A Closer Look at the HR-03 GT


Here is the HR-03 GT in all its nickel-plated glory and without a doubt, this isn’t what you would call a “beauty first, cooling second” cooler. This thing is made to cool your GPU above all else and it does so through the use of six closely-placed heatpipes. It is big, brutish and takes up a lot of space in your case but it should be able to provide you with some of the best temperatures an air cooler can provide.

Interestingly, I was half expecting the GT to be based off of Thermalright’s older yet still popular HR-03 Rev.A which has four heatpipes and should be able to sufficiently cool any 65nm GPU core. Instead, Thermalright used their larger G80-based HR-03 PLUS which has a larger contact plate, two more (and larger) heatpipes as well as more fin area.


Regardless of its industrial look, the HR-03 GT’s fabrication is absolutely top-notch. The heatpipes make excellent contact with the heat-dispersing fins while there are small holes in the sides to provide mounting locations for the fan brackets and additional cooling. You can also see that there is a pair of small raised areas on the top of this heatsink and they are used to hold a 90mm fan in place once the brackets are installed. Even though all of Thermalright’s coolers can be used in passive mode, it is highly recommended that you install a fan.


The heatpipes do not terminate at the large base but rather continue through it and are capped off on the other end. Once again, the level of construction seen here is next to flawless.

The base itself is nickel-plated copper which is buffed but its surface does not have a mirror-like finish. There are faint tooling marks but it is completely level so it should conduct heat quite well.


All of the fins are evenly spaced which makes for optimal heat transfer regardless of which fan you choose to install onto the HR-03 GT. I could go on and on about how well Thermalright has put together their newest heatsink but I think that these pictures speak louder than anything I could say.