Legit Reviews

I've been told that the ThermalRight XP-90 is a great heatsink thats not too expensive and cools really well. I was just wondering how well you guys think it would work if I strapped a Vantec Tornado 92mm fan onto it with all of its 119 CFM power?

The XP-90 and 120 are both outstanding HSF....I wouldn't go overboard with a Tornado, the noise to coll ratio just isn't worth it. i'm a big Panaflo fan, best fans you can get.

if you pair the tornado up with a decent fan controler its not that bad. you get the high speed when you want it and it can be very quiet when you want that too.

yeah after i get the XP-90 and the Vantec i'll get the Vantec Nexus NXP-305 in silver

good call, the panflow is still a very good option.

Yeah but the NXP-305 is a fan AND light controller and I like the looks of it.

I've seen some testing, not mine so i won't vouche for autthenticity) where after a certian point it didn't matter which fan was used with the XP's. The tornado does not move that much air as compared to the Panaflo, and the difference in noise is huge....i honestly don't see the point in taking up a 5.25 drive bay for a controller for a minimal performance boost......when you can control most cpu fans through the BIOS on the board

Okay... all other things being equal, you would want a quiet fan. But do you guys really care that much? Sound level be damned, I just want a quick machine. In fact, I rather like the white noise.

the XP-90 is a damn fine heat sink....and you will see very little difference in cooling performance between the quieter Panaflo and the higher CFM fan , the tornado...not nearly enough difference to justify the noise...
If you are going AMD, you will obviously go for a winchester CPU, which runs about 10C cooler than the Newcastles to begin with, the XP-90 or 120 will give you plenty of cooling to run one of those winnie's O/Ced without any issue......hell, with the stock cooling I was running a 2.2GHz 3500+ at 2.65GHz and the thing was flying....without any issues with heat.
Trust me, go with the XP-90 or 120, and a 92mm or 120mm Panaflo fan, you won't be sorry.

I can also vouch that with Thermalright's XP 90 or 120 that it really doesn't make hardly any temp difference with a higher rpm or cfm fan. the design of the heatsink does all the cooling and really doesn't need many cfm's to move the heat away from the heat sink.

i'm thinking about buying the thermalright-120 and the panaflo fan... but, i dunno if i should save up and buy the kingwin awc-1.... 1, i'm a broke student... 2, i'd like something with a high bang:buck ratio..... any advice? thermalright 120 vs kingwin awc-1? i'm very very new to the oc game.

the wc-1 is the one that goes in your drivebay right? I think i heard that it was fairly bad on temps...but dont quote me on that.

yeah, the kingwin awc-1 (sorry, at first, i had it as wc, but then realized it was awc) is the one that goes in the 5.25" bay. i've heard/read good things, but i'd rather know from one of you guys/girls...

I take it back, read a review on it, looks like it performed flawlessly.

I was thinking of another cooler that was completely self contained in a single drive bay...

When it comes to a water cooling kit your going to have to spend at least $200 to get anything decent, thats kinda why i recomended the XP-120 at the lan because for ~$50 you get very good cooling and its very quiet.

infinite, look up some reviews on the cooler. Looks like it performs excellent and at a very very low noise level. Virtual compatability with everything, a second radiator that can be mounted somewhere else, and more.

I never said it was bad, i just figure because he was looking for some bang for the buck air would be better.

this wcing only costs around 89.99 @ xoxide.com...for 40 bucks more, with quite a bit lower temp and complete silence..I think it is worth it.

Cool, if you like it let us know if it works.

infinitevalence wrote:When it comes to a water cooling kit your going to have to spend at least $200 to get anything decent, thats kinda why i recomended the XP-120 at the lan because for ~$50 you get very good cooling and its very quiet.

Thats not necessarily true. Cooler Master has put out an excellent water cooling setup that costs $100. Maximum PC gave it a "Kick Ass" award, and I am very impressed by it, and for $100, you can't beat it.
Check it out here
Cooler Master RL-MUA-E8U1 / EBU1 AQUAGATE Mini R80 / R120
Link