Thermalright TRUE Black 120 Heatsink Review

Mike D. 11 Aug, 2008 at 1:00am ET Article published in Tech

I’m not sure what it is, but Thermalright’s products have always caught my eye. Generally speaking, their heatsinks are innovative, high quality, and perform well. I still recall the pair of SK-6s I bought for my dual Athlon rig several years ago, and more recently, the SI-128 SE that sits in my main rig today. The Thermalright product I’ll be reviewing today is not really new, but a slightly tweaked re-release. The TRUE Black 120 is essentially a reincarnation of the popular Ultra 120 eXtreme; what sets it apart from its predecessor is the black nickel plating and a few extras, like a second pair of fan clips and a tube of premium grade thermal paste. Since we never had the chance to review the original Ultra 120 eXtreme, I was happy to receive a TRUE Black 120 sample from Thermalright to add to the charts.

Image courtesy of Thermalright

For those who don’t know, “TRUE” is an acronym that stands for “Thermalright Ultra eXtreme”. It quickly gained popularity in the numerous tech forums across the web. Thermalright has embraced this acronym and actually named its latest using it.

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Comments

11 Aug 2008 ~ 3:22pm Garg That's pretty impressive. Looks great, too.
12 Aug 2008 ~ 6:04pm MAGIC ill just take a black sharpie to my current TRUE
14 Aug 2008 ~ 1:24am TvManPwns

' wrote:

[v][AGIC']ill just take a black sharpie to my current TRUE

Bet it still would look quite as hawt! (grin)
20 Aug 2008 ~ 5:36pm PurplezArctic Wow the performance and finish looks great!

I love the Apple-esque sleekness that it has.
20 Aug 2008 ~ 8:19pm Leonardo I'm impressed that you got such good results without pressure modification to the mounting and without lapping the base. Did you get lucky or is Thermalright actually paying attention to their customers' feedback now?

Don't get me wrong, I think TRUEs are excellent...if you are willing to spend a few hours in modifications. But apparently in this case, the base was quite flat.
19 Oct 2008 ~ 3:06pm jared Maybe I missed in the article, but what 120mm fan is recommended for the TRUE hs?
19 Oct 2008 ~ 4:14pm BuddyJ I believe Thrax says it's 45-55 cfm that makes the TRUE really shine. Lots of people seem to recommend the Scythe fans.
19 Oct 2008 ~ 4:19pm Thrax I use a Thermalright A2029 on about 50% to max RPMs. I find that if I run the fan at full speed, temperatures are actually higher. I surmise that the force of a high CFM creates static pressure between the fins and produces dead air that acts as an insulator.
19 Oct 2008 ~ 4:43pm jared Danke. Thraxipedia at its finest.
16 Nov 2011 ~ 8:09am Rickey Breaud <strong>obama jokes about shovel ready jobs...</strong>

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