Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE $35.90

maro

maro

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I like it, price is amazing as well. I still use my Xigmatek Mjolnir for my Ryzen 3600, I don't think I'll need to upgrade for a long while 😂
 
Just an FYI, the one without the heatpipes sticking out is only $2 more:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4JK43LQ
I initially purchased the one in the OP, but I like the look and finish on this type much better. So I returned that and bought this instead. It can also actually make or break a build if you're building in some SFX cases. My friend and I had much tougher fit in one due to the extra mm from those heatpipes. I'm probably going to take this thing and put it on my 7800X3D, and then take the current U14S and shove it in my Stable Diffusion rig. The U14S is plenty sufficient, but what's better than being cool? Ice cold. I'm in pain right now. I think this thing is a good long term investment, might even be sufficient for 14700kf power levels? 14900k will probably throttle but... it would throttle on anything.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I initially purchased the one in the OP, but I like the look and finish on this type much better. So I returned that and bought this instead. It can also actually make or break a build if you're building in some SFX cases. My friend and I had much tougher fit in one due to the extra mm from those heatpipes
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The SE (the one with the heatpipes sticking out) is actually 3mm shorter.
 
chameleoneel said:
The SE (the one with the heatpipes sticking out) is actually 3mm shorter.
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Interesting. According to the product dimensions image on the Amazon page, you're right...

1700439055736.png
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It looks like the one without the heatpipes sticking out has more fins? Interestingly, it also looks crooked in their image lol. Either way I do like the finish on these more, but I'll be sitting here hoping mine doesn't come in crooked.
 
Is the mounting bracket on this compatible with / interchangeable with the mounting bracket from the Peerless Assassin 120?

I bought a Peerless Assassin 120 for my backup computer a little while back. I specifically bought the original version of the Peerless Assassin (instead of the SE) because it was the only one that still listed support for Socket 2011-V3. I'm wondering what would happen if I got this Phantom Spirit 120 SE, and tried to use it with the mounting bracket from the original Peerless Assassin in order to allow support for Socket 2011-V3. And then (assuming that the parts are fully interchangeable) I could keep the old Peerless Assassin 120 along with the new bracket from the Phantom Spirit 120 SE for a future system. I'm currently upgrading my backup system from a 6-core i7-5820k to an 8-core J-batch Xeon E5-1660 V3 (basically a 5960X), which should be a good overclocker but will almost certainly put out more heat.
 
Has anyone compared the thermal performance of the SE with the non-SE? I'm not going to sit here and count all of them, but the non-SE looks like it might have more fins...
 
The mounts are interchangeable, I use one for all my current TR cooler, and AIO.
 
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I had to google around a bit, but it looks like they actually do perform differently, straight from the manufacturer's mouth:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/16sid1n/phantom_spirit_120_se_vs_nonse_version/#:~:text="Phantom Spirit non-SE and,SE will definitely look better".

So, this is me trying to interpret "Clearly not native English speaker", but the non-SE spirit both performs and looks (subjectively) better; in exchange it is taller (which isn't what I expected). It's also 2$ more, obviously.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I had to google around a bit, but it looks like they actually do perform differently, straight from the manufacturer's mouth:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/16sid1n/phantom_spirit_120_se_vs_nonse_version/#:~:text="Phantom Spirit non-SE and,SE will definitely look better".

So, this is me trying to interpret "Clearly not native English speaker", but the non-SE spirit both performs and looks (subjectively) better; in exchange it is taller (which isn't what I expected). It's also 2$ more, obviously.
Click to expand...
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Just an FYI, the one without the heatpipes sticking out is only $2 more:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4JK43LQ
I initially purchased the one in the OP, but I like the look and finish on this type much better. So I returned that and bought this instead. It can also actually make or break a build if you're building in some SFX cases. My friend and I had much tougher fit in one due to the extra mm from those heatpipes. I'm probably going to take this thing and put it on my 7800X3D, and then take the current U14S and shove it in my Stable Diffusion rig. The U14S is plenty sufficient, but what's better than being cool? Ice cold. I'm in pain right now. I think this thing is a good long term investment, might even be sufficient for 14700kf power levels? 14900k will probably throttle but... it would throttle on anything.
Click to expand...

this was already known, it is the same for the peerless assassin se vs non-se. pretty sure it was talked about in the cooling forum.
 
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pendragon1 said:
this was already known, it is the same for the peerless assassin se vs non-se. pretty sure it was talked about in the cooling forum.
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Do you have benchmarks actually comparing them? I tried to find some but I didn't see any. Here or anywhere else. I don't keep up with the cooling forum, so I probably didn't see it.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Do you have benchmarks actually comparing them? I tried to find some but I didn't see any. Here or anywhere else. I don't keep up with the cooling forum, so I probably didn't see it.
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I recall seeing one, although I think it was with the Peerless Assassin vs Peerless Assassin SE. The difference is essentially minimal. Maybe you'll save 1C or so. The price difference is only $2 or so, so may as well get the Phantom Spirit SE. I assume they will phase out the non-SE versions.
 
pendragon1 said:
yeah i think someone posted something like that, at most ~2c.
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2C is actually more than I expected. That's sort of worth it, especially since IMO the non-SE looks better.

Flogger23m said:
I recall seeing one, although I think it was with the Peerless Assassin vs Peerless Assassin SE. The difference is essentially minimal. Maybe you'll save 1C or so. The price difference is only $2 or so, so may as well get the Phantom Spirit SE. I assume they will phase out the non-SE versions.
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I'd be kind of surprised if they were to phase out the non-SE, when it performs better and looks cleaner. Or supposedly performs better. I would be sort of surprised if it didn't, when it has more heatsink mass. That wouldn't make much sense...
 
So I got mine yesterday or so? Before installing it, I decided to try out my Kraken X73... which had worse temps on my 7800X3D than my U14S. Which tells me that my Kraken X73 was always defective, which kind of pisses me off. I always knew there was something sketchy about it ever since I put it on my 5950X over a year ago. I hope it's in warranty, I remember paying a good chunk for that.

Anyway for Cinebench R24 temps, I believe my U14S did about 78.X-79.X C on average, in this current case (CTE C700). The X73 (a goddamned 360mm radiator) did about 85C before I just said, "nope" and turned off the test. This Phantom Spirit did about 75-76C with default fans. But those fans are abysmally loud. I don't know what people are talking about when they say the fans are great at stock. They're not. They're garbage when running at full throttle. They're only even okay when they're basically idle.

I picked up three of these for when I was wanting to try out the Kraken (because its default fans are also horrible):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CG2PGY6
I replaced the default fans with them and the noise level at full throttle basically almost vanished. There's a bit of noise, but it's extremely quiet at my sitting position. Temps went up, but a very modest amount. Only about 75.5-76.5C on average, vs the default fans. So maybe 0.5-1C. Very much worth the noise level reduction. But these particular Noctua fans aren't exactly the best. I'm considering returning and replacing them with a better set of Noctuas. On the other hand, the default Phantom Spirit fans make for pretty decent case fans. Rubber padded and quite silent at low RPM. That said, the ambient temps are a decent chunk lower right (about 3-4F) than when I tested my U14S, so it's hard to say if this thing made too big of a difference. But it's still some reduction. The problem is the 7800X3D just doesn't put out much heat, so I think the PS or the SA or almost anything would be overkill, so it would be a test of how fast the cooler dissipates heat, not how much it can handle total. The extra heat pipe is probably doing all of diddly squat.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
This Phantom Spirit did about 75-76C with default fans. But those fans are abysmally loud. I don't know what people are talking about when they say the fans are great at stock. They're not. They're garbage when running at full throttle.
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I agree, I was wondering about that. They do seem to be loud, although I didn't think other 120mms would be much better.

StoleMyOwnCar said:
I picked up three of these for when I was wanting to try out the Kraken (because its default fans are also horrible):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CG2PGY6
Click to expand...

Did you try them out on the Phantom Spirit yet? I would be interested in knowing the results. If there is a noteworthy noise reduction while keeping the temps down I would be interested.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CG2PGY6
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I replaced the default fans with them and the noise level at full throttle basically almost vanished. There's a bit of noise, but it's extremely quiet at my sitting position. Temps went up, but a very modest amount. Only about 75.5-76.5C on average, vs the default fans. So maybe 0.5-1C. Very much worth the noise level reduction. But these particular Noctua fans aren't exactly the best. I'm considering returning and replacing them with a better set of Noctuas.
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Which fans would those be? Or any other recommendations?

StoleMyOwnCar said:
The problem is the 7800X3D just doesn't put out much heat,
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Overall it seems to run hotter than my 5700X did.
 
Flogger23m said:
Did you try them out on the Phantom Spirit yet? I would be interested in knowing the results. If there is a noteworthy noise reduction while keeping the temps down I would be interested.
Click to expand...
I might have made it sound a bit ambiguous because I said I originally bought them for the Kraken X73, but I tried them on both.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I replaced the default fans with them and the noise level at full throttle basically almost vanished. There's a bit of noise, but it's extremely quiet at my sitting position. Temps went up, but a very modest amount. Only about 75.5-76.5C on average, vs the default fans.
Click to expand...
This sentence is what happened when I put them on the Phantom Spirit, not the Kraken. The Kraken isn't even in the running at this point. So the answer is yes, slapping those cheap(ish) $16 Noctua fans onto the Phantom Spirit made a world of difference.

Flogger23m said:
Which fans would those be? Or any other recommendations?
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As for this, no idea yet. I would have to do research. Probably just a higher end model to start, but I'm not sure if anyone runs around testing 120MM heatsinks with various fans to record the results, unfortunately. I think maybe something with rubber padding as a start. I didn't think rubber padding made a difference, but trying to mount those fans I linked into the case rather than the heatsink caused quite a bit of resonant noise. For heatsink mounting, the difference between rubber and not seems to be much less pronounced, so hard to say if a nicer pair of Noctuas will make any difference, but the $16 ones already made a world of difference compared to stock.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
This sentence is what happened when I put them on the Phantom Spirit, not the Kraken. The Kraken isn't even in the running at this point. So the answer is yes, slapping those cheap(ish) $16 Noctua fans onto the Phantom Spirit made a world of difference.
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Thanks. I may have to get those as well as some new case fans.

StoleMyOwnCar said:
As for this, no idea yet. I would have to do research. Probably just a higher end model to start, but I'm not sure if anyone runs around testing 120MM heatsinks with various fans to record the results, unfortunately. I think maybe something with rubber padding as a start. I didn't think rubber padding made a difference, but trying to mount those fans I linked into the case rather than the heatsink caused quite a bit of resonant noise. For heatsink mounting, the difference between rubber and not seems to be much less pronounced, so hard to say if a nicer pair of Noctuas will make any difference, but the $16 ones already made a world of difference compared to stock.
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If you find something better or more optimal for the heatsink let me know. I may do that.

I'm not too annoyed because at $37 or so it is essentially $10 more than a budget cooler. Though if you spend $30 on fans, maybe it would have been better to go with a higher end cooler in the first place. I still have a feeling this might beat out most competitors in the price/performance to noise ratio.
 
I think they are using a different manufacturer for fans. Last years fans were good, this years fans.. ehh.. hopefully they will fix it. Their pro model fans are pretty good.
 
Flogger23m said:
Thanks. I may have to get those as well as some new case fans.



If you find something better or more optimal for the heatsink let me know. I may do that.

I'm not too annoyed because at $37 or so it is essentially $10 more than a budget cooler. Though if you spend $30 on fans, maybe it would have been better to go with a higher end cooler in the first place. I still have a feeling this might beat out most competitors in the price/performance to noise ratio.
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So as a word of forewarning, I have aquarium equipment running in the background, so the fans I linked only really make it silent for where I'm sitting in my room. While my hearing is pretty (annoyingly) sensitive, it does cover it up some. It's not completely silent at all when I get very close. But it is a night and day difference from the stock fans (for me).

I have thought about what you're saying myself, as I was installing it. I think the heatsink is still a... decent (?) deal regardless. It performs as well as Noctua's high tier air coolers that are well over 2x more expensive. Even if you need to buy better fans for it, those fans aren't going anywhere for any subsequent upgrades, as long as you stay in the size range. They're quite reusable. And I'm using the ones it came with as case fans anyway. This computer has 16 (17 if you count the AIO unit on the GPU) fans in it now. Anyway even supposing you get them at full price, $37+$66 (for Noctua's nicest 120mm PWM fans) will run you about $103, which is about the MSRP of the DH-15, but the DH-15 is using fans that aren't as nice as Noctua's highest tier fans. Its fans are about $24 on the current market (NF-A15).

For reference this is the highest "tier" (I guess?) Noctua fans that you can buy at 120mm footprint:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zxx2FT/noctua-nf-a12x25-pwm-601-cfm-120mm-fan-nf-a12x25-pwm

But these would be more reasonable analogues for what Noctua includes as stock fans with a cooler:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/b2vRsY/noctua-nf-f12-pwm-5497-cfm-120-mm-fan-nf-f12-pwm
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rhQRsY/noctua-nf-a12x15-pwm-942-cfm-120mm-fan-nf-a12x15-pwm

These are about $22, so $44 for a pack. That's about $81 total for a pair of these, plus the Phantom Spirit. That's about the MSRP of the Noctua U14S, but the U14S doesn't have as much cooling capacity as the Phantom Spirit. It's still also ~$30 savings off the DH-15 (but the DH15 cools a bit better since it's bigger). But it does have a much better warranty and company behind it. But the U14S fan, from my experience, isn't really silent at high RPM, it's actually louder than the Phantom Spirit with these 2 $16 fans on it (which, the D15 has 2 of the A15's on it that my U14S has). So... tradeoffs everywhere. But as far as I understand, other companies have made fans that perform somewhat comparably to Noctua fans for much cheaper, so that is also an option. I just don't know what those fans are. Not like anyone has a tier list out there for that. So I think the Phantom Spirit is still a decent deal, but you really have to rein in these stock fans to keep them from getting to higher RPMs, or know which fans to replace them with. To begin with, I doubt the 7800X3D needs that much airflow to stay below throttling, so it's pointless. It just gets "hot" because of the way its designed.

I got my U14S for $40 open box lol. If you can get a deal on a U14S it's a great no-fuss option with a much better company behind it for the 7800X3D. The fan only gets audible at full tilt. I just kind of got the Phantom Spirit to play with. Supposedly, the Frost Commander is better (also by Thermalright), but it does cost more. No idea about its fans.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
So as a word of forewarning, I have aquarium equipment running in the background, so the fans I linked only really make it silent for where I'm sitting in my room. While my hearing is pretty (annoyingly) sensitive, it does cover it up some. It's not completely silent at all when I get very close. But it is a night and day difference from the stock fans (for me).

I have thought about what you're saying myself, as I was installing it. I think the heatsink is still a... decent (?) deal regardless. It performs as well as Noctua's high tier air coolers that are well over 2x more expensive. Even if you need to buy better fans for it, those fans aren't going anywhere for any subsequent upgrades, as long as you stay in the size range. They're quite reusable. And I'm using the ones it came with as case fans anyway. This computer has 16 (17 if you count the AIO unit on the GPU) fans in it now. Anyway even supposing you get them at full price, $37+$66 (for Noctua's nicest 120mm PWM fans) will run you about $103, which is about the MSRP of the DH-15, but the DH-15 is using fans that aren't as nice as Noctua's highest tier fans. Its fans are about $24 on the current market (NF-A15).

For reference this is the highest "tier" (I guess?) Noctua fans that you can buy at 120mm footprint:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zxx2FT/noctua-nf-a12x25-pwm-601-cfm-120mm-fan-nf-a12x25-pwm

But these would be more reasonable analogues for what Noctua includes as stock fans with a cooler:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/b2vRsY/noctua-nf-f12-pwm-5497-cfm-120-mm-fan-nf-f12-pwm
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rhQRsY/noctua-nf-a12x15-pwm-942-cfm-120mm-fan-nf-a12x15-pwm

These are about $22, so $44 for a pack. That's about $81 total for a pair of these, plus the Phantom Spirit. That's about the MSRP of the Noctua U14S, but the U14S doesn't have as much cooling capacity as the Phantom Spirit. It's still also ~$30 savings off the DH-15 (but the DH15 cools a bit better since it's bigger). But it does have a much better warranty and company behind it. But the U14S fan, from my experience, isn't really silent at high RPM, it's actually louder than the Phantom Spirit with these 2 $16 fans on it (which, the D15 has 2 of the A15's on it that my U14S has). So... tradeoffs everywhere. But as far as I understand, other companies have made fans that perform somewhat comparably to Noctua fans for much cheaper, so that is also an option. I just don't know what those fans are. Not like anyone has a tier list out there for that. So I think the Phantom Spirit is still a decent deal, but you really have to rein in these stock fans to keep them from getting to higher RPMs, or know which fans to replace them with. To begin with, I doubt the 7800X3D needs that much airflow to stay below throttling, so it's pointless. It just gets "hot" because of the way its designed.

I got my U14S for $40 open box lol. If you can get a deal on a U14S it's a great no-fuss option with a much better company behind it for the 7800X3D. The fan only gets audible at full tilt. I just kind of got the Phantom Spirit to play with. Supposedly, the Frost Commander is better (also by Thermalright), but it does cost more. No idea about its fans.
Click to expand...

Are there any 140mm options that come with a compatible mounting bracket? I assume the larger size will mean the metal brackets that come with the Phantom Spirit won't fit 140mm. I am considering some of those, although they tend to be even more pricey than 120mm.

Initially I went with 120mm fans so I could easily access the SSD/GPU for quick install/reinstall. But with the SSD heat sink on I can't even reach and depress the PCI-E bracket without taking off a CPU fan (very quick to do with the brackets) or using some type of thin plastic thing to push it down. Considering that, width isn't really a concern for me anymore.
 
freeagentt said:
When you said it for the second time is when I knew I can safely disregard everything that you just said, as you do not really know what you are talking about.
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Okay I'll play ball. What's wrong about what I said?

6 year warranty vs 1 year warranty. Free mounting bracket upgrades even long after that period wears off. Allegedly their employees are also quite happy working there. Their fans are also a lot better than what I received with this Thermalright PS, which I'm literally using right now. There are stories of Thermalright fan bearings going bad. I have Noctuas from ~10 years ago that are still working great. And the warranty period on them is very long (and likely to actually work: https://www.reddit.com/r/Noctua/comments/mcyfni/the_complete_noctua_rma_experience_2021_edition/ ). Again, what part of what I said was wrong? You can argue that they're unreasonably expensive, but you get some of what you pay for.

Flogger23m said:
Are there any 140mm options that come with a compatible mounting bracket? I assume the larger size will mean the metal brackets that come with the Phantom Spirit won't fit 140mm. I am considering some of those, although they tend to be even more pricey than 120mm.
Click to expand...

I was considering using one of the larger Noctua fans since the 140mm ones also seem to have 120mm holes, but I don't think they'd fit. I'll try to see if I can somehow throw the AF15 onto this Phantom Spirit sometime, but I don't think the mounting clips would fit around the extremely elongated edges. I think maybe some fans they will work on though, but you kind of have to somehow bend them around the edges.
 
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StoleMyOwnCar said:
6 year warranty vs 1 year warranty.
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Big deal, its a heatsink, it could have a months warranty for all I care.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Free mounting bracket upgrades even long after that period wears off
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Have you even tried to contact them? Thermalright does the same thing. If you cant provide a PoP, then they will sell you one for a fair price.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Allegedly their employees are also quite happy working there.
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Great.. I guess.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Their fans are also a lot better than what I received with this Thermalright PS
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Cant really argue, other than to get the cooler at a cheap price, you have to cut corners. But Noctua fans are pretty sucky too, they just feel nicer. I have a bunch of their iPPC fans, I like them. Loud though.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
There are stories of Thermalright fan bearings going bad
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Not as bad as both fans on my D14 failing I guess. But I have a few TR fans that are close to a decade old.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I have Noctuas from ~10 years ago that are still working great.
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I have fans that were run for 15 years, and would still pound a Noctua. Panaflo.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
And the warranty period on them is very long (and likely to actually work
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Provided you have the receipt.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Again, what part of what I said was wrong?
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Yes, Thermalright was making high performance coolers before Noctua was a company. They are not just some new guy lol.. I have been using them since they came out.. I have many of their coolers. They make good stuff, except some of their cheap fans.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Again, what part of what I said was wrong? You can argue that they're unreasonably expensive, but you get some of what you pay for.
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I could argue that you get what you pay for, but Noctua copied a lot from Scythe and Thermalright. Why do you think they never innovate..?
 
freeagentt said:
Big deal, its a heatsink, it could have a months warranty for all I care.
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It's the entire package, fans included. Which is kind of the thing. I've have a cheap Montech case, for instance, that already has a fan bearing going bad. It's only been a couple of months. You sort of get what you pay for there.

freeagentt said:
Have you even tried to contact them? Thermalright does the same thing. If you cant provide a PoP, then they will sell you one for a fair price.
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Okay, fair point. Much of the reputation online for them probably isn't really helped by their Amazon sellers' page showing (various) Chinese addresses. Many probably assume they're difficult to contact and/or nonresponsive, given the price. It's hard to find hits online on people using their warranties to begin with.

freeagentt said:
Cant really argue, other than to get the cooler at a cheap price, you have to cut corners. But Noctua fans are pretty sucky too, they just feel nicer. I have a bunch of their iPPC fans, I like them. Loud though.
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Are you running that thing full tilt? That's a 3000 RPM fan. It's labeled Industrial probably for a reason. I don't think I've ever had a fan, Noctua or otherwise, that could run above a certain RPM full tilt and be quiet. The question is usually whether 10-20% reduction in speed makes a very large reduction in noise (sometimes almost 99%, perceptually). For Noctuas, that tends to be the case. They also tend to provide accessories like low noise adapters in the box, assuming your motherboard doesn't have proper headers for it.

freeagentt said:
Provided you have the receipt.
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Basically everything you purchase these days is tied into some overarching system, Microcenter included... This isn't really a point.

freeagentt said:
I have fans that were run for 15 years, and would still pound a Noctua. Panaflo.
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That's great and doesn't have anything to do with this discussion?. Thanks for the company recommendation, though? They're kind of not even on Pcpartpicker. I'm curious how you measure "pound a Noctua".

I'm actually quite open to Noctua fan competitors, but even when I've gotten fans that supposedly had the same DB level from competitors in the past, they ended up having a much more annoying and/or grating sound profile. But some of my Lian Li case fans recently have been incredibly quiet, though I question whether they push as much air as the Noctuas do per decibel level.

freeagentt said:
Yes, Thermalright was making high performance coolers before Noctua was a company. They are not just some new guy lol.. I have been using them since they came out.. I have many of their coolers. They make good stuff, except some of their cheap fans.
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I mean that's great, but I don't see how this is relevant to this discussion when comparing the two from a customer standpoint for their policies. I suppose you're saying that since they've been around for a while that means they aren't any less trustworthy, they still have a 1 year warranty vs 6 years. As you've said, the heatsink isn't going to go bad, so this mostly applies to fans.

freeagentt said:
I could argue that you get what you pay for, but Noctua copied a lot from Scythe and Thermalright. Why do you think they never innovate..?
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They've made some heatsinks that can be argued to be "innovative" but at the end, much like you said, it's a freaking hunk of metal. With pipes in it. What do you want them to do? Materials engineering is probably kind of beyond the budget for a CPU heatsink manufacturer...

This is getting aimless, so let's summarize:
Noctua:
1. 6 year warranty (on everything)
2. Better, quieter fans (often a $44-50 value by themselves)
3. Responsive support
4. More accessories included in box

Thermalright:
1. 1 year warranty (3 years on AIOs supposedly, though this is not within the pervue of this discussion).
2. Questionable fans with questionable durability that are sometimes quite loud
3. Support seems to work fine, though not sure how fast they are?
4. Less accessories, just the necessities.

Both:
Basically same performance.

Disregarding price, if a consumer needs to make a choice between one of the two companies, which one would they pick? Noctua is factually a better company if you need an cooler as a consumer. Thermalright is a good budget option. That's about it. I'm not sure how this is arguable. When we get into budgeting the parts, that's another discussion and I definitely shove Thermalrights into every budget part list that I make on Pcpartpicker.
 
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StoleMyOwnCar said:
Disregarding price, if a consumer needs to make a choice between one of the two companies, which one would they pick? Noctua is factually a better company if you need an cooler as a consumer. Thermalright is a good budget option. That's about it. I'm not sure how this is arguable. When we get into budgeting the parts, that's another discussion and I definitely shove Thermalrights into every budget part list that I make on Pcpartpicker.
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This is my take. Nothing wrong with Thermalright. I think the cooler I got was a good value. It is essentially $15 more than a budget cooler at $35-40 (budget coolers are $18-25). The more I used them the more I got disappointed with the fans which are a bit loud, but point me to a single other cooler on the market with two fans and a similar quality heat sink. They're a great value.

Of course, if someone gave me a Noctua for free, I'd swap the coolers out right now.
 
Lol I am running 8 of those TL-C12C fans right now at full speed, a combo of V1, V2, and the V3s that came on the AIO. They are still pretty quiet to me, but I have spent the majority of my computing using industrial fans..
 
Flogger23m said:
This is my take. Nothing wrong with Thermalright. I think the cooler I got was a good value. It is essentially $15 more than a budget cooler at $35-40 (budget coolers are $18-25). The more I used them the more I got disappointed with the fans which are a bit loud, but point me to a single other cooler on the market with two fans and a similar quality heat sink. They're a great value.

Of course, if someone gave me a Noctua for free, I'd swap the coolers out right now.
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Yeah that's basically all I was saying, that if you had the need to swap the fans out on the Thermalright, and the fans were going to bring you within spitting distance of a Noctua cooler that's on sale (mostly open box Microcenter, maybe warehouse Amazon), there's not much point. But most of the time this isn't really the case. As I said, if I invested ~$44 into fans for this Thermalright from Noctua, it would still come out cheaper than the supposedly comparable option from Noctua by ~$30. But that's still kind of within spitting distance. But objectively less, and for most people the extra accessories and stuff included in the Noctua version doesn't necessarily matter.

So a hybrid approach is honestly best. Just grab the Thermalright cooler and grab Noctua fans. And honestly you could probably make the Thermalright fans go a long way if you just tweak the fan curve, too. They are reasonably quiet if not running at full tilt. It's just the 7800X3D tends to keep the fan RPMs high when they don't need to be because it gets to a certain temperature and then just sort of coasts in that area, regardless of how big your heatsink is. Intel is kind of another beast though. If you're running Intel, you probably need them running full tilt...
 
All of my Thermalright coolers can take 260w from my 5900X, but need to use the stronger Thermalright fans, (except PS120SE.. what a little beast.) Not these cheapo RGB ones that cost 15 bucks for a 3 pack.. the kind they put on the PA and PS120s and some of their AIOs.
 
Flogger23m said:
Are there any 140mm options that come with a compatible mounting bracket? I assume the larger size will mean the metal brackets that come with the Phantom Spirit won't fit 140mm. I am considering some of those, although they tend to be even more pricey than 120mm.
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I tested a bit. This:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/znPfrH/noctua-case-fan-nfa15pwm
Definitely won't work with either the default PS120 mounting bracket, or even the ones it comes with for the U14S. Neither of them can dig in deep enough over the edge of it. If you turn it in a weird direction and maybe bend the bracket well out of shape, you might be able to do it, but I'm not sure if it would be worth it.

This one appears to mount with no issues, owing to its odd size and hole spacing:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/C37wrH/noctua-nf-p14-flx-6495-cfm-140-mm-fan-nf-p14-flx
I didn't try both sides, but one side clipped on easily and it was centered, so no doubt the other will as well. These aren't sold anymore, but they're not PWM anyway. However there's also a Redux PWM edition of it:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2mV48d/noctua-case-fan-nfp14rredux1500pwm
My experience with the P14 FLX is that it gets a little noisy when cranked at max, so some fan curve adjustment might be necessary. I don't think any other manufacturer has a 140mm in quite this form factor, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong.

I also looked up alternatives to this really high airflow Noctua on google:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zxx2FT/noctua-nf-a12x25-pwm-601-cfm-120mm-fan-nf-a12x25-pwm
And stumbled on a Reddit thread which recommended these:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LmCFf7/arctic-p12-pst-563-cfm-120-mm-fans-5-pack-acfan00137a
They're only $30 for an entire 5 pack, or about $6 a fan. If these work, I'll just go return the Noctua fans I bought earlier, since these are a much better value. Worth a shot.
 
I got my Phantom Spirit 120 SE. I was disappointed to confirm that it doesn't work with Socket 2011-V3. It lacks the special screws that also function as spacers to connect the metal mounting strips to the motherboard backplate, even though the metal strips still have the mounting hole locations for 2011-V3. Oddly the regular Phantom Spirit 120 (non-SE) does still come with those screws for Socket 2011-V3. I also notice that the metal spacers and dual-screws for most of the sockets that are included with the Peerless Assassin 120 and Phantom Spirit 120 have instead been replaced with plastic spacers and longer screws. Combined with the Phantom Spirit 120 SE being noticeably shorter than both the Peerless Assassin 120 and the Phantom Spirit 120, it really seems like the Phantom Spirit 120 SE was their attempt to cut as many corners as they could and shave a few dollars off their end. I have no doubt that it's a great cooler if it works with your socket, but I would get the regular Phantom Spirit 120 instead of the SE model if you have the option. I just returned my SE model and bought the non-SE version.

At the moment the regular Phantom Spirit 120 is actually on-sale for cheaper ($34.90 as of right now) compared to the Phantom Spirit 120 SE in the OP.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4HCGQR1
 
GotNoRice said:
At the moment the regular Phantom Spirit 120 is actually on-sale for cheaper ($34.90 as of right now) compared to the Phantom Spirit 120 SE in the OP.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4HCGQR1
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It's unfortunate that it dropped a bit right after I purchased it, but I don't think I'm going to bother removing and returning to Amazon to save $3. Knowing them, they won't price match themselves...
 
The SE came out first, oddly enough. I think they meant it for SFFish power users. I would have bought the taller one given the opportunity :D

I cannot explain the hardware situation though, all of mine is the same.
 
freeagentt said:
The SE came out first, oddly enough. I think they meant it for SFFish power users. I would have bought the taller one given the opportunity :D

I cannot explain the hardware situation though, all of mine is the same.
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The silver soul series is for sff, this is just probably trying to fit it into the micro atx atx cases they sell nowadays. like the 4000d.
 
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