Test Results


Less than optimal orientation of the Ultra-120 on this DFI motherboard

Since the Thermalright Ultra-120 is a heavy hitter, high end beast, I decided to compare it to the top 2 heatsinks from my last roundup, the Scythe Ninja and Tuniq Tower 120. Since the Ultra-120 is designed for higher airflow fans I also tested it with the 120mm fan which comes with the Tuniq Tower 120, which spins noticeably faster than the reference Papst one I?m using, it's also a bit louder (47dBA vs 35dBA!).



The Ultra-120 matches the Scythe Ninja's performance with the CPU running at 2200Mhz and this with the same low airflow Papst fan. Coupled with a faster 120mm fan the Ultra-120 is at the top of the performance chart with the Tuniq Tower, impressive results so far. Let's turn up the heat:



These results with the overclocked CPU paint a different picture, with the Papst fan the Ultra-120 trails ~10°C behind the competition, the extra heat is not dissipated fast enough and the CPU almost overheats, not the result I was looking forward to. When the faster 120mm fan is placed on the Ultra-120 performance is improved noticeably but not enough to warrant the increased noise.

Conclusion

As with the Ultra-90, I have mixed feelings over the Ultra-120 also, although it's definitely an improvement over the stock cooling from either AMD/Intel and matches performance of its closest competitors at lower CPU heat output, it fails to impress when the heat is turned upwards and fails to match the best out there.

The installation is less plug and play due to the extra weight, requiring you to remove the motherboard, compatibility is excellent due to the heatsink's rather compact design, however this is also its downfall performance wise, requiring a high speed (and loud) 120mm fan to make it perform at its best.

With both AMD and Intel focusing on lower CPU power usage the need for extreme cooling has luckily also diminished. The Ultra-120 will please those overclockers amongst us who don't care how loud their cooling is and coupled with a Delta 120mm fan you'll have some serious cooling power with the Ultra-120, which will almost match that of water cooling kits.

Those looking for a silent computing solution will find comfort in knowing that the Ultra-120 is capable of that with CPUs which are not little furnace, luckily Silent Computing and Power Efficient CPU's go hand in hand.

PRO
Good performance with silent fan at lower CPU output.
Excellent performance with high speed fan
Very quiet with Papst 120mm fan
Fair price ~€/$45

CON
Installation on AMD S754/939 doesn't allow free orientation of the heatsink
Performance/Noise balance with higher heat output CPU not very impressive (compared to low CPU heat output numbers)



I like to thank Bacata for sending over the product for testing;

Questions/Comments: forum thread