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 Can't look at the Recommended Heatsinks article because it is rather out of date.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.