Reviews for Thermalright XP-120 Socket 754 / 939 and Intel 478 Heatsink

Hard to beat!

Strengths: Uses 120mm fan - Painless installation - Relatively light weight

Weakness: Does not fit all motherboards due to massive size

This is one impressive piece of hardware. Thermalright delivers another industry best.

This thing requires a 120mm fan, and as a result it is quite massive. The unit does not fit some motherboards, and you'll find a very helpful compatibility list on Thermalright's website.
Despite it's size, the unit is relatively light weight (especially compared to my smaller SLK-974U), which is a plus. Being able to use a 120mm fan means you can flow a lot of air with minimal noise, something that can't be said about the other heatsinks on the market!

Overall, the design and construction is flawless. Installation is amazingly simple. It involves two screws, and two clips, that's all there is to it. I spent more time applying thermal grease than I did actually installing the unit.
Thermalright also gets two thumbs up for including two thin rubber strips to seat the fan on, which minimize vibration and noise.

And when it comes to cooling, this thing is hard to beat. Between the heat pipes, massive surface area, and 120mm fan, you'll have no problem keeping your processor cool. This $50 upgrade will buy you a lot more room for overcloking.
I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Super Cool! A++++

Strengths: keeps cpu very cool

Weakness: big, and make sure it will fit your motherboard

best cooling solution when you want to overclock! cant get better then this! I wouldnt buy anything else this is must have for people who want a little more jucie without harming the CPU.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Thermalright XP-120 Heatsink

Strengths: Excellent cooling

Weakness: Requires adapters be purchased separately for AM2 and LGA775 platforms.

Using this with a Biostar 550 AM2 motherboard with an X2 4400+ CPU (2.3 ghz) over-clocked to 3 ghz (300mhz x 10 multi). Keeps the CPU cool with idle temps at 32C and loads temps at 40C. Large heastsink but had no issues with board or the smaller mid-tower case it sits in. Does a nice job of cooling the area around the CPU inluding the memory, which on my board is actually is under the back "step" of the heatsink.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great Heatsink

Strengths: Good cooling, Uses 120mm fan, Easy installation

Weakness: Huge size, may not fit all motherboard

Because this heatsink uses a 120mm fan, the result is excellent cooling and little noise. The installation is easy for socket 478 boards because it uses the standard P4 heatsink holder; but for K8, I believe you will need to remove the motherboard. Thermalright sells adapters to make this heatsink compatible with LGA775 and AM2 boards, so you can still use it with modern CPUs. Overall, this is a great heatsink for both creating a silent PC and for overclocking.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article186-page1.html

Wow! Thermalright has hit one out of the park with the XP-120. It outperforms any heatsink I've ever used by a big margin. It is especially impressive running fans at a near-silent 5 volt setting. This would be the perfect air-cooled heatsink except for clearance issues with a few motherboards. That's not unexpected, considering the massive size. I suppose the $50 retail price might seem a little...

Read Full Review