Nice to see a top performing cooler that's optimized for low airflow and doesn't weigh as much as a small asteroid, but there's one small point that could perhaps be clarified:

"Compared to the Ultra-120/eXtreme, the HR-01 Plus is narrower, slightly taller, and has much greater spacing between the fins."

The Thermalright website quotes the TRUE as having a height of 160.5mm, with the HR-01 Plus at 159.5 - it looks from this picture as if the fins of the HR-01 extend up further, but the heatpipe "ends" are longer on the TRUE.

If the HR-01 is in fact taller overall by any significant amount, this could be a dealbreaker for P182 owners (and maybe some others), as the TRUE already just misses the side panel by the skin of its teeth...

Wooo! The long awaited review of the HR-01 Plus has finally arrived! ....at least for me.

Obviously, when Larry wrote slightly taller, he meant really, really very, super slightly taller.

I've been using a HR-01 Plus for a few months, it's a really good heatsink and it's cool it's gaining some exposure here.

For me, the icing on the cake is that Thermalright sells fan ducts for HR-01 so you don't have to fix up your own.

Looks like I found myself a new heatsink to use in my Operation:Passive custom case build. Awesome!

I've had mine for almost a year, and I'm glad to see a review reflect my overall opinion of the product. You could mention that you can get a Thermalright S-clip for the HR-01 Plus, which solves the orientation issue with AMD motherboards. I'm using one right now in an Abit AN-M2.

At last! Thank you very much for the review SPCR!
The only unanswered question (for me) is which of the current CPUs can be properly cooled with this HR-01+ and a 500 rpm Slipstream.
Or which of the low power CPUs, like E8400 or 4850e, can be passively cooled, using the duct to the case fan.

Nice review as always, thanks.

Just a couple of thoughts. You say that the HR-01 Plus might be the best heatsink for passive use because it does well at low fan speeds, but I'm not sure that is the case.

The performance at low fan speeds might be because there is more space between the fins than on the Ultra-120. Thus there is probably more airflow when there is less pressure. Since all air flow in a completely passive system is convective, it might not translate.

That is of course you mean completely passive, not "no fan on the heatsink but one nearby in the PSU or ducted". In that case you are probably right.

Would be interesting to compare the HR-01 Plus and Ultra-120 eXtreme with Noctua fans. The lower pressure might not be such an issue for the HR-01 Plus, and such a combination could be the top ranking HSF combo. Any chance of a test with a Noctua? Wouldn't even have to do sound measurements, just temperatures.

One more thing - it looks like they are really listening to what people are saying about pressure and good quality clips. After people saw good improvements with the coin trick on the Ultra-120, it's nice to see them providing a spanner to increase the pressure a bit. Screw heads are too easy to damage when trying to make it tight.

I'm cooling an AMD X2 4000+ G1 Brisbane passively(Rear case fan is an intake, blowing on the HR-01 Plus from ~7-8cm away). The CPU is clocked at 2.5ghz, 1.17vcore. It gets warm, mid-upper 50's depending on the room temperature, but the HR-01 Plus can handle it. PSU calculators have suggested at that speed/vcore my CPU is around 50-55W.

I do not understand however why the HR-01 plus is not ranked above the TRUE on the recommendation page. Is is just a matter of not updating or what?

Yes.

@ryboto: thank you, that's nice info. So you have a positive pressure setup in Aria.
It seems that 45W CPUs should be well cooled passively. I was thinking of BE2400 in NSK3480, negative pressure and Zen 300 PSU.

Why on all the latest comparison tables include the Copper ninja, despite it not performing as well as the original ninja or its rev.b? The original is near impossible to get hold of, but the rev.B should be on the same table IMO, especially as it seems to be the most used heatsink here.

We haven't updated the Ninja review to reflect the new rev B results... and actually, it probably needs to be written as a new short review. The rev B actually doesn't even come close to the best of the current new crop anyway, so there would not be much point in comparing. If you're interested, a test of the rev B is on page 6 of the Ninja Copper review.

btw, the recommended heatsink list has just been updated.

Thanks for the great review! I'm building a new system soon based around an Abit IP-35 Pro and E8400 and was considering the TRUE as my heatsink, but thanks to this review I know to go for the HR-01 Plus since I'll be using undervolted 1200rpm Slipstream fans.

I do have one question though, and that is whether or not spcr has a TR IFX14 heatsink for comparison? It seems to go neck and neck with the TRUE in most reviews I've seen, but the fins are not as wide so it may be a better candidate for low-airflow cooling. That is the only other heatsink I'm currently considering, but I trust you guys the most when it comes to quiet cooling!

Well, if you consider all the details, the IFX14 has much higher flow resistance than the TRUE, because it has tight fins on both sides of the fan. The IFX14 is really worthwhile only if you have a super hot CPU -- something >100W TDP -- and you plan to push it hard all the time. But it just can't be as quiet, because the fan has to blow harder just to get the same airflow through the 2 sets of fins.

HR-01 Plus seems very nice heatsink. I do have already S-clip for TR's heatsinks so that is good news. Slightly salty price ( 52€ ) is slight turn down. But cooler has stellar performance.

Might be excellent thing when upgrade my system for 780G and X2 4850e. It seems to have also slightly smaller foot print than scythe Ninja so installing ram and HR-05 IFX wouldn't be a trouble.

Thanks, that's all I needed to know. Now to just find someplace that actually sells this thing and has it in stock in the US!

Looks like an excellent heatsink, but I must say - I much prefer the look of the TRUE mounting system than this one. I get the feeling that mounting the heatsink to just two points is a little risky...

All I have to say is THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW!

For what it's worth, I have a E8400 in a P182, the HR-01 Plus is fan-ducted to a Noctua S12-800 @ 12V and the case has a S12-800 @ ~5V at the top, and no amount of intensive computation can make the CPU hotter than 45°C. The duct muffles the fan it's hooked on, so I can't hear a difference (@50cm) between 12V and 5V and I didn't really try lower settings. I think that a 500RPM fan would be enough for any E8xxx, assuming you don't have a super hot graphic card blowing air inside the case.


My HR-01 Plus doesn't seem to touch the side panel either, by... 0.5mm I'd say

great review, now all i need to know is ....

does HR-01 PLUS fit inside NSK3480 on Asus P5E-VM HDMI ?

The position of the CPU top is about the same for all current CPUs... and a Ninja fits with 2cm to spare in the NSK3480 that houses our new audio test PC. The HR-01+ is 1cm taller, so it should be no problem.

The link leads to recommended heat sinks.

Yeah, that's what I meant -- heatsinks list.

Great results, wonder how long before we see more manufacturers adopt the "direct heatpipe touch technology"

Fyleow, ya got me konfuzed! I woulda sworn that the HR-01+ did NOT use HDT!

Call me old school, but I've read a lot of CPUs failing to post with convex heatsinks. In fact, I had one do it to me when I was water cooling a few months back and the whole "convex curve" waterblock idea was really new and popular. My board didn't POST at all, and all it took was a remounting of the water block with less pressure and it booted, thankfully. I think I either put too much pressure on the CPU or too much pressure on the motherboard. I'm curious to see a picture of the MB it was mounted on showing how much warping was caused by this.

I'm also curious what it would cool like with a flat base. I know it's probably irrelevant as Thermalright doesn't sell it that way, but it would be interesting to see them make one and test it to see how much that really makes a difference...

thx ! now i can buy the HR-01 knowing it will fit