NEW Thermalright TOWER CPU HS, the HR-01

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:57 am

Thermalright will soon launch the Thermalright HR-01 High-Riser Heatpipe, this new tower CPU heatsink can be run passively, like the Scythe Ninja.

Technical characteristics:
- Aluminium passive radiator
- 4 heat pipes
- Compatible with Intel socket 478 e LGA 775, AMD Socket 754, 939, 940
- Dimensions: 110 x 60 x 125 mm
- Weight 530 gr

Here's a review in German with more pics for your delight

What do you think?
My take: the Ninja seems better

it performs a little bit better than the Zalman 9500

mrochester · Post by **mrochester** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:59 am

The Ninja certainly looks like it has a larger surface area so is probably the better cooler.

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:12 am

Orientation dependent of CPU bracket orientation, not too good imo.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:14 pm

For once Thermalright ISN'T the best CPU cooler out there? Groovy.

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:31 pm

This is a radical change from their usual line-up of coolers, their first tower HS

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:23 pm

Pretty interesting looking heatsink. Anyone know what the holes in the fins are? It appears that all the fins have them. Possibly to promote convection through the fins even when the heatsink is mounted vertically?

Admiral Ackbar · Post by **Admiral Ackbar** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:37 pm

That German review seems a little screwy. It has the HR-01 being 10 dB(A) quiter than the SI-120. It also says their fans and fan voltages are the same, but their speeds are different?

Also why do you think the Ninja is better? I haven't seen any evidence that shows that.

StarfishChris · Post by **StarfishChris** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:03 pm

Well, it's certainly smaller than the Ninja (weighs less too), but it has more fins, so perhaps they have similar surface area? However those fins are closer together...

I don't think it will perform as well as the Ninja under almost-passive conditions. Only a test will tell but I'm not overly optimistic. Perhaps those holes are part of a carefully guarded secret?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:52 pm

Hello,

How do you know that this one won't be as good as the Ninja? The surface areas are quite similar (given that the Ninja's have those large notches, especially the bottom ones), and the second row of three heatpipes are a little farther away from the CPU side of the plate... This one also weighs over 100 grams less?

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:35 pm

I like the mounting mechanism, not like the SI/XP style.
If they had put the heatpipes a bit more apart, they could have made a four way mounting design like the CNPS9500.

Oh, about that 10 dB(A) difference compared to SI-120, that's the only number I wouldn't trust in the review. Measuring sound is difficult, and that mic pic doesn't look very precise to mee.

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:47 am

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello,

How do you know that this one won't be as good as the Ninja? The surface areas are quite similar (given that the Ninja's have those large notches, especially the bottom ones), and the second row of three heatpipes are a little farther away from the CPU side of the plate... This one also weighs over 100 grams less?

I said the Ninja seems better, I wasn't stating anything

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:39 pm

Looks like I may have found a suitable replacement for my TT Sonic Tower - if it does actually work any better. Time will tell !

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:00 am

Scythe's edge has been that there's a bit more spacing,which means less fin surface,probably but better airfow if there is no-or minimal pull from a fan. Scythe seems to feel their NSU2005 heatlane unit will outdo the Ninja as a full passive,In large part due to fin spacing. A Ninja has a BIG chunk of aluminum and more heatpipes than anything else. Put a low rpm,big fan nearby and its hard to beat. This Thermalright,like the Sonic Tower,has relatively close fins and should benefit from a nearby fan. It's big advantage has to be size-if that's an issue.

Admiral Ackbar · Post by **Admiral Ackbar** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:45 am

This is an interesting heatsink to me. It's not all that big, did pretty well in that German review, and most probably has been refined a bit more from the one "ze Germans" reviewed.

This made me email Thermalright inquiring about the availiblity since no one else seems to have reviewed or seen it since then.

They said:

"Latest by end of November."

So there you have it. If I buy one I will report back my system temps. I have already decided to put a Yate Loon on it (you know, the one that is a little faster than the Nexus but still pretty quiet (quieter than my video card cooler at least)).

jojo4u · Post by **jojo4u** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:55 pm

I would not consider a review from Hartware.net as very helpful for my buying decision. I have followed them for years and their reviews have not improved much. You already spottet the likely wrong dB(A) reading for example.
Their review process has always been a bit intransparent to me. E.g. they change test platforms from time to time and hamper comparability over time. The pictures and the text often don't correlate well. They always get the pre-production samples from Thermalright, but I often miss other important contenders. Also the noise measuring is quite rudimentary as well. All in all it just does not feel very professional.
About the holes in the fins they say:
"Numerous, rectangular holes in the fins improve heat dissipation and allow the multi-layered structure to breathe more freely."

Admiral Ackbar · Post by **Admiral Ackbar** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:33 pm

jojo4u wrote:I would not consider a review from Hartware.net as very helpful for my buying decision. I have followed them for years and their reviews have not improved much. You already spottet the likely wrong dB(A) reading for example.
Their review process has always been a bit intransparent to me. E.g. they change test platforms from time to time and hamper comparability over time. The pictures and the text often don't correlate well. They always get the pre-production samples from Thermalright, but I often miss other important contenders. Also the noise measuring is quite rudimentary as well. All in all it just does not feel very professional.
About the holes in the fins they say:
"Numerous, rectangular holes in the fins improve heat dissipation and allow the multi-layered structure to breathe more freely."

While you may be right about Hartware (I don't speak german so I don't know, although they have fixed the sound measurments in a newer chart http://www.hartware.de/review_515_16.html ), the order those coolers (based on performance not noise) are in seem to line up pretty well with what other sites have found.

Thermalright products tend to be quite good; so I wouldn't be to suprised if this one is good too.

Oh, and thanks for clarifying what the holes do.

sun.moon · Post by **sun.moon** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 12:32 am

The 10 point DBa difference may be attributed to the fact that the fins of the HR-01 appear to be a bit wider apart then on the SI-120 allowing for less air resistance and thereby less noise in the non-passive mode.

I have a SI-120 with that same Papst fan as in the Hartware test at 5V and don't hear anything, but at 12V its definitely a noise maker - not annoying, but clearly audible.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:02 pm

Thermalright HR-01 product page. Not much to read.

- Dimensions: 110 x 60 x 125 mm

No, Thermalright says 159 mm high.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:32 pm

Hmmm... interesting. I'm getting P180 soon so it makes sense for me to upgrade old Zalman7000 as well. Ninja seems like the best candidate, but this looks interesting as well...

-I don't see the exact fan retention mechanism, how is it mounted?
-Is it orientation dependant? A big plus for ninja is it's symmetrical so it will work very well with cases that have PSU above HSF and P180.

Somehow it seems to me Ninja is better designed. We'll have to see if it the new ThermalRight cooler has better cooling potential.

BTW someone said the cooler should be available by the end of Novermber, and guess what, it is the end of November. I'm expecting a SPCR review shortly

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:47 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote: -I don't see the exact fan retention mechanism, how is it mounted?
-Is it orientation dependant?

Check the review in the first post. The mechanism is like the one on SI-97A, which is like the stock cooler and much better than SI-120 for instance. Heatsinkfactory have it listed, but not in stock yet.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:54 pm

Mats wrote:
JazzJackRabbit wrote: -I don't see the exact fan retention mechanism, how is it mounted?
-Is it orientation dependant?
Check the review in the first post. The mechanism is like the one on SI-97A, which is like the stock cooler and much better than SI-120 for instance. Heatsinkfactory have it listed, but not in stock yet.

I meant fan to the heatshink, not heatshink to the socket.

computergeek22 · Post by **computergeek22** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:59 pm

This is old news. I already saw that German review. Seems like a good performer - as good if not better than scythe. Thermaltake sonic tower was left in the dust tho.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:05 am

computergeek22: What is old news? The thread is old, yes.

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:37 pm

computergeek22 wrote:This is old news. I already saw that German review. Seems like a good performer - as good if not better than scythe. Thermaltake sonic tower was left in the dust tho.

Oh really? Except the fact that I created this topic on September 20, one day after the review was out.

Irianta · Post by **Irianta** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:14 pm

FWIW, overclockers.com reviewed the HR-01. According to their "P4 testing results" with a fan it performed about even with Scythe Ninja. I am not sure how comparable the results are though, since it seems that two different fans were used: Adda fan on the Ninja and a Delta fan on the HR-01. The fanless results seem to favor the Ninja though.

chicabobo · Post by **chicabobo** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:54 am

According to Heatsinkfactory's website they have them in stock today. Has anyone been able to find it listed anywhere else yet?

http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/ThermalR ... 16342.html

computergeek22 · Post by **computergeek22** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:05 pm

Mats wrote:computergeek22: What is old news? The thread is old, yes.

just one of those days....

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:47 pm

FYI, we received a sample to review. Only came with A64 clip; we asked for a 478 clip (to keep with the same platform we've had for years). By the time we ran the initial tests on this, Thermalright had apparently changed their minds about putting this into wide production. They asked what we thought, we said, as a passive cooler, oh, not bad but... and it would be nice to have fan mounting clips. They said, don't bother with the test, we'll have something better coming soon. That was a few weeks ago.

Admiral Ackbar · Post by **Admiral Ackbar** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:59 am

MikeC wrote:FYI, we received a sample to review. Only came with A64 clip; we asked for a 478 clip (to keep with the same platform we've had for years). By the time we ran the initial tests on this, Thermalright had apparently changed their minds about putting this into wide production. They asked what we thought, we said, as a passive cooler, oh, not bad but... and it would be nice to have fan mounting clips. They said, don't bother with the test, we'll have something better coming soon. That was a few weeks ago.

What? So are you saying that they aren't going to sell this Mike? I think the heatsink factory has some listed in stock.

I wasn't necesarrily interested in this as a passive cooler; I was more interested in this becasue it had a very good mounting system and with a 12cm fan seemed like a very good performer.

Did you by chance jury-rig a 12cm fan on it or not?

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:08 pm

Admiral Ackbar wrote:What? So are you saying that they aren't going to sell this Mike? I think the heatsink factory has some listed in stock.

I wasn't necesarrily interested in this as a passive cooler; I was more interested in this becasue it had a very good mounting system and with a 12cm fan seemed like a very good performer.

Did you by chance jury-rig a 12cm fan on it or not?

I am reportintg what they told us, nothing more.

We probably did try a 120mm fan on it -- just leaning it up against the HS, IIRC. It worked well, but did not surpass existing top models; don't have the details on hand.