Thermalright TRUE Copper review

Mike D. 3 Nov, 2008 at 1:24am ET Article published in Tech

Conclusion

So there you have it—the TRUE Copper takes the performance crown as the best performing heatsink we’ve tested to date. Thermalright has taken the tried and tested “Ultra Extreme” and has extended its phenomenal performance even further through the use of 100% copper. Like the TRUE Black, I was impressed with its fantastic build quality and ease of installation. Its mounting system is top notch and allows for sturdy motherboard fastening.

I think it goes without saying that the TRUE Copper’s biggest con is its weight. At 1900 grams, it is more than twice the weight of the original TRUE. Even the monster Scythe Mugen we reviewed a while ago weighed in at a mere 960 grams. It is just way too heavy, I’m afraid. Buyers will need to be extremely careful with the TRUE Copper. Special care must be taken to ensure that the case is not moved around too much in a vertical position and heavy 38mm fans or dual fans will likely need to be avoided in this orientation as well. Its weight makes it much more impractical than its predecessors, unfortunately.

Pricing and availability is unknown at this time, but it does appear that Thermalright is positioning the TRUE Copper as a “limited edition” heatsink. You can expect to pay a price premium over the original “Ultra Extreme”. The bottom line is that we have tested perhaps the best performing aircooler ever released—If you absolutely, positively have to have the best, this is it. If you are looking for a more practical heatsink, I would not hesitate to recommend the original TRUE or the TRUE Black. Weight aside, I think the TRUE Copper is a marvel of thermal engineering and I am happy to award it with Icrontic’s “Stamp of Approval”. A big thanks goes out to Thermalright for providing us with this pre-release sample.

Pros:

The best performing heatsink we have tested to date
Excellent build quality
Easy to install
Great mounting kit.
Extra fan clips and premium quality thermal paste included.

Cons:

Very, very heavy.

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Comments

3 Nov 2008 ~ 2:56am Leonardo Thermalright is at it again. Today, we'll be taking a look at the third iteration of the hugely popular TRUE heatsink?the TRUE Copper. As you have probably already guessed, the TRUE Copper is a 100% copper version of the ?Ultra Extreme?.

We took a look at the TRUE Black back in August and were very impressed. Although a fantastic performer, the ?Black? was just a black nickel pla... Continue reading
3 Nov 2008 ~ 10:30am Garg That's an impressive bit of kit, especially with the Delta strapped on it. I don't think I need anything that extreme, but I'd say there's definitely a market for it.

It's funny how this makes the "regular" TRUE look less extreme.
3 Nov 2008 ~ 11:27am BuddyJ I think I need one of these. Nice review!
3 Nov 2008 ~ 2:00pm lemonlime The base looked the same as the TRUE Black that I reviewed, Leo. It appears that Thermalright has corrected that major convex base issue they had when the TRUE first hit the streets. I've heard that the very slight convex effect of the base is intentional, but haven't been able to confirm this claim. It is so minor that I didn't hold it against the TRUE Black or the TRUE Copper.
3 Nov 2008 ~ 4:29pm Leonardo Thanks for the info.
4 Nov 2008 ~ 11:25pm muddocktor I have one of these waiting for me at the house. It arrived today, and now I have to wait another whole week before i come in from the rig to play with it.:bawling:

I plan to test mine against the original TRUE I already own and if it fits inside the case I just built my latest water loop in, I would like to test it's cooling prowness against it also. The loop I plan to test against is running a Q6600 at 3.6 and consists of a Danger Den MC-TDX block, a Swiftech MC355 pump with an XSPC top, a Swiftech MCR220-QP Res radiator and 1/2" silver Tygon tubing, with the radiator mounted on a Swiftech Radbox on the back of the case. The case this is mounted in is a Silverstone TJ-06B, which might give me mounting problems though. It mounts the board upside down and depending on socket placement, can give interference with the bottom of the case with the heatsink when mounting it with airflow going from front to back. That is why I ended up not using this case for my main rig when I upgraded the board in it to a Gigabyte X38-DQ6 from the old P5WDH deluxe I had been using. The socket placement on the Gigabyte board was closer to the edge of the mobo and I couldn't mount my original TRUE on it except in a horizontal postion with airflow either going to the case bottom or at my video card. Hopefully the P5Q Pro board I have installed in that case has enough clearance to mount the TRUE's in their normal orientation. If they will fit, I will just set the MC-TDX block aside while testing the TRUE's (hopefully, so I don't have to tear the loop apart.

Oh, and this will also be interesting as I will be running this in a normal case and will see if the extreme weight of the copper TRUE affects cooling if it isn't supported at the top.
5 Nov 2008 ~ 12:40am Leonardo I'm looking forward to your report!
5 Nov 2008 ~ 12:51am primesuspect Icrontic still not tech enough for you, mudd? We're the first on the web with the TRUE copper review
5 Nov 2008 ~ 12:59am muddocktor Pretty good scoop, Brian!

It sure is purty too!

I am real interested in seeing how it performs against a mid-priced watercooling setup, since it is so pricey. The system I will be checking it against isn't truly a fair comparison, price-wise, but still if it comes within a few C of it's cooling ability then the copper TRUE will be a good substitute instead of a mid priced loop. I think it would smoke that Bigwater kit Mike tested not too long ago though and I bet it would give the Swiftech H20-220 Compact Liquid Cooling Kit w/Apogee Drive kit a very good run for it's money and for less cost too.
5 Nov 2008 ~ 11:33am BuddyJ It wasn't the BigWater, it was the ProWater 850i and the Copper beat it soundly

Wish we had that Swiftech kit to throw into the comparison.
5 Nov 2008 ~ 12:17pm Leonardo

Pretty good scoop, Brian!

Indeed!
5 Nov 2008 ~ 7:29pm muddocktor

Buddy J wrote:

It wasn't the BigWater, it was the ProWater 850i and the Copper beat it soundly

Wish we had that Swiftech kit to throw into the comparison.

I'm kind of short on funds right now but maybe in a few weeks I can try to swing something with the owner of Jab-tech and get an Apogee Drive block/pump and some 3/8 tubing. The radiator I have on that machine is the exact same one that comes with the H20-220 Compact Liquid Cooling Kit, so I wouldn't need the whole kit to test it's configuration against the copper TRUE. John at Jab-tech is a pretty stand up guy in my experience and he might cut me some kind of deal (especially for some mentions of his store ).

EDIT: And thanks for correcting me on the name of that TT unit. I can't ever remember all the names of TT's water kits. And since they use mixed metals in their loops (aluminum and copper), I try to stay away from those kind of setups. If you don't run some kind of effective inhibitive fluid you get ionic and galvanic corrosion.

EDIT2: Well, just checked the Jab-tech site out and they don't have either the kit or the Apogee Drive block/pump, so I guess that's a wash. I will have to figure something else out I guess.
21 Nov 2008 ~ 6:16pm muddocktor I've been playing with my Cu TRUE for around a week now and it's been an experience, and not a particularly good one either. My base on the Cu TRUE I bought through the retail channels had a very bad base finish to it. The actual finish looked good, but the base wasn't even close to being flat. I found that across the base perpendicular to the heatpipes the base was convex, and not even in it's convexity. Here are some pictures I took of the base showing the problem:
21 Nov 2008 ~ 6:18pm muddocktor Now across the other way on the heatsink the base was pretty flat. Here are some pictures checking from one side of the heatpipes to the other side.
21 Nov 2008 ~ 6:20pm muddocktor Finally, here is a picture of a flatness test with a pane of glass and using blue dyed water. As you can see, the base isn't even close to being flat with the dye test and makes for a poor contact patch.
21 Nov 2008 ~ 9:04pm jared grr i thought they were going to fix that?
21 Nov 2008 ~ 9:18pm Leonardo

grr i thought they were going to fix that?

Speculation by some, that's all.

To be fair, I haven't seen a reliable source, or anything from a Thermalright source commenting on the their heatsink bases. I've read so many second or third hand accounts of Thermalright stating the convex base is an intentional design, but I have yet to see any Thermalright statement. I think Thermalright will keep making those warped bases until people stop buying them.
10 Aug 2009 ~ 12:44pm Jeff Sorry to comment on such an old post, but I can provide an e-mail direct from Thermalright stating the convex base is intentional. I purchased a TRUE (1366) last week, and there is definitely a slight bulge which appears to come from one of the center heat pipes on one side. Thermalright responded promptly to my e-mail today, telling me it was designed that way... They say the CPU is slightly concave, though I can't imagine that the curvature of the CPU could exactly match the curvature of the heatsink, since it doesn't appear to be a uniform bulge (I haven't tried installing it yet)...