Packaging and Accessories

If it is one thing which makes a Thermalright box so unique is their sheer aggressive blandness. Every single Thermalright item that we have ever seen has come in the same plain cardboard box with nothing but the model name printed in a bold black lettering on the side to distinguish it from any of the other models they produce. Looking at one of their boxes is like looking at one the wrong end of double barrel 12 gauge: its big, it’s mean and it doesn't need flashy labels or fancy colour schemes to get your attention; it does perfectly fine without them thank you very much. In all honesty if Thermalright ever did decide to change and go with a flashy box it would certainly cheapen them in some intelligible and indefinable way.

Now there is a big downside to this undiluted testosterone drive machismo: unless you know exactly what a given model number is and what its pros and cons are you will never be able to guess without opening that sucker up and checking. This can be very intimidating for first a time buyer which really is a shame as Thermalright does make some really high end quality kit!


Continuing the tradition of minimal flash but maximum protection, the inside packaging scheme certainly doesn't cut any corners. The IFX-10 is literally ensconced in two pieces of foam that would surely protect its precious cargo from even the most sever of bumps, bangs, knocks and shocks. Heck unless you got really overenthusiastic with a box cutter and sliced too deep there really is not much you can do to damage the contents without destroying said box in the process.


As anyone who has ever purchased a Thermalright product already knows, the list of accessories that comes with any of their products is a little on the sparse side, yet is always complete and of the highest quality. This model is no different and the contents consist of a rather large case badge, a text and pictographic based instruction pamphlet, a large backplate, a piece of thermal pad, a piece of double sided tape, various screws and two 80mm fan mounting wires. What is not included (and in typical Thermalright fashion) is a fan. If you want to use this cooler as an active cooler you must provide one yourself. This is a hidden cost that should be factored into any buying decision and is one small sore point that we have with Thermalright.

Overall this unit leaves one with a very good first impression. Everything yells high quality and if it performs as well as it has looks this is going to be a down right great idea.