• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Thermalright Frost Commander 140 review, cools better than any other air cooler for 13700k cpu's

Joined
Feb 22, 2016
Messages
2,051 (0.63/day)
Processor Intel i5 8400
Motherboard Asus Prime H370M-Plus/CSM
Cooling Scythe Big Shuriken & Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap
Memory 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING
Storage 1TB 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung UN55KU6300F
Case Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Software W11 Pro
As far as I am aware the FC140 even beats the newest Noctua double tower cooler too.

On AMD, possibly. Still feel the concern I qualified remains valid though. Low fin density equating with lower thermal capability than other coolers no matter how proficiently your fans ramp up. Meaning throttling your cpu sooner and recovering slower.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2024
Messages
385 (2.81/day)
Location
Texas, USA
System Name Obliterator
Processor Ryzen 7 7700x PBO
Motherboard ASRock x670e Steel Legend
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 G2 LBC
Memory G.skill Trident Z5 Neo 6000@CL30
Video Card(s) ASRock rx7900 GRE Steel Legend
Storage 2 x 2TB Samsung 990 pro nmve ssd 2 X 4TB Samsung 870 evo sata ssd 1 X 18TB WD Gold sata hdd
Display(s) LG 27GN750-B
Case Fractal Torrent
Audio Device(s) Klipsch promedia heritage 2.1
Power Supply FSP Hydro TI 1000w
Mouse SteelSeries Prime+
Keyboard Lenovo SK-8825 (L)
Software Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 21H2 / Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 24H2 with multiple flavors of VM
20241016_005416[1].jpg


Keeps my 5800x nice and cool. idle's at like 26, normal to moderate use 30s and 40s, and heavy use or extended gaming will warm it up to upper 60s , prime 95/max temp at like 75, but never sees 80.

This rig is very similar to my 7700x/x670 rig, but is 5800x/b550, also micro atx torrent instead of full. She's a wee bit dusty, but she's got plenty fans and is a fine work computer.
 

tabascosauz

Moderator
Supporter
Staff member
Joined
Jun 24, 2015
Messages
8,191 (2.35/day)
Location
Western Canada
System Name ab┃ob
Processor 7800X3D┃5800X3D
Motherboard B650E PG-ITX┃X570 Impact
Cooling NH-U12A + T30┃AXP120-x67
Memory 64GB 6400CL32┃32GB 3600CL14
Video Card(s) RTX 4070 Ti Eagle┃RTX A2000
Storage 8TB of SSDs┃1TB SN550
Case Caselabs S3┃Lazer3D HT5
Got distracted looking at newer models enough to forget about this and thread I started on PS120 Evo. Where the quote below was mined from.

Passed over FC140 a few times after coming across reviews that didn't paint a very good picture of it against something like Mugen BE the only place it actually matters, high heat and fan speeds. Hard to imagine not getting the best possible heatsink and fan setup for AMD or Intel. Adding 30mm fans does bring final cost up near same level as the more expensive options. Given their strength I have a concern about the less than dense fin stack on FC140 mirroring reviews when the issue is forced with more extreme pressure and airflow.

Have opinions on TR as top tier coolers changed in the last year or so?
As far as I am aware the FC140 even beats the newest Noctua double tower cooler too. I am curious now though, @freeagent does the FC140 have an offset mounting kit for the 7800x3d that you know of? Or would it matter?

Unless you really need the DIMM clearance, I probably wouldn't buy any of the old 140s (FC140, FS140) at the moment. PS120 EVO is their new product and the fans might be decent enough

freeagent said a while ago that the FC140 has been dethroned for a while by the 120s and I'm not surprised. If a PA120 can match its performance then I'm sure the odds are in the PS120EVO's favor.

Their new products are the PA140 and RP130. I'm not sure how exactly they stack up to one another, but tbh neither looks like a flagship. They are 6 heatpipe coolers but they revert to the 6mm ones used for PA120/PS120. Still waiting on a true flagship dual tower. RP130 has the new fan though, PS140 has cheap fans.

Royal Pretor 130 WHITE – Thermalright
Peerless Assassin 140 BLACK – Thermalright

Of course, if you need it for the low price, then there's nothing wrong with getting a FC140.

I don't think TR has made any offset brackets, but it's not exactly a deal-breaker either. Might make more of a difference for a 7950X3D.

You know what is nice though? TR's contact frame. Screw the trash tier IHS design.
 

freeagent

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
9,071 (3.94/day)
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory 2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s) Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s) LG 50UP7100
Case Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) JBL Bar 700
Power Supply Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G213
VR HMD Oculus 3
Software Yes
Benchmark Scores Yes
@freeagent does the FC140 have an offset mounting kit for the 7800x3d that you know of? Or would it matter?
I am not aware of one, but I really don't think it is needed.. but I could be wrong.
 

Space Lynx

Astronaut
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
17,444 (4.68/day)
Location
Kepler-186f
Processor 7800X3D -25 all core
Motherboard B650 Steel Legend
Cooling Frost Commander 140
Video Card(s) Merc 310 7900 XT @3100 core -.75v
Display(s) Agon 27" QD-OLED Glossy 240hz 1440p
Case NZXT H710 (Red/Black)
Audio Device(s) Asgard 2, Modi 3, HD58X
Power Supply Corsair RM850x Gold
Joined
Feb 22, 2016
Messages
2,051 (0.63/day)
Processor Intel i5 8400
Motherboard Asus Prime H370M-Plus/CSM
Cooling Scythe Big Shuriken & Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap
Memory 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING
Storage 1TB 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung UN55KU6300F
Case Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Software W11 Pro
Of course, if you need it for the low price, then there's nothing wrong with getting a FC140.

Let me formally distance need it for a low price from You buy the *best cooler* for it's heatsink and throw 30mm fans on it.

I'd largely reached the same conclusions as you without any real evidence. Must've missed freeagent stating the FC140 was losing ground or I wouldn't have bumped this. At least Space Lynx appears to have gotten some on topic value out of it.

With CU/X3D releases so near I'll start a new thread examining where the needle is.
 
Joined
Nov 27, 2023
Messages
2,576 (6.39/day)
System Name The Workhorse
Processor AMD Ryzen R9 5900X
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus B550 Pro
Cooling CPU - Noctua NH-D15S Case - 3 Noctua NF-A14 PWM at the bottom, 2 Fractal Design 180mm at the front
Memory GSkill Trident Z 3200CL14
Video Card(s) NVidia GTX 1070 MSI QuickSilver
Storage Adata SX8200Pro
Display(s) LG 32GK850G
Case Fractal Design Torrent (Solid)
Audio Device(s) FiiO E-10K DAC/Amp, Samson Meteorite USB Microphone
Power Supply Corsair RMx850 (2018)
Mouse Razer Viper (Original) on a X-Raypad Equate Plus V2
Keyboard Cooler Master QuickFire Rapid TKL keyboard (Cherry MX Black)
Software Windows 11 Pro (24H2)
Actually, what IS the hierarchy of TR coolers? Is there even any? They spam SKUs so often and at such close price points that it honestly seems impossible to fully grasp their model range other than the usual “PS120 good”. At least a decade ago I had a firm understanding of what sits where, now… not so much.
Their AIO range isn’t much better. Is Grand Vision or Frozen Warframe better? No idea. The specs are close.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
6,113 (2.86/day)
Location
Poland
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
Memory 2x16 GB Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16 Rev E @ 3600 CL14
Video Card(s) RTX3080 Ti FE
Storage SX8200 Pro 1 TB, Plextor M6Pro 256 GB, WD Blue 2TB
Display(s) LG 34GN850P-B
Case SilverStone Primera PM01 RGB
Audio Device(s) SoundBlaster G6 | Fidelio X2 | Sennheiser 6XX
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse Endgame Gear XM1R
Keyboard Wooting Two HE
Actually, what IS the hierarchy of TR coolers? Is there even any? They spam SKUs so often and at such close price points that it honestly seems impossible to fully grasp their model range other than the usual “PS120 good”. At least a decade ago I had a firm understanding of what sits where, now… not so much.
Their AIO range isn’t much better. Is Grand Vision or Frozen Warframe better? No idea. The specs are close.
Don't think there's any hierarchy to it. Back in the day Macho was their top line, now it's just throwing everything out as quickly as possible and seeing what performs well. Their air coolers are pretty much all aiming for $40-45 price range max so it doesn't help either.
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
3,367 (1.70/day)
System Name Still not a thread ripper but pretty good.
Processor Ryzen 9 7950x, Thermal Grizzly AM5 Offset Mounting Kit, Thermal Grizzly Extreme Paste
Motherboard ASRock B650 LiveMixer (BIOS/UEFI version P3.08, AGESA 1.2.0.2)
Cooling EK-Quantum Velocity, EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11, D5 PWM, EK-CoolStream PE 360, XSPC TX360
Memory Micron DDR5-5600 ECC Unbuffered Memory (2 sticks, 64GB, MTC20C2085S1EC56BD1) + JONSBO NF-1
Video Card(s) XFX Radeon RX 5700 & EK-Quantum Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT & Backplate
Storage Samsung 4TB 980 PRO, 2 x Optane 905p 1.5TB (striped), AMD Radeon RAMDisk
Display(s) 2 x 4K LG 27UL600-W (and HUANUO Dual Monitor Mount)
Case Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic Black (original model)
Audio Device(s) Corsair Commander Pro for Fans, RGB, & Temp Sensors (x4)
Power Supply Corsair RM750x
Mouse Logitech M575
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB MK.2
Software Windows 10 Professional (64bit)
Benchmark Scores RIP Ryzen 9 5950x, ASRock X570 Taichi (v1.06), 128GB Micron DDR4-3200 ECC UDIMM (18ASF4G72AZ-3G2F1)
I just found this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/18qtsc4
View attachment 367812

I am kind of tempted to give this a try.
If you can't get that to work you can also try Thermal Grizzly's offset bracket. I like Noctua's solution better but that requires 2 point cooler mounting instead of 4 unless you can get real creative with the empty mounting holes.

Thermal Grizzly's mounting solution might have limitations on AM5 depending on board compatibility like in my example shown here.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
1,137 (0.26/day)
Location
Babylon 5
System Name DaBeast!!! DaBeast2!!!
Processor AMD AM4 Ryzen 7 5700X3D 8C/16T/AMD AM4 RYZEN 9 5900X 12C/24T
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme/Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite AX
Cooling Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 AIO/Thermalright PA 120 SE
Memory 2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB RT DDR4 3600C16/2x 16GB Patriot Elite II DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s) XFX MERC 310 RX 7900 XTX 24GB/Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6900 XT 16GB
Storage 500GB Crucial P3 Plus NVMe PCIe 4x4 + 4TB Lexar NM790 NVMe PCIe 4x4 + TG Cardea Zero Z NVMe PCIe 4x4
Display(s) Samsung LC49HG90DMEX 32:9 144Hz Freesync 2/Acer XR341CK 75Hz 21:9 Freesync
Case CoolerMaster H500M/SOLDAM XR-1
Audio Device(s) iFi Micro iDSD BL + Philips Fidelio B97/FostexHP-A4 + LG SP8YA
Power Supply Corsair HX1000 Platinum/Enermax MAXREVO 1500
Mouse Logitech G303 Shroud Ed/Logitech G603 WL
Keyboard Logitech G915/Keychron K2
Software Win11 Pro/Win11 Pro
I've been a fanboy of Thermalright since the old AXP days, but kinda lost track of them through the years because, well, they kinda fell off the map. But when I saw how cheap yet quite cost effective they were, I fell right back into the Thermalright camp. Here's my cheap ass PA-120 SE on my 2nd rig, cooling an R9 5900X...


Well, some might say that my getting the PA-120 SE does not make me a fanboy, but who else buys a PS 120 EVO and have it on standby for when their 360 AIO bites the big one? That's the 5700X3D I'd gotten on the side, it's being cooled by the AIO in my main rig.
 

freeagent

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
9,071 (3.94/day)
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory 2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s) Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s) LG 50UP7100
Case Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) JBL Bar 700
Power Supply Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G213
VR HMD Oculus 3
Software Yes
Benchmark Scores Yes
I think they were trying to gauge the market to see what people liked, they arent dropping a new cooler every week anymore. As for their AIOs, I think most of them are the same, just different fans. The Notte style seems to have a higher pump speed than the newer style square covers do, but the round ones are older.. so I don't know.

PS can hang with FC because it has 7x6mm gen 4 pipes, where the FC is still on their gen 1 pipe, but in 8mm flavor. What is different inside? Couldn't tell you.

I do like their AIO though. Aqua Elite is the same as Frozen Edge, different pump cover and fans.
 
Joined
Feb 22, 2016
Messages
2,051 (0.63/day)
Processor Intel i5 8400
Motherboard Asus Prime H370M-Plus/CSM
Cooling Scythe Big Shuriken & Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap
Memory 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING
Storage 1TB 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung UN55KU6300F
Case Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Software W11 Pro
Certainly they played the market to see what sold and then started doing % price bumps to it.

Right now it seems they are avoiding declaring a mentally limiting best option in favor of letting word of mouth filter between the best options for use case. Correct me if I'm wrong but all announced coolers have been released for this product cycle. 130mm options directly before both companies release new gen of cpu is interesting.
 

freeagent

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
9,071 (3.94/day)
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory 2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s) Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s) LG 50UP7100
Case Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) JBL Bar 700
Power Supply Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G213
VR HMD Oculus 3
Software Yes
Benchmark Scores Yes
These coolers are pretty good.

By that I mean 143w PPT on 5800X3D, and 180w PPT on 5900X running semi passive, just the stock Torrent fans up front, that is it.

FC140, and PS120SE/EVO. PA120 was not as comfortable, and is why it sits on my 5600X while taking everything it can dish out.
 
Joined
Feb 22, 2016
Messages
2,051 (0.63/day)
Processor Intel i5 8400
Motherboard Asus Prime H370M-Plus/CSM
Cooling Scythe Big Shuriken & Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap
Memory 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING
Storage 1TB 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung UN55KU6300F
Case Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Software W11 Pro
These coolers are pretty good.

By that I mean 143w PPT on 5800X3D, and 180w PPT on 5900X running semi passive, just the stock Torrent fans up front, that is it.

FC140, and PS120SE/EVO. PA120 was not as comfortable, and is why it sits on my 5600X while taking everything it can dish out.

All three (two actually) of those have run semi-passive or one specifically?
 

freeagent

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
9,071 (3.94/day)
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory 2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s) Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s) LG 50UP7100
Case Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) JBL Bar 700
Power Supply Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G213
VR HMD Oculus 3
Software Yes
Benchmark Scores Yes
All three (two actually) of those have run semi-passive or one specifically?
I have run all 3 semi passively with all 3 of my CPUs.

PA120 struggled with my 5900X with fans.

Edit:

By struggled, I mean at full load, not daily stuff.

And by full load, I mean all that the socket will allow with PBO :D
 
Top