Thermalright HR-03 GT GPU Cooler Review

Manufacturer Product Page: Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA
Product Number: HR-03-GT
Availability: Now
Price: $60CAD (MSRP)
Warranty: 1 Year




According to recent statistics, the launches of both the Nvidia 8800GT and the ATI HD3870 have been the most successful launches in each company’s recent history. Unlike what happened with the G80 launch (with both the GTX and GTS) where manufacturers were extremely slow to produce aftermarket coolers these new launches have sparked an almost immediate response. Companies have announced compatibility for both new and old coolers alike due to both of these new cards having the same heatsink mounting locations as cards which have already been on the market for some time. There have been a few modifications to many of the accessory packages of these older and now compatible heatsinks but we will get into that later. Considering the popularity of these cards it isn’t surprising to see a manufacturer like Thermalright looking to jump into action as soon as possible.

For now we will concentrate on the subject of today’s review: the Thermalright HR-03 GT. Thermalright is known among the enthusiast community for making the best air cooler on the market and they rarely disappoint. Here at Hardware Canucks we have reviewed several of their products and every one of them has proven to be head and shoulders above the competition. Their HR-03 graphics card coolers span the spectrum of compatibility with nearly every graphics card available and the GT model is just the latest iteration.

Considering it carries an MSRP of around $60 here in Canada, it can’t be counted among the more budget-oriented graphics card heatsinks but if past indications are anything to go by, you are paying for performance. It is great to see Thermalright on their game considering the HR-03 GT was announced about two weeks after the release of the 8800GT and quite a bit before the HD3870 release. Something that we also haven’t mentioned is the compatibility of their HR-03 GT with the newer 8800GTS 512MB cards. Since the mounting locations on these hotter-running cards are the same, compatibility is a given and it is on one of these GTS cards which we will be installing our HR-03 GT on today.