Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler Review

Heatsink Construction & Design

Before we get into any great detail about the design or even the construction of this unit we should address the color of the TRUE Black Edition. Thermalright classifies this unit as “nickel plated black” and it really is a nice rich black finish. Coming from a gunsmithing / competitive shooting background (small bore & large bore rifle and handgun, with a touch of shotgun for fun) I instantly recognized this as a high quality “bluing job” and not some cheap paint job. If I was to hazard a guess I would say this was a hot dip bluing process and not cold bluing as it doesn’t have the feel of a cheap cold blue job.

Either way the result is an ultra thin layer of chemically corroded / altered metal (aka coloured “rust”) which protects the unit from the elements. The chemically corrosive bath used to obtain this reaction varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but most chemical composites which result in a black color usually contain either molybdenum disulfide or black oxide in the chemical stew (I would guess Molybdenum rather than Black Oxide as Molybdenum usually results in a more grayish black color, rather than a deep dark black…or at least it has in my experience). To put it bluntly this is not a cheap process and can be considered an extremely expensive undertaking. If Thermalright had wanted to go the “cheap” route they could have called it the TRUE BLUE and used much more cheaper chemical baths to get a handsome looking blue cooler but they didn’t, they wanted the best and this commitment to quality really shows.

However, once you get over the different colour you begin the realize this really is just a TRUE 120 which has had a fancy chemical bath. This is not a bad thing as the TRUE is still a really well engineered piece of kit! If you have never handled a TRUE before, its hard to describe how sturdy and solid it feels in you hand. To put this CPU cooling solution in perspective, it is 132mm wide, 160.5mm high and a nice, deep 63.44mm. More importantly than its regal stature is the fact it weighs over 700grams…without a fan attached. The downside to this big, bad and macho feeling is…well its heavy as a log and has been know to “bow” motherboards overtime.


To further clarify the design of this cooler, we would be remiss if we did not mention the heatpipes. As with all high end tower coolers it’s heatpipes is what makes this cooler so good. The TRUE BLACK uses 6 large U shaped heatpipes, three of which start at the left top end, head down through the base (where they are soldered to the base and thus are able to pick up a huge amount of heat) and then climb back up to terminate the right end of the top. The other three heatpipes follow this same route but from right to left.

Not only did Thermalright choose to use 6 heatpipes, they also chose to stagger them at the bottom and how they penetrate up through the cooling fins. When seen from above this staggered effect gives the heatpipes a diamond shape. This ingenious bit of engineering means the air from the fan hits each and every heatpipe equally so there is no (relatively) inefficient dead spots where the heatpipes are competing for cooling.


When it comes to engineering, Thermalright’s team did not miss a trick. Not only did they set up the heatpipes to get the most efficient cooling, the cooling fins of the unit are also engineered to decrease static pressure and actually encourage air to flow through them rather than around. When you take a close look at the fins, you realize how complex a design this deceptively simple face has. Just like most tower coolers, Thermalright has made the face (both sides actually) concave, and while many do this Thermalright takes it to a whole new level by angling half the face (the right side) down and the other half up.

This makes perfect sense as the air which enters the heatsink is being pushed in from rotational blades (i.e. a fan) so the air is actually moving in a circular motion, which means straight fins are actually at an angle to this air movement (so some air will have a tendency to “bounce” rather that enter). This bouncing cause air turbulence which in turn increases the static pressure (as even more pressure is required to push this swirling air through the fins); so by angling the front face up and down the fins are properly angled to direct the air into fins. Its sounds simple on paper but it makes for a very complicated face with half the fins bent up and the other half bent down on one side and the exact opposite on the other side! This of course helps explain the cost of the unit as the forming requires more tools and thus costs more to produce.

Underneath their blackened surface lies nickel plated aluminum. This combination makes for a very strong fin which can radiate a lot of air per square inch; and when you take into consideration the fact there is 52 of these fins you can begin to appreciate the vast amount of thermal energy this unit can dump into the air.


As you can see, the base is quite mirror-like but has numerous tool marks showing. These tool marks which can’t easily be seen unless the light is just right are not deep per say, but are deep enough to be felt with your fingernail. More importantly than the lack of polishing was when we did our “razor blade” test the center of the base was found to be slightly peaked (i.e. the base is slightly convex in shape with the top of the curve in the center of the base), in testing it was found TIM liked going towards the corners and away from the center. It is certainly not the best base we have seen and given the price point of this unit is was disappointing; though in all honesty anything less than perfection would have been disappointing as this should be perfectly polished and perfectly flat to justify its high price point.

Please note: Thermalright has purposely designed the TRUE / TRUE Black to not have a perfectly flat base. We understand the logic behind this move so while the base is not perfect we will not be holding it against them as it is not a "manufacturering defect" per say.

Overall, the TRUE Black seems to be a prduct which has had a lot of time, money and experience poured lovingly into. Unfortunately, we were expecting a bit more than just a fancy color job and Thermalright really should have taken the time to fix the base issue which has been a known issue with the TRUE for awhile now. We know they have it in them as the numerous Ultima 90s we have personally used in the past all came with much better bases than this.