Thermalright HR-02 CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
Product on Review : Thermalright HR-02
Manufacturer and Sponsor : Thermalright
MSRP : Not mentioned on site
Street Price : £52.62
Thermalright have championed the high end CPU cooler market for many years now with products such as the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and more recently, the Thermalright Venomous X. Most recently, Thermalright have expanded their line up with two new coolers that represent evolutions of past successes, the Silver Arrow and the HR-02. A few weeks ago, we had a look at the new Thermalright Silver Arrow, an update on the innovative IFX-14 design the company had previously developed, and we were left impressed by not only its sheer cooling performance but also its ultra quiet operation and low price. The second offering, the HR-02, uses a very different design concept to try and achieve similar results. The cooler itself is the spiritual successor to the HR-01, a cooler revered for its excellent performance at cooling demanding server based CPUs.
Thermalright's HR-02 aims to bring performance without the inherent drawback of noise. It comes as no surprise that chips nowadays dissipate a lot of heat with Intel's flagship i7 CPUs sporting a 130W TDP. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on overclocking and subsequently overvolting increases the amount of heat dramatically. Thermalright market the HR-02 as a solution that can tame such power dissipation under passive operation or with low RPM fans. That's right, passively! Of course, good case airflow is highly recommended but this promise breaks away from the current trend of manufacturers simply bundling their heatsinks with noisy high RPM fans. To meet such a demanding task, the HR-02 exploits many design ideas from the HR-01 such as patented fins with punched holes to increase the surface area, and widely spaced fins for unrestricted airflow. We will look more closely at those over the next few pages.
A few words from Thermalright
Thermalright have certainly started another revolution in CPU cooler performance and from what we've seen previously from the Silver Arrow, the HR-02 shouldn't disappoint.
Product on Review : Thermalright HR-02
Manufacturer and Sponsor : Thermalright
MSRP : Not mentioned on site
Street Price : £52.62
Thermalright have championed the high end CPU cooler market for many years now with products such as the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and more recently, the Thermalright Venomous X. Most recently, Thermalright have expanded their line up with two new coolers that represent evolutions of past successes, the Silver Arrow and the HR-02. A few weeks ago, we had a look at the new Thermalright Silver Arrow, an update on the innovative IFX-14 design the company had previously developed, and we were left impressed by not only its sheer cooling performance but also its ultra quiet operation and low price. The second offering, the HR-02, uses a very different design concept to try and achieve similar results. The cooler itself is the spiritual successor to the HR-01, a cooler revered for its excellent performance at cooling demanding server based CPUs.
Thermalright's HR-02 aims to bring performance without the inherent drawback of noise. It comes as no surprise that chips nowadays dissipate a lot of heat with Intel's flagship i7 CPUs sporting a 130W TDP. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on overclocking and subsequently overvolting increases the amount of heat dramatically. Thermalright market the HR-02 as a solution that can tame such power dissipation under passive operation or with low RPM fans. That's right, passively! Of course, good case airflow is highly recommended but this promise breaks away from the current trend of manufacturers simply bundling their heatsinks with noisy high RPM fans. To meet such a demanding task, the HR-02 exploits many design ideas from the HR-01 such as patented fins with punched holes to increase the surface area, and widely spaced fins for unrestricted airflow. We will look more closely at those over the next few pages.
A few words from Thermalright
Thermalright is an elite design house that manufactures cooling products for computer components for the best quality and performance your money can buy. In 2002, AMD released its first generation Thunderbird CPU and since then we have been there every step of the way to counter high voltage and high heat with innovative design and highly acclaimed cooling solutions not only for AMD but for Intel as well. One of early well known solutions was the SK-6. With many positive and rave reviews under its belt Thermalright bolted to the top as the heat sink manufacturer mostly preferred by overclockers and enthusiasts around the World. To this day, innovation never left our vocabulary as we keep coming up with leading edge designs staying ahead of the competition.
Thermalright have certainly started another revolution in CPU cooler performance and from what we've seen previously from the Silver Arrow, the HR-02 shouldn't disappoint.
