Viewing page 1 of 4 pages.
1 2 3 4 NextFebruary 1, 2007 by Devon
Cooke
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Product
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Thermalright SI-128
Socket 775 / K8 CPU Heatsink
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Manufacturer
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Market Price
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US$50~70 |
Thermalright is a name that consistently appears on best heatsink lists all
over the web. They're not cheap, and they make some of the best heatsinks around
— including several that have spent time on SPCR's recommended list. In
fact, the Thermalright Ultra-120
is currently one of the top-performing heatsinks we know of. It's so good that
we have to wonder: Why bother selling any other models? The answer is every
product has a finite life cycle, and new products are needed for every company
to maintain or grow sales.
Most current Core 2 Duo chips run cool enough that just about any heatsink
will do. That's great for users; less heat means less noise and smaller, less
expensive heatsinks. It's not so good for manufacturers like Thermalright though.
Why buy a US$50 heatsink when the stock heatsink will do the job just as effectively
— and just as quietly — without shelling out any extra cash?
In these market conditions, it's not so easy to figure out where the market
for the SI-128 lies. The SI-128 costs US$50 — without a fan — but
it's smaller than the Ultra-120 and is unlikely to match it in performance.
Fortunately for Thermalright, there's one market sector that has a use for small
heatsinks: The home theater market. Chances, it will be here that the SI-128
has the best chance of success.
The usual plain cardboard box.
Thermalright likes to do things a bit differently from other companies, and
this is apparent even in the way it packages its products. Like all Thermalright
products, the SI-128 came embedded in a nest of custom-cut foam inside a sturdy
brown cardboard box. It is well insulated against bumps and shocks.
Another Thermalright quirk is the stock fan — or lack thereof. Thermalright
is the only company we know of that sells heatsinks alone without cooling fans,
even though they are not designed for fanless cooling (the
fanless HR-01 is an exception). Presumably, Thermalright products are so
exclusive that their customers like to choose their own fans.
Look, ma, no screws! (two fan clips are missing from the photo).
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| Feature & Brief |
Our Comment |
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120mm fan recommended for maximum cooling capability.
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Fan not included. |
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Huge 8mm multiple heatpipes for even more efficient heat transfer
to the aluminum fins.
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Are bigger heatpipes better? Thermalright
seems to think so. |
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Multiple tightly gapped fins for more surface area with longer
and wider wingspan than SI-120.
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More surface area is indeed good for heat dissipation... but high
density requires higher airflow (read: noisy) to force air between them.
The best heatsinks feature a good balance between the number of fins and
the space between them.
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Vast compatibility across multiple platforms for newest AMD
and Intel CPUs.
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Support for older sockets, such as Socket
478 and Socket A has been dropped. |
| Enormous wingspan gives extra cooling
to MOSFET or NB chipset. |
This is especially important for passively
cooled high end motherboards that often rely on system airflow for cooling. |
Includes adapters for LGA775, K8, and
AM2 platforms
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Here's where they say exactly what "vast
compatibility" means. |
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Heatsink Dimensions
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L125 x W145 x H91.5 mm (heatsink only) |
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Weight
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510g (heatsink only) |
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Recommended Fan
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All 120mm Fans
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Compatibility
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INTEL: All Intel P4 LGA775 processors
AMD: Athlon 64 / FX / X2 / Opteron all models
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| Help support this site, buy the Thermalright SI-128 LGA775 / K8 Heatsink from one of our affiliate retailers! |
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