INTRODUCTION

   Consumers who are after high cooling efficiency for their systems currently have three valid products to choose from such as tower CPU air coolers with large heatsinks and at least two fans in push and pull configuration, dual and tri-fan AIO liquid CPU coolers and custom water cooling loops. However it goes without saying that most consumers are not really looking for top-notch cooling efficiency but rather easy/fast installation and zero clearance issues with mainboard and system components and because of that the majority of CPU air cooler models in the market feature medium sized heatsinks paired with a single fan. Thermalright has always catered to the needs of both casual users and enthusiasts and today we're taking a look at their latest model aimed towards the former the True Spirit 120 Direct CPU Air Cooler.

   Thermalright is an elite design house that manufactures cooling products for computer components for the best quality and performance your money can buy. In 2002, AMD released its first generation Thunderbird CPU and since then we have been there every step of the way to counter high voltage and high heat with innovative design and highly acclaimed cooling solutions not only for AMD but for Intel as well. One of early well known solutions was the SK-6. With many positive and rave reviews under its belt Thermalright bolted to the top as the heat sink manufacturer mostly preferred by Overclockers and enthusiasts around the World. To this day, innovation never left our vocabulary as we keep coming up with leading edge designs staying ahead of the competition.

   A few months back Thermalright released the True Spirit 140 Direct CPU Air Cooler and although it didn't smash our charts it did offer very good cooling efficiency for its size (also thanks to the somewhat large 140mm PWM fan). The True Spirit 120 Direct is aimed towards users who want something even smaller since the 360g heavy heatsink used measures just 120mm in length, 141.35mm in height and 41.96mm in width (as opposed to the 650g heavy and 140x161.48x42mm of the heatsink used in the True Spirit 140 Direct). Thermalright has also used an smaller 120mm PWM fan with the Spirit 120 Direct (as the name clearly states) which is not nearly as powerful as the 140mm PWM model of the True Spirit 140 Direct (1300RPM/46.19CFM/25.4dBA vs 1300RPM/73.6CFM/21dBA). Using a smaller fan with the same RPM to keep noise levels to a minimum automatically means you need to compromise in airflow levels and static pressure so i was honestly expecting something slightly faster (Thermalright however obviously placed low noise levels - and height - before performance). Finally the True Spirit 120 Direct features a total of 4 nickel plated 6mm copper heatpipes as opposed to the 5 found in the True Spirit 140 Direct. So let's move forward with today’s review and see just how good the brand new True Spirit 120 Direct is especially compared to his taller brother.