Wednesday, September 2nd 2009
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Gets Revised
Thermalright's iconic Ultra 120 Extreme (TRUE) CPU cooler has a new revision. TRUE Rev. B brings along a small design change that the company claims improves its cooling performance a little. Most of its 52 aluminum fins barring the top one have a 'V'-shaped cutting in the center. This perhaps increases turbulence (for better heat dissipation) a little. The resulting temperature drops are estimated around 1~2 °C. TRUE Rev. B has started selling in China for RMB 530 (which is around $79), including fan. Without the fan, $72.95 is all it takes.
Source:
Expreview
57 Comments on Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Gets Revised
TIA
I have both in machines right now and I'll clear up a few things:
Does the Xigmatech match or beat the TRUE's performance? No, but the two are very close. Close enough that I would say it doesn't make a difference.
Is the TRUE worth the price over the Xigmatech? Yes! Cooling performance is only part of the equation. The Xigmatech coolers are cheaper for several reasons:
No Nickle Plating(looks worse)
Cheaper Mounting Brackets(Push Pins!!! They sell a bolt through kit for 775, why not just include it instead of the BS push pin brackets? And they don't even offer a bolt through kit for AM2/3.)
Lower Quality
The TRUE is a high quality heatsink, you can look at it and feel it, and just know that it is of the highest quality. The same can not be said about the Xigmatech coolers. They feel a lot cheaper, and the quality is just not up to the level of the TRUE.
And the issues with lapping the TRUE aren't that major, both my Xigmatechs required lapping also. They weren't as bad as the TRUE, but there were large gouges in the copper of the heatpipes, large enough that I could get my thumb nail stuck in them when running it across the surface. A quick hit with 1500 Grit solve that though, while the TRUE took 400, then 800, then 1000, then 1500 because I had to get the base flat first.
Its designed for procs with heatspreaders and are actually effective. (in fact a swiftech Apogee GTZ water block even have a convex surface.)
TRUE design truly is.. ahead of its time.
it beats TRUE
Also i saw the xigmatec dark knight or something like that in action , up to 65-70 C and 1.5 V on a core duo E5200 both were about the same with 2-3 C better for the true but not so significant , this was done with a friend , then we uped the voltage to 1.6 , TRUE holded the very hot CPU to 75 C full load of orthos , xigmatec failed and was going for over 83 , we stoped on the xigamtec.
You can really see the perfomance of a TRUE in a very hot scenario , if you buy it for a normal overclock then it's a waste of money.
Most people see coolers below the TRUE losing by 1-2 C and say why is this so much more expensive , it's just not worth it , but at what temperatures are these results ? 50-70C ? not enough to really push the TRUE , go for much more and you will see the TRUE leaves the competition behind.
Other thing to consider is how well the TRUE scales with a better airflow , some coolers just don't benefit from a better airflow at some point , put a delta 5000 rpm cooler on the TRUE and you make history with some huge overclock.
Mascotzel is right , Prolimatech Megahelms is a bit better than TRUE , also there is Thermolab Barams or Cogage True spirit who also match or beat the TRUE by a little bit , the Cogage is a mini TRUE with impressive perfomances at normal overclocks , at the size of cogage i think no one is better except water cooling :) .
Wonder what all these companies have in common with Thermalright ? they all worked at Thermalright , left at some point and started their bussines separately.
First of all it isn't better than a TRUE
benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=300&Itemid=62
being released after the TRUE everybody would've expected to beat the king , it doesn't , it just equals it and i think the TRUE is still better in a hotter scenario;
vr-zone.com/articles/heatsink-showdown-cooler-master-v10-vs.-xigmatek-thor-s-hammer/6605-10.html
it doesn't scale with better airflow , so that pantented bent fins thermalright has it isn't some marketing bullshit like HDT.
If you want the real mini True this is it and with two 92mm fans is very close to the same cooling ability of the TRUE and it is actually made by Thermalright www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/cpu/utm90/product_cpu_cooler_utm90.html This is a bad ass little cooler and size wise is a bunch smaller than the TRUE.
I have said a bunch of great things about the TRUE but here are some bad!!!!!!
1. The fan holders should come standard with the TRUE black and not the wire holders.
2. Two fans should come with the TRUE black
3. The mount should not scratch the TRUE blacks finish when installed and it does.
4. Once installed you should not have to remove the motherboard to change the CPU.
5. The TRUES fins are easily bent and scratched
For those reasons I switched to the Noctua
1. Similar performance within a degree or two of the TRUE
2. a fraction smaller
3. Two fans come with it and they are arguably the best 120mm fans made
4. Better mounting system that once installed the motherboard doesn't need removed to change the cpu. Also includes a screw driver.
5 Much stronger frame and fins that are hard to damage and bend, and because of this the fan wires work easier.
Noctua negative: it not a ugly cooler but it's not a TRUE and is nowhere as nice looking plus the fan color is fugly.
If Thermalright would have fixed those thing I would never have switched. cutting a triangle into the TRUe is bullshit just fix those few things/ Heck the Meg could have fixed these thing and in some cases they did but then there is no AMD mount and only one fan? So they dropped the ball as well.
Here was my old TRUE Black one of three I owned, plus a Ultima 90
forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=81760&highlight=True+black
You can permanantly mount the back plate to the motherboard by removing the covering on the foam and exposing the extremely sticky tape under it. And trust me, it is permanant.
If you want a less permanant solution, you can just us a little tape to hold the back plate in place on the back of the motherboard.
However, with the New C revison, the X bracket is gone and the heat sink can be removed without taking out the motherboard and FYI adhesive was removed along time ago from the TRUEs back plate. Like three revisions ago. At least that been fixed
True revision c mounting instructions www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/download_images/booklet/tb120revc/1366.pdf