UPDATE: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme - Retail
by Wesley Fink on May 4, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Ultra-120 eXtreme Production Kit
As we have said many times, Thermalright has never been one to invest in fancy packaging. The usual Thermalright cooler comes in a sturdy brown box, with at least the name nowadays. What's in the box is what really matters, and Thermalright has more often than not delivered some of the best coolers on the market.
Thermalright is really proud of the Ultra-120 eXtreme, at least based on the final packaging. This is the first time Thermalright has used big 3-D Shadow print to announce the name.
We looked closely, but we really couldn't find any difference in the prototype we tested and the retail eXtreme tower. Perhaps some sharp-eyed readers will find subtle improvements that found their way into the production eXtreme.
The AM2 plate is the same, but the socket 775 plate is a complete redesign. The original 775 mount would not fit between the extra pipes of the eXtreme. The revised 775 mount folds, and is easily passed through the tighter pipes on the eXtreme.
Once passed through the pipes, the 775 adapter is pushed open to align with the mounting holes. The back plate has also been slightly altered to allow better electrical isolation of the metal back plate. There are now elastomer pads on the motherboard contact surfaces.
The new socket 775 adapter is certainly an improvement over the older design in terms of convenience, but we still have one complaint. The old adapter held the cooler firmly in place on socket 775, while the new adapter allows the cooler to be turned a bit after mounting, whether intentional or accidental. Buyers will be perfectly happy with the eXtreme's mounting and performance, but the 775 bracket could be improved further with wider metal on one of the blades that secures the cooler so it won't be able to turn. In this aspect the AM2 adapter is really sturdier, since the heatpipe tower is held rigidly in place on socket AM2 after mounting.
It is also important to understand that the Ultra-120 eXtreme comes with AM2 and socket 775 adapters. However, it does not ship with the AMD 754/939/940 adapter. There is a 754/939/940 adapter (K8) in the Ultra-120 kit. It will also fit the eXtreme so that it can be used on the slightly older AMD sockets. If you want to use the eXtreme on an AMD 754/939/940 processor you will need to ask Thermalright to sell you the Ultra-120 AMD K8 adapter, or talk your dealer or a U120-owning friend into helping you out.
As we have said many times, Thermalright has never been one to invest in fancy packaging. The usual Thermalright cooler comes in a sturdy brown box, with at least the name nowadays. What's in the box is what really matters, and Thermalright has more often than not delivered some of the best coolers on the market.
Thermalright is really proud of the Ultra-120 eXtreme, at least based on the final packaging. This is the first time Thermalright has used big 3-D Shadow print to announce the name.
We looked closely, but we really couldn't find any difference in the prototype we tested and the retail eXtreme tower. Perhaps some sharp-eyed readers will find subtle improvements that found their way into the production eXtreme.
The AM2 plate is the same, but the socket 775 plate is a complete redesign. The original 775 mount would not fit between the extra pipes of the eXtreme. The revised 775 mount folds, and is easily passed through the tighter pipes on the eXtreme.
Once passed through the pipes, the 775 adapter is pushed open to align with the mounting holes. The back plate has also been slightly altered to allow better electrical isolation of the metal back plate. There are now elastomer pads on the motherboard contact surfaces.
The new socket 775 adapter is certainly an improvement over the older design in terms of convenience, but we still have one complaint. The old adapter held the cooler firmly in place on socket 775, while the new adapter allows the cooler to be turned a bit after mounting, whether intentional or accidental. Buyers will be perfectly happy with the eXtreme's mounting and performance, but the 775 bracket could be improved further with wider metal on one of the blades that secures the cooler so it won't be able to turn. In this aspect the AM2 adapter is really sturdier, since the heatpipe tower is held rigidly in place on socket AM2 after mounting.
It is also important to understand that the Ultra-120 eXtreme comes with AM2 and socket 775 adapters. However, it does not ship with the AMD 754/939/940 adapter. There is a 754/939/940 adapter (K8) in the Ultra-120 kit. It will also fit the eXtreme so that it can be used on the slightly older AMD sockets. If you want to use the eXtreme on an AMD 754/939/940 processor you will need to ask Thermalright to sell you the Ultra-120 AMD K8 adapter, or talk your dealer or a U120-owning friend into helping you out.
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Wesley Fink - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
According to Thermaltake the IFX-14 will not be available until late May at the earliest.Arctucas - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
I should get mine in a couple of weeks.This is OT I know;
I really like TR, (I was planning on doing a complete motherboard cooling setup with their products) except that I bought their HR-09 MOSFET coolers for my Striker Extreme mobo (after email conversations with their tech support, who assured me the coolers were compatible) but unfortunately they do not fit.
After several more emails, TR still insists the HR-09s will work they just don't cover ALL the MOSFETs. Does anyone else think that is sort of non sequitur?
Anyway, I'm sure the Ultra will be just fine, I just hope that the HR-05SLI I ordered for the chipset will fit.
LoneWolf15 - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
Great update. The only thing that bothers me is the lack of the 939 adapter. Thermalright makes great products --but for what you pay for one, this product ought to come with that adapter, and without it, it's a real drawback. Considering that the Ultra120 and the Sumbeam's Tuniq Tower 120 both come with it, one would think any "extreme" (implying high-end) version ought to as well.Ender17 - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
939 isn't extreme or high endLoneWolf15 - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
"Extreme" was referring to the name of the cooler, Ender.Also, some of us do own Athlon 64 FX CPU's, high-end Opterons, or the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ in Socket 939. We might still wish to use a great cooler like this. I know that going from a good Swiftech MCX-64V cooler (or at least good when I bought it) to a Tuniq brought my temps down by 8-10C at idle (I have an X2 4800+) , and sometimes even more under load, so I would say that some might very well benefit from this cooler. You don't have to have a Socket 775 or AM2 cooler to find this useful.
crimson117 - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
"...or even more likely the 2C higher ambient temperature in our test room compared to the room temperature in the initial review."Thanks for considering ambient temperature! It's so easy to overlook it, but I think it really makes a huge difference... imagine gaming in a hot, non-air conditioned room in the summer, vs a cool thermally regulated server room with industrial cooling. It can make a huge difference in the operation of the whole computer, especially when overclocking.
yacoub - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
The only thing lacking is a fitment report for the cooler as to how it fits on a variety of 975/965/680i/650i boards you have around the labs. This is especially important for such a large cooler. Perhaps also if it fits in mid-tower cases you have available to test.Thanks.
crimson117 - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
To me this would be a lot of effort (20 coolers times 20 motherboards) for very little benefit.yacoub - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
All it requires is holding the hsf over the CPU socket to verify that it clears all obstacles. Not really much effort at all. And it's vitally important to the readers who want to know if a given cooler will fit on their board.Wesley Fink - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
TheThermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is the same size as the Ultra-120. It is much smaller than you might imagine - much smaller than the Tuniq or Scythe Infinity or most other heatpipe towers with 120mm fans. It fits every board we have in the cooling lab right now. This includes the EVGA 680i, Asus P5W-DH Deluxe, Asus Striker, and Asus Commando. Thermalright has a compatible motherboard list at their website.The thing to keep in mind with the Ultra-120 footprint is it is just as wide as other heatpipe towers, but it is much narrower front to back, as we stated in the Update. The tightest fit, as it is with most towers, is on the EVGA 680i, wich is our Cooling test bed board.