Stock




Raw result with idle and load delta temperatures
First off, we will look at the stock speed results. The HR-02 doesn't get off to a bad start. Passively, it copes with the i7 very well yielding better results than the Noctua NH-C12P and CoolIT Domino, impressive feats considering its silent operation. With the fan installed and running at 850RPM, the HR-02 competes with the likes of the Alpenföhn Nordwand and even creeps ahead of the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, which uses two fans! This goes to show how CPU coolers have come a long way over the past year. Using more brute cooling force, performance gets even better. With a single TR TY140 at full speed, it tops our old favourite, the Thermolab Baram and it even jumps ahead of the CoolIT ECO in a dual fan configuration. Changing to a Noctua NF-14 fan yields a 0.5C drop in temperatures and another 0.25C with the faster NF-12. The performance is on par with the CoolIT ECO running two SWiF2-120P fans without the compromise of noise. It certainly impresses on that front. Using two fans improves performance further, allowing the HR-02 to outperform many high end coolers such as the Corsair H50 and the Prolimatech Megahalem.

Despite that, the Thermalright HR-02 fails to break into the top end cooler category which is populated by other Thermalright heatsinks, the Thermaltake Frio and the Noctua NH-D14. Coupled with two Noctua NF-P12 fans, it doesn't manage to match up with Venomous X as originally claimed by them. Instead it lags behind by 1.75C. Idle temperatures are also quite high on the HR-02. No tests were conducted using the Coolink SWiF2-120P fans due to the nature of the high RPM fan not fitting the purpose of the heatsink. Let's see how it fares with an overclocked i7.