plus the design is so sexy!


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

Pictures:









































And in my system


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice!

And are VRm temps good? Unlike the Accelero?

Also, whats with the HDD propped up in the 5.25 bays?


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

All around 38 degrees  so a huge improvement over the accelero.

The HDD is up the because im A. going to order a HDD - 5.25" bay adapter and B. Im considering removing the hdd cage


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

Thats why I like that Sniper case. Removable HDD cage


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> Thats why I like that Sniper case. Removable HDD cage



or a dremel for a quarter of the price


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## pantherx12 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice and low profile I see XD


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## OnBoard (Apr 17, 2009)

kyle2020 said:


>



You have the exact same screwdriver thingy as me  Even the head bit looks identical to my BITSBELT that has 4 flathead, 3 philips and 3 posidrive head.

Ain't it awesome, had it over 10 years now and still going strong. Love that it's short and you can just use screw driver bits that are available in many shapes and sizes.


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

haha, I sort of adopted it off my dad, its really handy


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## OnBoard (Apr 17, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> And are VRm temps good? Unlike the Accelero?





kyle2020 said:


> All around 38 degrees  so a huge improvement over the accelero



o rly? I want to see some FurMark runs with GPU-Z 

It should be lower with less VRM's and way less voltage, but 38C can't be FurMark load temp, idle temp I believe 

ps. sexy shots you got there of the cooler


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 17, 2009)

Very nicely done and well written Kyle!

Hmm... nice!


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

OnBoard said:


> o rly? I want to see some FurMark runs with GPU-Z
> 
> It should be lower with less VRM's and way less voltage, but 38C can't be FurMark load temp, idle temp I believe
> 
> ps. sexy shots you got there of the cooler



Like I said at the beginning of the review, I cannot run furmark.



InnocentCriminal said:


> Very nicely done and well written Kyle!
> 
> Hmm... nice!



Thank you


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

OCCT GPU test is just as good as Furmark


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## OnBoard (Apr 17, 2009)

kyle2020 said:


> Like I said at the beginning of the review, I cannot run furmark
> 
> (I cannot for the life of me get furmark to run, something about open GL2.0, something crazy)



Sorry, missed that line. Well your card should support Open GL2.0, wierd. You could try open gl 3 then, there is a etqw.exe in the folder that uses it, maybe it works?



alexp999 said:


> OCCT GPU test is just as good as Furmark



Nice it has furry doughnut too, testing for 8mins right now (has 3min burn then).

edit: yeah, seems to heat up VRM at least as much, if not more than FurMark. 100C in 160secs.


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 17, 2009)

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.exe?


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## kyle2020 (Apr 17, 2009)

yup, 10 minutes of OCCT's furry donut pushed the Vrm's up into the 80's - a chink in this coolers armour? Not by a long shot, I mean come on - how many games / applications do you know of that actually overstress your grpahics card to that extent? Exactly 

Gaming and idle temperatures are what you should consider when purchasing such a cooler, not artificial over stress program results, surely.


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## alexp999 (Apr 17, 2009)

It was just interesting to see as in the review someone did on here of the Accelero, the VRMs hit more than 135*C iirc.

So The Thermalright is MUCH better


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## OnBoard (Apr 17, 2009)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.exe?



Yes, it's named so that:
_you can use optimized profiles for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and available in NVIDIA and ATI graphics drivers. These profiles enable SLI and Crossfire._



kyle2020 said:


> yup, 10 minutes of OCCT's furry donut pushed the Vrm's up into the 80's - a chink in this coolers armour? Not by a long shot, I mean come on - how many games / applications do you know of that actually overstress your grpahics card to that extent? Exactly
> 
> Gaming and idle temperatures are what you should consider when purchasing such a cooler, not artificial over stress program results, surely.



Yep, gaming is what matters. Not many games get close to stress test temps, Crysis and Cryostasis come to mind. Cryostasis pushed my stock cooler to 100%, it produces some serious heat, but VRMs run cooler still than in FurMark.

"The Thermalright HR-03 GTX keeps the converters at stable temperatures, but during a worst-case scenario in Crysis there have been some distortions."
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...d-Silenx-Noiseless-GPU-Cooler/Reviews/?page=4

But that's more of GTX 280 problem, yours runs cooler  FurMark and OCCT are just the worst case scenarios and if the card+cooler copes with that you can game anything with peaceful mind.

edit:


alexp999 said:


> It was just interesting to see as in the review someone did on here of the Accelero, the VRMs hit more than 135*C iirc.
> 
> So The Thermalright is MUCH better



Wonder who it was  *points to OnBoard* Don't forget that GTX 260 and GTX 280 aren't exactly comparable, 1.0625V vs. 1.1875V for starters and my stock cooler already hit 100C . As I said in my review GTX 260 temps WILL be lower with the Accelero sink, but yes the Thermalright version is better. 116C in the review linked above, though it was with 3DMark03.


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## Josh81 (Apr 19, 2009)

great cooler, been using it on my 8800 for awhile..good to see its compatible with the higher tier cards, good to know i will be able to use it when i upgrade my card in the summer


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