New Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink
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New Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink
Has anyone seen Thermalright's new Ultima-90 on their website yet? Hopefully it will cool very well with a few extra heatpipes. The bonus is that it is smaller than the Ultra-120 which means those of us with cramped cases can have fabulous cooling! It also comes with clips to mount a 120mm fan if you don't think that the 92mm is good enough and you have room for it.
www.thermalright.com
www.thermalright.com
Re: New Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink
Better still, it only weighs 460g, which is good news for cissies like myself who have nightmares about motherboards being hideously maimed by monster heatsinks.Agent_N wrote:The bonus is that it is smaller than the Ultra-120 which means those of us with cramped cases can have fabulous cooling! It also comes with clips to mount a 120mm fan if you don't think that the 92mm is good enough and you have room for it.
I read a review of an early sample (can't find it now), where it apparently outperformed a Tuniq Tower twice its size using a 120mm fan, although I'd be a bit sceptical until it's confirmed elsewhere.
It's available for pre-order in the USA here incidentally, and they'll allegedly have it in stock on 7th August.
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Here's the review: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=137838
I've pre-ordered one from Heatsink Factory. Looks like a good fit for the Qmicra v2 SFF case that's just launching: http://www.pcdesignlab.com/
I've pre-ordered one from Heatsink Factory. Looks like a good fit for the Qmicra v2 SFF case that's just launching: http://www.pcdesignlab.com/
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With 48 fins spaced over ~90mm, the fin spacing is about the same as the XP-90, or 1.8mm. I've just started using the XP-90 again after 2+ years, and am running it on this computer at the moment at 373RPM using a 92mm A-C PWM fan modified for analog+PWM control, so I can confirm that this fin spacing is wide enough to cool using low airflow!
Just ordered one so I can use it on a new build I'm putting together.
Not surprising it performs about the same as the Tuniq. It has the same size cooling fin stack, and the same fin spacing judging from the above photos. Difference is a 120mm fan sticks out the top of the TR90U, but out the bottom of the Tuniq.
What we really need for both these coolers is a 90x120mm fan. Where can I order one of those?
Just ordered one so I can use it on a new build I'm putting together.
Not surprising it performs about the same as the Tuniq. It has the same size cooling fin stack, and the same fin spacing judging from the above photos. Difference is a 120mm fan sticks out the top of the TR90U, but out the bottom of the Tuniq.
What we really need for both these coolers is a 90x120mm fan. Where can I order one of those?
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I'm an incurable HSF junkie. Got to thinking about the original U90. Here's the diff:
original: 45mm x 102mm x 146mm
newver: 55mm x 115mm x 139mm (wider, deeper, shorter)
Checked for current pricing via the former Froogle (now google/products). Discovered SVC (where I'm a frequent flier) sells it for $15, but is out of stock. Jab-tech wants $18 and it's in stock, so I ordered one and some rubber fan mounts I'm running low on. Interesting thing is, if you enter J-T from Froogle, the price is $18. If you just log on and go browsing, the price is $45! I've seen a differential before with Froogle, but never this drastic a difference.
The mounting is similar enough to allow the two HSFs to be swapped without removing the mobo, and I'm curious to see how the two HSFs compare using PWM fans, and to my elderly XP-90 which now uses PWM.
original: 45mm x 102mm x 146mm
newver: 55mm x 115mm x 139mm (wider, deeper, shorter)
Checked for current pricing via the former Froogle (now google/products). Discovered SVC (where I'm a frequent flier) sells it for $15, but is out of stock. Jab-tech wants $18 and it's in stock, so I ordered one and some rubber fan mounts I'm running low on. Interesting thing is, if you enter J-T from Froogle, the price is $18. If you just log on and go browsing, the price is $45! I've seen a differential before with Froogle, but never this drastic a difference.
The mounting is similar enough to allow the two HSFs to be swapped without removing the mobo, and I'm curious to see how the two HSFs compare using PWM fans, and to my elderly XP-90 which now uses PWM.
Re: New Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink
nick705 wrote:Better still, it only weighs 460g, which is good news for cissies like myself who have nightmares about motherboards being hideously maimed by monster heatsinks.Agent_N wrote:The bonus is that it is smaller than the Ultra-120 which means those of us with cramped cases can have fabulous cooling! It also comes with clips to mount a 120mm fan if you don't think that the 92mm is good enough and you have room for it.
I read a review of an early sample (can't find it now), where it apparently outperformed a Tuniq Tower twice its size using a 120mm fan, although I'd be a bit sceptical until it's confirmed elsewhere.
It's available for pre-order in the USA here incidentally, and they'll allegedly have it in stock on 7th August.
Why should you be skeptical, the Ultima-90 has more heatpipes that the Tuniq tower. It isn't necesarily the size of the heatsink or the size of the fan so much as it is the construction quality, and the number and quality of the heatpipes. With 6 heatpipes I wouldn't be surprised if it outperformed a number of high end heatsinks even if using a 92mm fan.
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Now in stock and available at Sidewinder: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thulforinso7.html
Crazy PC has it for $44.99: http://www.crazypc.com/products/ultima-90i-50976.html
Crazy PC has it for $44.99: http://www.crazypc.com/products/ultima-90i-50976.html
Re: New Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink
Yes, I am aware of that. Being sceptical is just common sense - no reflection on the tester, but it's only a single web forum "review" of an early engineering sample, he could have got a particularly good one, the Tuniq Tower might have been a bad one, etc, etc.Agent_N wrote: Why should you be skeptical, the Ultima-90 has more heatpipes that the Tuniq tower. It isn't necesarily the size of the heatsink or the size of the fan so much as it is the construction quality, and the number and quality of the heatpipes. With 6 heatpipes I wouldn't be surprised if it outperformed a number of high end heatsinks even if using a 92mm fan.
As for basing an judgement purely on the design, the engineering world is full of things that looked good on paper, but turned out to be turds in practice.
I'm not saying it won't be a good heatsink (I hope it is, it would suit my needs admirably), but I'd just like to see more hard data independently confirming its performance before jumping to any conclusions.
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Alas, the new HS comes 16 to a box and not the anticipated 18, and the one they sold me was #17 or #18, so I won't be getting it for the new build.Felger Carbon wrote:Just ordered one so I can use it on a new build I'm putting together. (Aug 5)
Had an interesting time yesterday afternoon trying different HSFs in position in the new build. The Asrock K8NF6G-VSTA has a rotated CPU socket and weird positions for the PSU connections and the IDE connector, plus the new case is smaller and tighter. Interesting to see what fits (and allows things to be reached with the mobo in the case) and what doesn't.
One item that fit very well indeed was my yet-untried Apack BTF80. Spent the late afternoon beginning to mod the fan on the unmoddable fan mount for that HSF.
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Plain old Ultra-90, not the Super-Dooper Xtra Special model
Here's my $18 TR Ultra-90 in my upcoming build. Note that the HSF points at an angle, a little more to the exhaust fan than the PSU fan (both A-C 120mm PWMs), becuz the PSU fan doesn't pull as much air as the exhaust. You are not supposed to notice that a major part of this particular A-C 92mm PWM fan is missing.
You can see the strange locations of the two white PSU connections to the lower-left of the U-90, and the blue IDE mobo connection to its right.
Very easy to mount the HSF. One of few HSFs that you can angle in this manner. I'll use Stretch Magic instead of the wire clips to mount the real 92mm fan, which is on the way. (It seems to be hard to keep A-C PWM fans in stock, except for the 80mm - and I've seen that size out of stock as well some places.)
I'll use the daisy-chain capability of the A-C PWM fans to run all three fans off the one PWM header. I'll use a separate +V supply for the two 120mm fans, so I can have 100% PWM at ~8V, and yet another +V for the 92mm with 100% PWM at a lower voltage - I'll use the Spire SP-205 dual fan controller for those two voltages. Then Quiet Fan will run all three fans at 70% PWM 99.99% of the time (when I'm not testing BurnK7).
You can see the strange locations of the two white PSU connections to the lower-left of the U-90, and the blue IDE mobo connection to its right.
Very easy to mount the HSF. One of few HSFs that you can angle in this manner. I'll use Stretch Magic instead of the wire clips to mount the real 92mm fan, which is on the way. (It seems to be hard to keep A-C PWM fans in stock, except for the 80mm - and I've seen that size out of stock as well some places.)
I'll use the daisy-chain capability of the A-C PWM fans to run all three fans off the one PWM header. I'll use a separate +V supply for the two 120mm fans, so I can have 100% PWM at ~8V, and yet another +V for the 92mm with 100% PWM at a lower voltage - I'll use the Spire SP-205 dual fan controller for those two voltages. Then Quiet Fan will run all three fans at 70% PWM 99.99% of the time (when I'm not testing BurnK7).
Review at Anandtech. Looks like the early promise is confirmed - the only HSF that notably outguns it is the Ultra-120/Extreme, and then not by a huge amount. It seems to support the idea that the number, size and disposition of the heatpipes is at least as important as the total fin area.
I do like the ability to use a 120mm fan with a relatively small heatsink - there's much less choice of decent 92mm fans, and they can be overpriced and hard to find.
The mounting mechanism is very nice (the production version on the Thermalright website), and almost as good as the Noctua NH-U9/NH-U12 - it's a solid spring-loaded bolt-thru system but, once the support brackets are in place, you can still easily mount/dismount/remount the heatsink itself if need be without removing the motherboard (like the Noctuas). Are you paying attention, Scythe?
I do like the ability to use a 120mm fan with a relatively small heatsink - there's much less choice of decent 92mm fans, and they can be overpriced and hard to find.
The mounting mechanism is very nice (the production version on the Thermalright website), and almost as good as the Noctua NH-U9/NH-U12 - it's a solid spring-loaded bolt-thru system but, once the support brackets are in place, you can still easily mount/dismount/remount the heatsink itself if need be without removing the motherboard (like the Noctuas). Are you paying attention, Scythe?
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If its similar spring attachment bult-thru than in SI-128 SE, yes its good and secure, but unlike Noctua's similar spring attachment (which is rock solid), it allows twisting of the cooler, which I personally do not like that much. So I placed bit rubber between cooler nod and attachment bar. But twisting ability in cooler does allow user to find perfect alignment for the cooler and overcome some possible problems with high motherboard components.
However, Ultima 90 looks very promising cooler. I also like idea of using 92mm fan or then using oversixed 120mm fan with special designed fan clips. I hope SPCR can review ultima 90 soon.
However, Ultima 90 looks very promising cooler. I also like idea of using 92mm fan or then using oversixed 120mm fan with special designed fan clips. I hope SPCR can review ultima 90 soon.
Yes, I agree the Noctua's mounting is even better - apart from the twisting possibility (which in all honesty doesn't really appear to be a problem in practice), the Thermalright has a seperate crosspiece which might be a bit fiddly when tightening the screws. Having three hands would probably be an advantage...thejamppa wrote:If its similar spring attachment bult-thru than in SI-128 SE, yes its good and secure, but unlike Noctua's similar spring attachment (which is rock solid), it allows twisting of the cooler, which I personally do not like that much.
The Noctua's system is definitely the best one around IMHO, although the coolers themselves appear to be just a step below the best available (although still very good). What a shame you can never find one single product that combines all the best features of everything else in a particular market sector, but I suppose it was ever thus...
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Last week I found out the hard way that Noctua's cooling fins are .5mm thick (by far the thickest I've ever encountered). Using .033mm fins would provide 50% more cooling area at the same weight and likely the same impedance to slow air... Combine this goof with the high-pitch fan that works in open space and fails in many/most real-world cases, and I worry about the experience level of Noctua's engineers.nick705 wrote:The Noctua's... coolers themselves appear to be just a step below the best available (although still very good).
I'm not sure reducing the thickness from 0.5mm to 0.033mm would allow you to pack in that many more fins, unless you also reduce the spacing between them (which would hamper low-speed airflow, particularly given the apparent limitations of the Noctua fan design). Also, the NH-U12's heatpipe layout doesn't look as efficient as, say, the Ultra-120 or indeed the Ultima-90 - the pipes are located tightly together near the centre of the fins, so thicker fins might be needed to allow effective heat conduction to their nether regions.
Or maybe the fins are just made deliberately thick for marketing reasons, to give an impression of a "quality" product, who knows...
I wouldn't say the design was a failure though - according to most reviews it seems to work pretty well, just not at the very highest level.
Or maybe the fins are just made deliberately thick for marketing reasons, to give an impression of a "quality" product, who knows...
I wouldn't say the design was a failure though - according to most reviews it seems to work pretty well, just not at the very highest level.
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Keep in mind, the 120mm fan Anand uses is the S-Flex F, and the 92mm fan is the Panaflo H, both fast, noisy fans. Meanwhile, some of the other HSFs are tested using their default slow fans, such as the TT Big Typhoon Vx, the Scythe Infinity, etc.nick705 wrote:Review at Anandtech. Looks like the early promise is confirmed - the only HSF that notably outguns it is the Ultra-120/Extreme, and then not by a huge amount.
A fast, noisy fan on a given HS will always outcool a slow quiet fan on the same HS. Is that what we at SPCR want? If Anand also provided dBA readings, or even fan RPM, the reader would be alerted. But the way Anand tests, the high speed fans always (appear to) win.
Yes indeed, it makes most of the comparisons pretty meaningless. Still, the signs are promising on the basis of its performance relative to the Ultra-120/X (which is consistently reckoned to be the current champ), although I guess it doesn't necessarily indicate how well it will scale down using slower fans.Felger Carbon wrote: Keep in mind, the 120mm fan Anand uses is the S-Flex F, and the 92mm fan is the Panaflo H, both fast, noisy fans. Meanwhile, some of the other HSFs are tested using their default slow fans, such as the TT Big Typhoon Vx, the Scythe Infinity, etc.
*inserts customary plea for SPCR review here....
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I bought this new heat sync and installed it, but I cannot get it to be secure. I can move it around and rotate it if I turn the sync. The screws will not screw down any tighter either. The lowest my temperatures have gotten is in the mid to low 40s with CoreTemp (core temperatures, E6700 @ 3.0 GHZ) idle. I will be disassembling this and trying to reinstall in the next few days.
Has anyone else tried this hardware out yet?
Has anyone else tried this hardware out yet?
Welcome to SPCR!nowise wrote:I bought this new heat sync and installed it, but I cannot get it to be secure. I can move it around and rotate it if I turn the sync. The screws will not screw down any tighter either. The lowest my temperatures have gotten is in the mid to low 40s with CoreTemp (core temperatures, E6700 @ 3.0 GHZ) idle. I will be disassembling this and trying to reinstall in the next few days.
Has anyone else tried this hardware out yet?
Hard to tell if 40C is great, good, or just ok without knowing what your ambient temp and case temps are...
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Thermalright SI-128 SE can be rotated aswell, even screws are secured but contact is still great. You need to do small ghetto mod for it: Place piece of rubber, like piece of bike innertube ( about 1,5 cm x 1,5 cm's ) between heatsinks nod and the attachments bars knob. That prevents rotation movement. I did that my my SI-128 SE. It prevents twisting effectively.nowise wrote:I bought this new heat sync and installed it, but I cannot get it to be secure. I can move it around and rotate it if I turn the sync. The screws will not screw down any tighter either. The lowest my temperatures have gotten is in the mid to low 40s with CoreTemp (core temperatures, E6700 @ 3.0 GHZ) idle. I will be disassembling this and trying to reinstall in the next few days.
Has anyone else tried this hardware out yet?