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| Feature & Brief |
Our Comment |
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Quiet and powerful cooling due to multiple
heat pipes and large aluminum fin area
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The hallmarks
of good cooling. |
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Proprietary bent winglet design to minimize
airflow resistance
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We'll take
their word for it, but surely unbent fins are less restrictive... |
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Heat pipes soldered to base (nickel plated)
and fins for optimum heat transfer
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Most heatsink components are now soldered
together. It's an efficient heat transfer method.
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Include both bolt-thru-board retention brackets
for Intel and AMD
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The bolt-thru
method is very secure. |
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Heatsink Dimensions (L x W x H)
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63.44 x 132 x 160.5 mm (heatsink only) |
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Weight
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790 grams |
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Recommended Fan
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All 120mm Fans |
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Compatibility
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INTEL: Socket LGA775
AMD: Socket AM2
All AMD Socket 753/939/940 processors (Retention
kit sold separately)
Motherboard
compatibility List(Both Ultra-120A and Ultra-120 eXtreme do not include a backplate
for AM2 systems. If you have motherboard manufactured by either Asrock
or Gigabyte that utilizes the push pin method, you will need to make
a separate purchase for an AM2
metal backplate. |
The Ultra-120 eXtreme is almost identical to its
brother, the Ultra-120, with the exception of two extra heat pipes. An interesting aspect about the number of heatpipes: While there are technically just six heatpipes, in practical terms, they act like 12 heatpipes. The "evaporator end" is actually the center of each heatpipe, which is clamped at the base, at the trough of its "U"-shape. This is where the coolant in the pipes get evporated due to the heat of the CPU. The ends of the heatpipe go up through the fins separately on either side of the base, so each heatpipe actually has two condenser ends. Thus, 12 pipes go through the fins. So while only two lengths of heatpipes were added, the effective number of pipes went from eight in the Ultra-120 to twelve in the Ultra-120 eXtreme
The extra heatpipes
makes the eXtreme 45 grams heavier than the Ultra, but the difference is insignificant compared
to the overall weight of the heatsink. Thermalright's bolt-thru system for
mounting their heavier heatsinks is very secure, so this should not be an
issue. As it stands 16cm tall, narrower cases cannot accomodate the Ultra-120
eXtreme's substantial height. In addition, any fan ducts near the CPU area
will most likely need to be removed to make way.
Another issue: Many computer cases have a front-to-back crossbar that adds strength and provides additional support for the power supply. With some motherboards,
in the proper "east-west" orientation, the Ultra-120 eXtreme may
hit that support bar. This was the case with an Antec Solo case and the
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard we reviewed a few months ago.
The mounting hardware included is limited to LGA775 and socket AM2. There are two different sets of spring loaded bolts; one set each for 775 and AM2. Such spring loaded bolts, in our opinion, are the very best way ot ensuring secure, consistent installation of heavy heatsinks for DIYers. If
you have an oddball AM2 motherboard without the standard retention bracket,
you will need to obtain Thermalright's AM2
Bolt-Thru-Kit. Installation on older AMD sockets 754, 939, and
940 require the Socket
939 Bolt-Thru-Kit. Use with socket 478 may be possible with the
P4-478
Heatsink Retention Kit.
Aside from this, compatibility is pretty good. The space
between the base and the bottom fin is fairly large, avoiding interference
with most motherboard components except for the most extravagant of northbridge
heatsinks such as those found on the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4/DQ6 (the only models
listed as incompatible by Thermalright at the time of writing). On some
motherboards, the heatsink may overhang the top edge of the board by a few
millimeters. This may be an issue depending on how much clearance exists
between the motherboard and power supply.
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