Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Want to talk about one of the articles in SPCR? Here's the forum for you.
Post Reply
Lawrence Lee
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 1115
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:07 pm
Location: Vancouver

Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Lawrence Lee » Tue Dec 25, 2012 1:45 am


CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:35 am

Nice form factor and footprint. The slanted heatpipe-fu for fan/RAM clearance made me smile.

I found an e-tailer at Amazon's marketplace. It's listed for ~$43.

Das_Saunamies
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 2000
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 1:39 am
Location: Finland

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Das_Saunamies » Tue Dec 25, 2012 6:09 pm

Shame about the fan, but the lower height and offset design are more than welcome for today's builds with ever more compact setups and subsequent tight fits. This will definitely be a personal favourite.

Xyvotha
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Lima, Perú

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Xyvotha » Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:29 am

Looks good, I'd like to see it compared to the heavy weight tower heatsinks.

Nice article as always.

Noli
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:31 am

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Noli » Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:15 pm

"We weren't able to find any concrete information on pricing but the original Cogage True Spirit is still being sold at some retailers for about US$40. If the latest version is priced near or under that mark, it's a fairly good value. However, it would not be our first choice unless it meets a height requirement that its larger competitors do not; cases with side fans near the CPU area come to mind."

Given that this edged past the Noctua and Prolimatech in single reference fan configurations, what would your first choice be and why?

Pappnaas
Posts: 726
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 11:23 am
Location: Germany

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Pappnaas » Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:41 am

This cooler is listed in Germany around 25 Euros + p&p. http://geizhals.de/875910

Retails about the same price as a CM 212 over here and i'd prefer the Thermalright this time over the CM.

KadazanPL
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:58 am
Location: Poland

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by KadazanPL » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:10 am

Thanks for the review :)

There's also a smaller version available - the True Spirit 90M, with a 92mm fan and total height 125,05mm.
http://www.thermalright.com/html/produc ... it_90.html

frupoli
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:44 am

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by frupoli » Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:19 am

On page 5 of the review:
We weren't able to find any concrete information on pricing
Pappnaas wrote:This cooler is listed in Germany
I was able to find it in a German online store (pccooling.de) at about 26 euro.

At that price level, and excluding users who only look for top level heatsinks (I mean, over 50 euros) I personally think it's a best buy for a "medium" user.

frEEk
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Whistler, BC

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by frEEk » Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:02 pm

Noli wrote:Given that this edged past the Noctua and Prolimatech in single reference fan configurations, what would your first choice be and why?
this

Das_Saunamies
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 2000
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 1:39 am
Location: Finland

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Das_Saunamies » Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:10 am

frEEk wrote:
Noli wrote:Given that this edged past the Noctua and Prolimatech in single reference fan configurations, what would your first choice be and why?
this
Since this popped up again, I'll toss in my two cents.

I read the original conclusion as favouring the large heatsinks, i.e. "[the TRUE Spirit 120M] would not be our first choice unless it meets a height requirement that its larger competitors do not" = larger competition preferred over this heatsink, unless height is an issue. The Editor's Choice coolers are probably the first choice, no?

As nice (practical) as this heatsink is, I doubt it can serve as the same be-all and end-all solution that something like a Macho would be. The Macho can be had for 42 euros here and the Spirit 120M for 28, but considering you may not have to swap out the Macho's fan, the difference is very small in the end (more like 36 to 42). The Macho can handle any setup in acoustic comfort, and the light setups that the Spirit 120M could be run silently with the Macho might be able to cool passively or semipassively. This difference becomes very apparent when you run something like folding in the background or work with CPU-intensive software (or of course a heavily overclocked CPU in certain games, but there you usually have game sound to mask computer noise).

From a sheer cooling and acoustic performance and bang/buck perspective the Editor's Choice coolers make the most sense, I would think, but it would be nice to compare the cream of the crop from the Small category to the Big Editor's Choices.

frEEk
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Whistler, BC

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by frEEk » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:51 am

Unfortunately that is a tough call to make since in the relative performance chart provided in this article, this cooler looks to be top of the heap. The other chart, which has the big units, is based on a hotter CPU and thus not directly comparable. Also, lots of the leading coolers in the big chart are older and may not even be available. Can't look at the Recommended Heatsinks article because it is rather out of date. So the question of "what would you recommend then" is quite valid, since the answer is hard to find.

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by MikeC » Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:21 pm

frEEk wrote:Unfortunately that is a tough call to make since in the relative performance chart provided in this article, this cooler looks to be top of the heap. The other chart, which has the big units, is based on a hotter CPU and thus not directly comparable. Also, lots of the leading coolers in the big chart are older and may not even be available. Can't look at the Recommended Heatsinks article because it is rather out of date. So the question of "what would you recommend then" is quite valid, since the answer is hard to find.
This post is a relevant summary. The TRUE S120M perhaps really deserves at least a recommendation -- it is after all, a very good performing cooler, better than just about anything we've tested on the 1155 platform. How does it really fare against the big guns tested on the hotter 1366 platform? Probably not great against the best of that lot, but competitive with those a step down. The quality of the fan is an issue.

If we go to the question of real-world performance, several factors pop up:
1. 130W+ CPUs simply aren't much in vogue. I can't think of any reason to buy one of those, whether Intel 1366, 2011 or AMD, at least not for gaming or typical desktop use, can you? 1155 and FM2 chips can do everything most of us need a CPU to do. They are all sub-100W in real use, often barely 60W. This suggests that our 130W heatsink test platform is not really realistic any more.
2. If the above is accepted, then many of the oversized expensive heatsinks we've paid such detailed attention to over the years really are not very necessary any more. The combination of a very high SQ (sound quality) fan and a moderate size tower might be exactly what most of us need to get both safe cooling under high load and extremely low-to-inaudible noise almost all the time.

We may soon have to revamp the testing systems again...

...but not today.

frEEk
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Whistler, BC

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by frEEk » Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:05 pm

Seems to me that the 130W setup is still of value for anyone overclocking a current 77 or 95W Intel (or sadly, about any decently performing AMD). Though it is easy to argue that isn't this site's target audience.
I can't say I see a real need to drop past the 95W setup at this point. Perhaps that just needs to become your new single reference setup. Run a couple of the leading big boys on it to get the delta and carry on from there.

Das_Saunamies
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 2000
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 1:39 am
Location: Finland

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by Das_Saunamies » Fri Jan 04, 2013 5:01 pm

MikeC wrote:We may soon have to revamp the testing systems again...

...but not today.
Sounds good! ...or maybe just run the Top 3 (and maybe Bottom 3/Most Popular?) of the Bigs on the 1155 platform (as suggested above)? That way we'll have comparable data, as we can see how the Top 3 did, and compare from there.

I think the Hot platform is still valid for bringing out the best of the best, and making sure any scenario can be faced.

kuzzia
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 709
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 4:41 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by kuzzia » Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:44 am

frEEk wrote:Seems to me that the 130W setup is still of value for anyone overclocking a current 77 or 95W Intel (or sadly, about any decently performing AMD). Though it is easy to argue that isn't this site's target audience.
I can't say I see a real need to drop past the 95W setup at this point. Perhaps that just needs to become your new single reference setup. Run a couple of the leading big boys on it to get the delta and carry on from there.
I agree with this view. Overclocked CPU's still make this high-power testing platform relevant. Though I'm starting to worry if new coolers will be compatible with the old 1366 socket.

gb115b
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 289
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:47 am
Location: London

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by gb115b » Tue Aug 06, 2013 5:30 am

any word on the 140M version of this? time for a new build and looking at a number of parts not yet seen on SPCR...

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M CPU Heatsink

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:37 pm


Post Reply