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1 2 3 4 5 NextDecember 22, 2005 by Devon
Cooke
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Product
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Thermalright HR-01
K8 compatible CPU heatsink
P4-478 Heatsink Retention Kit
Adapter to allow Socket 478 compatibility
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Supplier
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Price
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~US$50 (Heatsink) / ~US$4 (S478
Adapter) |
Thermalright has been making heatsinks for a long time, and several of its
past models have been SPCR favorites. In the past year or so, their
offerings have been overshadowed by several newcomers, notably the
gigantic Scythe Ninja that is designed for passive cooling. Thermalright
has responded with a suitably massive and passive tower heatsink of their own: The HR-01.
The first glimpse of the HR-01 leaves no doubt that Thermalright intends to
compete with Scythe (and anyone else using a tower configuration). The heatsink is tall, uses widely spaced fins, and has
heatpipes aplenty. In other words, it looks like a similar, serious competitor. Unless
Thermalright has done something seriously wrong, we can expect it to put up
a good fight.
A plain cardboard box holds the HR-01 inside. (Mouse shown for scale.)
Thermalright eschews fancy retail packaging and has stuck with a plain,
sturdy, corrugated cardboard box. Thermalright's confidence shines through here: They don't need
impulse buys based on appearance alone; they know that their customers will
ask for the HR-01 by name. On the other hand it's the same style of packaging they've been using for over four years now, so it's a tradition, which happens to be environmentally
friendly. It may also be that much of their sales come from online retailers who have little need for visual packaging but do need good shipping protection.
Whatever the rationale behind the plain box, the HR-01 is certainly well packaged.
It lies nestled in a bed of foam that holds it firmly in place. The box is snugly
packed, and there is little chance of the heatsink shifting during transit.
Now that's a well protected heatsink.
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| Feature & Brief |
Our Comment |
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Fanless design for low-noise operation
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Fanless is definitely low-noise, but
requires good system design to pull off properly. |
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Proprietary through holes on fins for efficient ventilation
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Helps the heatsink take advantage of
system airflow. |
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Multiple heatpipes for well spread heat around aluminum fins
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Four U-shaped heatpipes (for a total of eight heat paths) should be plenty.
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Soldered fins to copper base (nickel plated) to make effective
contact
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Soldered fins may transfer heat more
efficiently than press-fitted fins. |
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Light weight and easy installation
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Past Thermalright products have been tricky to install; we hope this
one is better.
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Heatsink Dimensions (L × W × H)
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110 × 60 × 159.5 mm |
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Weight
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525 g |
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Motherboard Compatibility
(AMD)
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Athlon64 FX 3200+ (socket 939/940) and above
Athlon64 3200+ (socket 754) and above |
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Motherboard Compatibility
(Intel)
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Pentium-4 socket 478 up to 3.2 GHz
(Require P4-478
Heatsink Retention Kit) |
In its stock form, the HR-01 is compatible only with AMD-based motherboards.
This seems to be intentional. It's well known that AMD CPUs run cooler than
Intel-based CPUs, so naturally they are better suited to passive cooling. Let's
put that another way: Unless you are a very skilled system builder, you probably
won't be able to cool an Intel processor passively.
The exceptions to this general rule are Intel's previous generation of CPUs,
the P4-Northwood chips. Because these chips are compatible almost
exclusively with the now out-of-date Socket 478, Thermalright has chosen to
release an optional Retention Kit that allows the HR-01 to be installed on a
Socket 478 motherboard.
At the time of writing, there is no equivalent Retention Kit for Socket 775,
which means that none of Intel's current CPUs are supported. However, the
FAQ for the HR-01 lists an appropriate part as "Coming Soon",
so there may be hope for compatibility some time in the future.
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