ThermalRight Ultra 120 eXtreme Cooler

The heart of the Ultra 120 eXtreme is its array of heatpipes.  The standard Ultra 120 comes with four heatpipes per side to carry heat off the base to the convection fins where it is dissipated.  The more heat you can carry away from the base the more efficient the cooler becomes.  With this thinking in mind, it was only a matter of time before we saw two additional pipes per side. 

Heatpipes are hollow with a wick of sorts and fluid inside.  The way it works is that as the fluid inside heats up, it radiates away from the heat source though the heatpipe.  As it cools, it comes back to the base via the wick inside the pipe creating a circular current.  This vastly increases the efficiency of the cooler.  The trick is to have as many heatpipes as possible without making them so small that the heatpipe diameter inhibits the process.    This is a very basic explanation but one that is functional enough however.

ThermalRight has positioned the heatpipes coming off the base so that they are not bound together.  A small amount of space between them where they go up through the convection fins keeps heat transfer to a maximum.  Smart cooling is always better cooling.

Here we see where the heatpipes come up through the upper most cooling fin, capping the works all in place. 

Flipping things back over, let's look over the base and the CPU contact area.  The base isn't a true shaver but we could not discern any imperfections with our finger nor did we see anything lacking in the lap job done at the factory.

Installation is fairly straightforward with the exception of the necessary removal of the mainboard.  A small indentation is present on the upper side of the unit's base.  This indentation allows for the top mounting plate to get a firm purchase on the Ultra 120 eXtreme to keep if from sliding around.  The top mounting plate is secured to the lower plate by four screws with a spring on each.  The springs help ensure a tight fit while giving (most of us) a way to keep from over tightening.  A very simple and clean design. 

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