Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

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Abula
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Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:41 pm

We have been given lots of CPU cooler options over the past decade, SPCR liked a lot the offering of Scythe like Kotesu and the Mugen, more so because they offer very good performance for the money. Thermalright in the past have been a very high end tower cooler with offering like Silver Arrow or HR02/HR22 among a lot of cooler, competing with Noctua for a long time. We have seen new companies like Phantek and BeQuiet appearing with decent offering (not mentioning a lot that have very good products).

We mostly recommend Mugen5 out of being cheap, not overlap the memory, easy to install, etc, well rounded cooler for $50, and i would even say the Fuma2 at $60 imo is the next step up if the person is looking for better cooling. But i recently was checking Amazon for coolers and found something interesting, Thermalright Frost Spirit 140 $50.62, sold by Thermalright Direct with amazon fulfillment.

Around six months ago i was rebuilding my Sim racing PC with an 5900x, and found this cooler in AlieXpress, a little more expensive, but was intrigued about next iteration of coolers coming from Thermalright, so order one, at the same time i found a 5950x so decided to also rebuild my main setup, i also ordered the Noctua NF-D15s Chromax to compare it with the Thermalright, and while noctua is still better, but not by much, and the price difference easily beats Noctua.

SimMi.jpg
Noctua vs Thermalright.JPG

As long as people don't fear the size of it, i would even say that it will beat the Mugen5, with the 120mm frontal fan, allows memory like Gskill TriedentZ without issues, probably will rival the Fuma2 for $10 less. Really good cooler for $50.
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:33 am

Great to know your measurements and knowing Thermalright I'm completely not surprised it does that well. I just wonder, how it would be when noise normalized on few speeds. It shouldn't be hard to beat A15 on high speeds as these fans show their age with how fast their noise increases, but D15, S shine the most with cooling capabilities on low speeds (<800) rpm when their noise is just the same as from other ones.

TR is coming with whole new line-up to I think replace anything older in every weight, I've seen a lot of announcements, but not even one review. Knowing how TR was doing in the past and assuming they made some progress with new ones, I suspect these coolers will be price-performance killers in their categories as TR products used to be. Now peak of the cooler market are Scythe, Noctua and bq! - it just doesn't make sense to buy anything else, if you don't mind the price, look or whatever. But looking at the past Thermalright is first brand I would suspect to be the forth one, but killing all with the price/performance.

How would you rate the quality of build? TR used to be the brand reasonably balancing in terms of that to keep the prices impressive, but on the photos I see some uplift as e.g. antivibration mounts. Does it feel closer to something cheap or fine as Scythe? Do fans have noise-less motors and bearings? How's the noise profile - clean movement of air, damn whistling or turbulence?

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:53 am

nice :)

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:04 am

I just wonder, how it would be when noise normalized on few speeds.
Sorry I don't have the equipment or the chamber to do this accurately.
How would you rate the quality of build?
I would say about even with the past iteration, i always seen the craftman of Thermalright to be top notch. One thing worth mentioning is that they abandon their square mounting mechanism which was pretty good imo, and adopted something very similar to Noctua/Scythe, not saying its bad, just different. Mounting the cooler was very easy, as it was with Noctua NH-D15s, i prefer twin towers as you can see and have good access to the mounting screws, offset towers you do have to mount a screw almost blind.
Do fans have noise-less motors and bearings? How's the noise profile - clean movement of air, damn whistling or turbulence?
Hard to say, i didn't play much with the fans, again no chamber so i don't bother. I didn't hear any bearing noise, and sound signature the middle fan is exactly the same as TY147B which is pretty good imo, the frontal i would say the sonic signature was similar to Scythe KamaFlex. Below 800rpms they were inaudible to me 3ft away. For me i wouldn't change them, to me they are good enough, not saying they are the best, but for $50 its a good overall package.

Hope more people try it, it a good cooler, i would say its best for the money atm.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Jun 08, 2021 8:05 am

Thank you for the info as this brand gets surprisingly low attention for some time. No problem with you not being able to measure the noise, because I personally also don't have decibel meter ;) I wondered, because Frost Spirit looks to be on par with D15S with two fans and this cooler isn't even their heaviest weight. Their new two-tower flagship is Frost Commander 140 - one heatpipe more, 2mm higher and faster fans. This thing will probably beat D15, but it will depend on the noise - maybe it will be another Deepcool Assassin 3, maybe new king.

And yes, it's highly likely to be the best for the money. I don't know the prices around the world, but if it costs the same as Mugen 5B and Shadow Rock 3 and beats them with cooling/noise, it's the best. Probably even their being here for year or two current interation of Macho (rev. C) is a little better than these two, but hard to say - it's launch happened to be almost unnoticed with just few reviews or small sites, where he scored good enough to suspect that.

TR generally stayed under radar for a longer while and I wonder if they were just cooking their new line-up or had some problems. Unnoticed C's launch and terrible availability in Poland - TR used to be widely available and popular here. Like two years ago and more Macho were just most popular recommendations for somebody needing something more than Pure Rock, but not D15.

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:34 am

Seems Thermalight new line is aimed into competing for value, i just saw the new Thermalright Peerless Assassin retailing for $41.38, which would be a the price of the kotestu, for a twin tower with dual fans, this cooler probably will compete with the Fuma2 which is almost 50% more expensive.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:50 am

They used to be greatest in value and their new line-up suggests that they'll try to rule in all weights (and I bet they'll succed), but one I'm most curious about is TA140 EX. I sense better and way cheaper U14S, but looking at the prices of two-tower Frost Spirit and Pearless, I would expect it be even chaper. If it's Pure Rock 2 Silver money, I'm sure we have the killer in compact category: five thick heatpipes with base and 140mm fan being able to run pathologic 1800 rpm (hope it doesn't affect min speed) plus it being nicely equipped with tube of thermal paste and even splitter with metal mounts for secound fan. It would rival with common here thinner four direct touch heatpipes, which are downside when dealing with bigger amounts of heat; 120mm fan from not highest league and sometimes garbage pre-applied thermal paste as mentioned PR2 has.

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Mon Jun 28, 2021 12:12 pm

The TA140 EX seems like a successor to the TSP140 / Archon, wondering if it will end up cheaper than the Assassin.

The only thing that worries me, Intel LGA 1700 & LGA 1800 Socket Design Leaks Out, Designed For Alder Lake & Next-Gen CPUs, the IHS is no longer square, so not sure if heatsink manufacturers will release a new line soon or will they wont care about having smaller contact than the new IHS.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:12 pm

Looking at this cooler I have mixed feelings about how they could approach market with it. Knowing how good is TR at coolers and I assuming they made some progress since already amazing Macho C, I wouldn't be surprised, if it was on par or even better than a little bigger U14S. If so, even Fuma 2 money makes it bargain. But also I don't see it more expensive than mentioned two-tower ones. On the other side they can go U12A route - powerful, but small and not problematic in terms of compatiblity due to reasonable dimension - great cooler for all of these strange ITX cases and it all costs premium. They have also TA 120 EX, which seems to aim Pure Rock 2 category, so I would expect TA140 EX to be a litle more expensive. I bet it's price will be between Pure Rock 2 and Shadow Rock 3 and then it still being a great deal.

With your worries about CPU shape, I don't think cooler producers will care. Maybe popular big guys like Noctua or bq! will throw their flaghips with matching base seeing here option to increase sales of their products and also these more expensive ones, but I don't see whole market converting every cooler and adds to the market other variant, because Intel experiments. Different shape of upcoming Intels is also known for a while and I have never seen any comment in this topic from cooler brands, but haven't really searched for it. Another question is, if internal layout of these CPUs would really need coolers with bigger base or it's like loss of few unimportant to most of the users degrees.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:05 am

Also take into account the IHS area is much bigger than the die. So, there is some wiggle room for existing cooler bases. I'm guessing we will see a new generation of socket adapter kits though for mount compatibility.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:27 am

I don't think Intel would release product causing problems in so basic aspect as finding something to cool it. Especially nowadays when RGB TG community gets bigger and bigger and relative prettiness of cooling solution just make sale or not. From the coolers producers' side I don't know, if engineering cooler with bigger base is that simple as just make bigger base and call it a day without any consequences to performance. It for sure costs and we have to add here also logistics and availability connected to producers calculating it with predicted demand. Every sentence I wrote presents other problem and it all combines to create just awful pita for everybody - Intel, cooler brands and buyers.

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:46 pm

CA_Steve wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:05 am
I'm guessing we will see a new generation of socket adapter kits though for mount compatibility.
Seems like the mounting holes of LGA1700/1800 is the same as LGA1200/1155/1151, but im not sure height wise, etc, but overall seems the mounting will be the same, more so if they want to make use bigger IHS, but will see close to October when Alder Lake releases.

PS In the meantime, I'm analyzing going water with Hardware Labs SR2 + Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM (just want to wait for the chromax) to cool the ryzen 5950x

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:15 pm

The z height is less. So, that may impact things.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:34 pm

Abula wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:46 pm
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM (just want to wait for the chromax) to cool the ryzen 5950x
If so, I would interest in these ones: https://www.scytheus.com/wonder-snail-120

Rather not many reviews yet, I've seen only one heatsink test-comparison, but claiming it's on par in pure cooling or cooling/noise with superior A12x25 plus availability can be problematic. Both things should be solved until Q4 when Noctua plans to drop A12x25 Chromax, though.

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:21 pm

CA_Steve wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:15 pm
The z height is less. So, that may impact things.
Maybe some new spaces =P
Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:34 pm
If so, I would interest in these ones: https://www.scytheus.com/wonder-snail-120

Rather not many reviews yet, I've seen only one heatsink test-comparison, but claiming it's on par in pure cooling or cooling/noise with superior A12x25 plus availability can be problematic. Both things should be solved until Q4 when Noctua plans to drop A12x25 Chromax, though.
Thanks for the suggestion, i wanted to get a hold of a fan to test it but always been out of stock for me, that said, but im also worried about one of amazon reviews,
Loud hum at random times
Reviewed in Canada on May 29, 2021
Verified Purchase
Scythe's new fan had many review to it claiming that it's on par with Noctuas NF-A12x25. While I was impressed at first due to the price:performance of the fan, in 3 days the fan started humming at random intervals and that was enough for me to return the fan. Not sure if it was faulty, or many reviewers just never mentioned this flaw.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:24 am

I understand your worries, but what makes me wonder with this opinion is this ,,in 3 days the fan started". Maybe he haven't noticed, maybe it got faulty. To me checking the new fan on whole rpm range is just basic procedure of buying the fan, but hard to say, if this guy thinks the same. I can't find this opinion due to seeing only Japanese site of WS, where nothing helpful, but I wouldn't bother. It's always great to read critical buyers opinions, but I treat them with big grain of salt due to people mostly not knowing what they talk about and even not being able to name things correctly. When there are many the same voices, there's problem for sure, but ofc these fans are new and hardly available.

Another thing is so called ,,humming" seems to be the problem randomly reported with anything with the fan. I suspect it's sometimes not caused by the fan only, but it's environment as a case, heatsink or combination of anything in the system. E.g there are people who report humming with older Define cases equipped with NF-A14 fans, one of our forum members showed video with D15 with it's right fan placed on the left doing so, my GPU does it between various rpm ranges, so I needed to tweak it to never need to reach these speeds.

If I were you I wouldn't discourage yourself from buying probably amazing fans, because some opinion and just give them a chance - you can always return them.

Abula
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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Abula » Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:24 am

I'm very likely to buy one to test, still want to compare it to Gentle Typhoon and NF-A12x25, its still on my list, but as with Artic Cooling P12/P14, that sell for a very good value, were hyped a lot by youtube reviewer, but a lot of people start reporting hums around 1000-1200rpms, that the reviewer also reproduced it, all in all i own a couple and its not a big deal to me, as i try to have my fans below 1000rpms, but the hum is very noticeable to me, but we all tolerate different noise differently, so while for some might be bad for others wont be a big deal. Maybe something similar is happening to the Sycthe Snail... im not sure, and reason i do want to buy one or two to test, that said, i have tested NF-A12x25 for more than a year, and i can say they don't have any hum or noise that i dislike, so if they are still at the top of my list if i really go into watercooling (still trying to avoid it, but ryzen is making harder).

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:22 am

I think Arctic P fans are a little different story. Arctic stated that humming problem is connected to fan's construction and it's impossible to make it right (or Arctic bs for some reason like it means higher cost of producing). That's true that not long ago they were presented by youtubers and generally community (probably ones who have seen them only on youtube) as phenomenon offering the same as high-end fans for little money and value packs took their popularity even further.

Coming back to this guy's opinion, I really wouldn't worry. It looks like he bought only one fan; noticed it three days after intalling; he mentioned ,,Scythe's new fan had many review to it claiming that it's on par with Noctuas NF-A12x25" when I managed to find damn one review, but maybe unboxings count too... He doesn't seem believable, calculate also possiblity of him being acoustic psycho, who sticks his ear to computer and then every little noise hurts him. Another aspect is mentioned by me, let's say, configuration variation causing various acoustic problems. I remember that you in some topic stated that Silent Wings 3 fans create some noises when pulling air thru the filter, but I personally have two of them (1000 rpm version) doing so in my Define 7 and nothing bad or abnormal. They are super quiet on full speed and their sound is pleasant and regular on any rpm - to me they sound for sure nicer, but also seem quieter than default Fractal fans. I checked SW3 also without filter and they only get louder due to lack of channeling noise down grill, which does surprisingly big difference. Other time I checked them on full range of rpm when I was experimenting with pressure in my case and they only get quiter with reducing their speed. I had them also, the same units, in other case (with filters on side intakes, so few cm from the fans) and they were there just terrible above 7V - turbulent, irregular sound of air bouncing around the case. That's why I fully believe your words, because you probably had them in next other case and such problem happened with this combination as it can happen with any other - sadly one way to prevent it is trying it first.

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Re: Thermalright Frost Spirit 140

Post by whispercat » Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:04 pm

Abula, did you ever get and test the Thermalright Peerless Assassin?

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