Shame On Everybody - Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE

[@weirdodude1173]

I've had one of these Peerless Assassin SE's for awhile. I took off the stock fans and mounted one T30 on the front pushing and one T30 at the very rear pulling. It does really nice on my 5800X3D. Thumbs up!

[@FlexStudioPL]

Do you think T30 will fit inside/center space?

[@Dailyrider94]

@@FlexStudioPL according to reddit it's possible with some fidgeting

[@xenoxdafox2772]

Oh my god THANK YOU ive been looking for someone to actually confirm wether or not this will work well on a 5800x3d.

[@Daz5Daz]

​@@xenoxdafox2772more than enough for the 5800X3D and no need to upgrade the fans. Also, as an aside, it's worth undervolting the X3D as you will reduce temps and gain higher boost clocks.

[@Crunkmaster]

wow. i love to see brands offering top notch performance at a great price

[@Megaman-Zero-626]

Using the non-SE version on my 5800X3D, got the Phantom Spirit 120 SE on my 7800X3D. These are all you need for gaming, bar none.

[@optimalsettings]

My dark rock slim is still enough for gaming.

[@Megaman-Zero-626]

@@optimalsettings Fair, just gives you more breathing room in the event of more power-hungry upgrades down the line!

[@Zombie101]

The phantom spirit is better isn't it?

[@Megaman-Zero-626]

@@Zombie101 yes, but it’s close

[@RobertGaboola]

Does anyone know what the tdp is on this thing I couldn't find it anywhere plus I plan on doing an artic p12 fan swap

[@xxDrain]

2:10 Mine did have rubber on the fans for vibration reduction, but they're only present on one side. Only on the side that touches the finstack.

[@michaelthompson5252]

"Shame on everybody " is accurate. I just picked up this thing for $30 brand new. I got the RGB version for my wife's pc a couple of weeks ago. We could not be happier. I was coming from the classic Noctua DH, whatever massive tower. Same performance, more compact and easier to work around. Get this if you are building a new rig and looking for an affordable solution.

[@ThomasHager]

Great review - thanks! But I am wondering about the graphs... Shouldn't be the temperatures on the X-axis in the opposite direction? Higher temps = louder (higher dB)?

[@magicknight8412]

just got one of these (argb) and its superb. easy fit and really does a great job keeping temps down.and yes really good value for money

[@CEPH_S4160T]

i use this badboy for my ryzen 7 7800x3d and i havent seen temperature go above 58°C

[@SoMiSongbird]

Do you use a custom fan curve?

[@PizzaDaPasta]

No, I'm using the stock and it's more than enough for my 7800x3d

[@stanleyvrbeaudet3721]

Could I put a third fan on this and would it cool better?

[@disabledmallis]

Just to be clear, the ones that have no results on the 320W workload mean the computer overheated and shut down?

[@TheShinyMilotic141]

isn't that what he said?

[@xFlowRS]

Can you do a test with this cooler, coupled with NF-A12's? I think Noctuas would enable it to cool 320W much better

[@aquazonecr8750]

There is channel that tried it and it actually performed worse, the p12 max beat the stock cooler fans by only 1c as well

[@xFlowRS]

​@@aquazonecr8750 No way that stock fans beat the NF-A12's... Link that video

[@b1ini]

I did exactly what you said and while being almost at the same temperature, noise decreased massively. The stock ones have a ruff sound profile. Keeping my 7800x3d cooler than a dark rock pro 4

[@yotavares]

@@xFlowRS Stock fans are good, just more noisy.

[@paolomalig5025]

Thank you for the informative video. This just proves that you don't have to purchase an expensive AIO to get the job done. How about the weight? Is the weight ok and will not break the motherboard?

[@wolniacha_tv]

Hi, can you please test Phantom Spirit from Thermalright in your future videos?

[@STSYT]

In the making

[@panvrek8952]

2:04 please tell us why not to confuse with the non SE version! Here, only the white argb non SE version is available and I'm about to get it. Is it better or worse that this? Thanks!!! Edit: I will use this for 7700x

[@KommandeurMumm]

The differences between both are minimal: The SE is kind of a "budget" version of the PA 120. The "non SE" version has dampened fans with braided cables, a solid top plate so that the heat pipe ends are hidden, has 3 fins more on each tower (53 instead of 50) and is 2mm higher (157mm instead of 155mm). Oh, and the box is not just brown with minimalist print. In the grand scheme of things the changes are mostly aesthetic and don't impact cooling in any meaningful way.

[@Optiktube1]

Any idea if this would fit in a itx MB, bouth in horizontal and vertical orientation?

[@JamesSmith-ix5jd]

It just signifies that we have reached the end of the road for air cooling, now they can only compete on price or fans. I have the thermalright ifx-14 and it basically already was reaching limits of air back in 2009, if it had the mounting brackets for newer sockets I would still use it today with no problems.

[@TKSparten117]

I Installed today the new "Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO" 7 Headpipes, completely Black, TL K12 Fans (ARGB, 2150rpm) It's just brilliant. 76°C average on my OC 12600k (180Watt) in R20 10min. with Silent 800rpm

[@xiwiwix]

If you do the deep dive, can you include tests with a Thermalright LGA1700-BCF "socket frame". They're only 9 bucks on amazon and should drop temps another 7-10 points. Love your channel, great video, and I purchased Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE because of it. Yes, I used your link

[@therealovidox]

DROP TEMPS by 7-`0 "points" or "DEGREES" ... 7-10 degrees is almost impossible just by replacing the socket bracket. I am tempted to buy them but they are $17 Australian dollars now and i don't think they would make much of a difference to the contact surface of the cpu cooler copper plate to the cpu itself... but I await your reply.. or if i get it i will reply with my findings

[@athmaid]

I've read on a few forums that now that Thermalright apparently handle the manufacturing themselves, the longevity of the fans has gone downhill

[@HanmaHeiro]

Well I hope that doesn't come true. I'm hoping to hold onto this cooler as a spare in case of any downtime

[@athmaid]

@@noir-13 not the fans apparently, that's the problem. Most of these brands use OEMs but it's been said that Thermalright has been bought by a manufacturer and they don't know what they're doing it seems since more and more report fans that are DOA or break after only short use

[@HanmaHeiro]

@@athmaid You say not the fans but then only talk about the fans. What else is a concern then, the welds, corrosion, or something else?

[@athmaid]

@@HanmaHeiro what I meant is they might have manufactured the rest (heatsink, coldplate, etc) themselves up to this point but apparently not the fans, those were manufactured for them by someone else. Not anymore though and that is causing problems with bearing noise and fans straight up dying

[@HanmaHeiro]

@@athmaid Understood. Thanks

[@cydonia9342]

Great review! Please try the Phantom Spirit / Evo, the PS is the 7 heatpipe updated version that sells often for even less(!!!) the EVO is all black with better fans for about £10 more here. My gf uses the PA120 white on her 5600 and I use the PS120 Evo on my 9900k. Both amazing value & performance.

[@Davinmk]

almost the same fans

[@hinchlikescake7592]

@@Davinmk Not really.. The Phantom Spirit/SE uses entry level C12 V2 fans. Which are fairly good in itself and verses other fans bundled with most air coolers as sound to performance goes. The PS EVO uses the K12 fans. Those are the RGB variant and redesign of the B12's. Which are much higher quality and of a higher RPM+static pressure; that should improve performance over the OG/SE with stock C12's.

[@Davinmk]

@@hinchlikescake7592 kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5Ktc6aHhdariKMsi=HHxMqK57EKyyuZsA if you would install these in your system, you wouldn’t really notice any difference

[@cydonia9342]

@@hinchlikescake7592 I can confirm they are a lot quieter for each rpm setting and produce a significantly less annoying noise. The PA120 fans are good, but start to "whirr?" at their max speed.

[@henrikfox8960]

I got the pearless Assassin if I turn on my case fans ( I got one in the top exhaust and a side exhaust) the temperature goes up 6 degrees on my cpu why is that? also if I put my front plastic case cover on the temps rise 12 degrees cpu and 20 degres on my gpu

[@sebna]

Any chance you could test True Spirit 140 Power. It is 360w design with 8mm diameter heat pipes.

[@FLAMINGOGIANT]

what ram can I fint???? I want tu build on the ASRock B650M PG Riptide with the asassin coler but i dont get what ram that wuld fit her. Tnx for helt

[@AntonioLexanTeh]

And you've not tried the Phantom Spirit EVO... 7 heatpipes, full black and great fans that also look sick.

[@Metalovai]

Phantom Spirit 120 SE is much quieter with same performance.

[@A_Name_]

30mm ram? Im guessing that is the height installed and not the total height of the sticks including the pins because that seems excessivly short.

[@A_Name_]

@@lifesource333 I got ddr5 flare kit and mine sits right on my ram if I don't raise the fan up. They are 33mm tall. I did get the phantom spirit not the peerless assassin so idk if they reduced the clearance at all. Completely forgot about that post or I would have come back to let people know.

[@Daz5Daz]

This cools my R5 3600 so well that I removed one of the fans and only use the middle position. I can always put the additional fan back if I upgrade later.

[@INFIN1TY-]

How much is the clearance for ram?

[@aarlavaan]

Just got a few upgrades fire my 2019 build. Including a 5800x (huge improvement from the 3600x in it currently) and this beast of a cooler to keep it under control. Excited!now, I have heard that the fans on this cooler wear out quickly. Any suggestions on replacements since they are standard clips and can hold any 120s?

[@vipbeef2174]

What are the temps on your 5800x? I have a 5800x too and I'm wondering how well these thermalright coolers can cool my CPU

[@aarlavaan]

@@vipbeef2174 Sadly, my new cpu has yet to arrive. But I'm let you know.

[@aarlavaan]

​@@vipbeef2174 keeps it around 70-80 C under load.

[@feliksdzerzhinskij800]

How does this compare with Deepcool AG620 since they're the same price in my country

[@armandocardona6975]

i have one on my i9 9900k overclocked to 5.0 ghz all cores. 75-80 with 50 percent fan speed. Going to swap the fans and see what happens. In stock clocks this thing can cool 150 watts in silence.

[@Ben-ld1qi]

What? Are you only now reviewing this cooler? I was sure you already did ages ago. Anyway I've had this and the heatsink is VERY GOOD. The fans however, both didn't last more than a few months before making all sort of unbearable noises. The newer (Phantom Spirit) PS120 / PS120 SE / PS120 SE ARGB are all at a very close price to the PA120 SE and just slightly better. There's also an even newer Phantom Spirit 120 Evo that looks absolutely badass, it's quite expensive for my country but I believe in the States it can be bought for $43~50, absolutely worth it.

[@eventhorizon9598]

I've got the Fuma 2, and i built a pc for a friend. The Fuma 2 wasnt avaiable any more, and my friend wanted all white, so i just went for peerless assassin white version for 35€ not knowing it is even better than my Fuma 2. Incredible to see that i did a very good choice.

[@eventhorizon9598]

Hat mich aber auch schon gewundert, dass der PC so leise ist. Ist ein I5 der aktuellen Generation in dem Fractal North Chalk. Es war am Besten, die beiden mitgelieferten 140mm GehäuseLüfter von Fractal so leise wie möglich zu stellen, da die den Lärm bestimmt haben, an den Temperaturen hat sich aber gar nichts geändert.

[@Tantemify]

i wonder what is the difference between the SE and the non SE version

[@vincentvega3093]

I got the argb version for 38€ - at time of buying it was like 5 bucks cheaper than the non rgb. Only thing the fans are loud above 40% so i use them fixed at 35% on a 5800x3d. Maybe i'll use it with some noctua nf-a12 chromax down the line. Happy new year

[@synapse5791]

Imo the only difference between most of these are the fans quality. The peerless assasin is litteraly built super well

[@Rancid_Ninja]

I replaced the fans with Corsair af 120 elites and they are butter and its a beast

[@picklen1ck]

What if I didn’t use the fans with this cpu cooler?

[@YousefAnas17]

Is it suitable for 13600k cooling?

[@NINJA_INVESTORS]

You obviously didn't watch the video

[@sheridanjertech7426]

excellente video merci !!!!!!!!

[@jassenjj]

It is so strange that in all benchmarks PE 120 SE turns out to be quiet. Yep, it is a great cooler, but the fans are awful, they produce a weird orchestra of strange rythmic sounds above 40% and below that there is that weird low frequency vroom. At 70% there is a resonance point, fortunately enough it is in a narrow band of speeds and not present at 65% or 75%. All in all, this is a great cooler with 1 or 2 P12s.

[@orucreiss]

i use that cooler with my 7600x and i am happy with it.

[@mdubz]

My Peerless Assassin Inner Fan started squeaking after 6 months, had to replace it already.

[@Revon-Feuer]

The fan isn't part of the cooler. It's just a fan and can be easily replaced.

[@pedrogomes3556]

​@@Revon-Feuer Which fans would you suggest to, eventually, replace them?

[@Revon-Feuer]

@@pedrogomes3556 High end: Sl infinity fan Lian Li Low end: Just replace it with another Peerless assn fan, they're incredibly reliable usually

[@nicktayloriv310]

I have the RGB version on my Ryzen 7, it just hums along. And the RGB color I selected (cool blue?) matches the color in my Fractal Torrent perfectly though just a smidge brighter which I dont care enough about! I'm not overclocking or any of that stuff and rarely run my rig hard enough for the tiny fan on my motherboard to kick on but I prefer overkill. 😎

[@jamesg8246]

For those who don't know, Thermalright isn't a new brand. Back in the early 2000's they were the Noctua of air cooling, top notch. So as someone who knew them as they were I wasn't shocked they would succeed today. I recently installed this heatsink on a build I did and it's good, but the build quality is noticeably less than the Noctua NHD15, the GOAT, which I have a lot of experience with. I'd say the PA is good value for the money.

[@SirRobinII]

I got some P12 max fans to fit them.

[@farmerowga5890]

Keep going.

[@santiagovargas9891]

I bought one for my ryzen 5 7600X, haven't installed yet but looks really good

[@Rexperto6454]

I would add that certain air coolers are capable of dealing with much more than 320W just not with these consumer grade CPUs. The Noctua NH-U14S DX-4677 was able to handle over 700W watts with a 56 core Xeon processor because the chip and the IHS are much larger so more surface for heat dissipation. The Threadripper and Epyc CPUs are even larger. The Icegiant Prosiphon Elite is not a standard air cooler but it managed to cool a 96 core Threadripper at 1000 watts!!

[@luisitopalustre5947]

The Phantom Spirit should be even better right?

[@wolniacha_tv]

it should, yes

[@elteacher0223]

great!!

[@HanmaHeiro]

You should try the TA phantom spirit since it's somehow just a bit better. Used it on my 13900KF

[@Davinmk]

it’s almost the same

[@HanmaHeiro]

@@Davinmk almost the same ~ a bit better. Thank you for your input

[@Davinmk]

@@HanmaHeiro no noticeable difference. thank you for your input

[@HanmaHeiro]

@@Davinmk You're welcome 🤗

[@kleinkalibar7486]

​@@DavinmkPlenty of proof out there that there is a noticeable difference especially at higher rpms. Thank you for your input

[@cstrike105]

This one I guess is one good cooler. Is it better than an AIO? How about the weight? I guess with the fans it would weigh 1 kg?

[@Rancid_Ninja]

It will last longer than aio, aios eventually die and fans can be replaced easily the cooler will last longer than a aio for sure

[@LastSecBloomer]

You should try the Phantom Spirit SE, which performs even better and is still affordable. Also, just like the PA, there's nothing special on it. I have no idea how is Thermalright doing it...

[@marcinkarpiuk7797]

I got also phantom SE with rgb and only one minus are loud fans... How they do it- easy they just dont cash u extra for brand(air coolers are just piece of metal...)

[@LastSecBloomer]

@@marcinkarpiuk7797 I meant perrformance, not price. There's literally nothing special about the design of their coolers, bog-standard towers with 6x6mm heatpipes, and yet they perform on par with much larger and more elaborate coolers...

[@kinzie3915]

Really the best thing about these coolers is if you have small memory modules (up to 35mm), you can fit this in literally every case with 160mm clearance for CPU coolers. Plus they perform like bigger and more expensive coolers. 35€ is just no brainer..

[@therublixcube3052]

What about Crucial Ballistix RGB RAM? I recall the height is around 37mm. I'm using a B450 Tomahawk MAX inside of a Fractal Design Meshify C (glass side panel)

[@kinzie3915]

You will be completely fine don't worry. I have 43mm tall memory modules and the first fan literally sits on them.

[@therublixcube3052]

@@kinzie3915 Thank you for answering!

[@vuvohoan368]

i'm about to buy this, but i was afraid it wont fit in my mobo (MSI B550M Mortar) with 4 slots of RAM, anyone have the same mobo please confirm

[@xyttra]

They're an old brand with a lot of experience and they have their own factory, so they can sell for considerably cheaper.

[@100500daniel]

Why review the old peerless assassin when the phantom spirit evo exists?

[@vincentvega3093]

It's a Classic.

[@ihadlunch8575]

Use this to cool my 9800x3d. No issues.

[@Ghis1964s]

"...if mat-black is not your thing..." LOL. Mat-Black is perfect for me. It's my PC, not some easter-egg basket ;)

[@Janjao1984]

just pair this thing with 2 T30 and you see PERFORMANCE GO BIRRRRL

[@anonymoususer7985]

Just installed the Thermalright PS120SE ARGB model today, it was straight forward enough Positives- good looking, quiet, cools well, argb is nice on the fans Cons- do not like that mud stuff they called thermal paste and my fingers hurt after moving the fans up and down

[@PATroll_knocking]

I was using the None SE Version of this to cool down R5 3600 and eventually change to FUMA 2 since I would like to see my TEAM XTREEM RAM. This cooler is Legend at Asia, still I do think if anyone get a k version of i7 or i9 should choose a better cooler rather than PA120, it do the works but with little margin and others has better build quility.

[@rhlparkr]

You could have just used it with just one middle fan for that that cpu

[@Greenalex89]

Amazing for the price. I just didnt use the thermal paste which came with the cooler ;)

[@NGreedia]

I have one of these but I replaced it with a deepcool single tower cooler. Build quality seems cheap and I needed a tremendous amount of pressure to get the screws to make contact to the bracket to the point I felt I was going to break the board.

[@Stehaufmaennchen101]

This cooler with a slightly adjusted curve is completely inaudible and has crazy performance

[@HIOleFant]

Könntest du einen t30 dranklemmen? Würde mich sehr interessieren, wie die Temperaturen dann sind.

[@xquang2863]

In my country this cooler is just about 25 dollars, a big deal. I've bough it second hand from my friend is about 15 dollars since he gone for ITX Case and change the cooler to AXP120-X67 and I can say this cooler is freekin' awsome and best p/p, it can handle my 12600k without any problem. The only thing I not like about this cooler is the Ram height, I cannot put the tall RGB Ram without moving the second fan up.

[@Davinmk]

finally!

[@KuyangAndroid19]

can it cool my 5700rx3d

[@pascaldifolco4611]

Bought one I don't need yet, just because it's too good a bargain lol

[@DarkWave84-NL]

I have this cooler on my Ryzen 7 5800x n its a real good cooler.

[@absoleet]

The older non-SE is abit bigger and better.

[@xxDrain]

I wish it were as simple as "the aluminium is stolen", so long as it is stolen from renewable sources.

[@optimalsettings]

For gaming my dark rock slim is still enough with an 7800x3d!

[@mibo747]

Great review I would recomend to review Frostcommander from thermaltake Even more efficient but 140mm fans

[@Zombie101]

Phantom spirit is better, no?

[@vladsta3833]

lancool 216 waiting room

[@vdvd2090]

I guess price are different for every country, I managed to buy a pa120 se directly from the chinese supplier on a sale day and it cost me only 18 dollars, I can't even buy a noctua fan with that price, somehow there are still people who think that noctua is good, yeah right good for taking money from brainless buyers who pay more for literally nothing that is

[@elteacher0223]

its great, but the Phantom Spirit SE is better

[@megadooooom6582]

why you get the 6 pipes instead of the 7 heat pipes ???????????????????????????????? the 7 heat pipes is even better than most of the air coolers RN

[@clinten3131]

Seems like a no brainer for a gamer🤣

[@bulevartz]

It's common sense you have to be an idiot to pay for a piece of metal and plastic called fan 100$...You buy for an example 350$.. 7800x3d which took years, decades, to develop such a cpu.,and yet we had fans almost 100 years ago.

[@Rich4rd_G]

low price and grand performance for 30 dolars!

[@_pant0m]

only complain = to much badge

[@exithe]

too good to exsist? really lol....

[@Somatom_Man]

I just returned one of these to Amazon because of VERY poor quality. For Intel, they are supposed to have 3 alignment holes for the mounting screws that align the screws for the Tower cooler. My brackets just had two slots and no alignment holes. I could not eyye it to make it work, the tollerances are two close. I bought a similar cooler 2 years ago and had no problem. This is a cvommon problems with Chinese quality after time. The company moves on to the next thing and quality, support and reliablity starts to fade. And of course, it came with no insdtructions and the online copy was in Chinese only.

[@gamerturniton3081]

This result is different to Gamer Nexus results with the same cooler, so one of you are not right.

[@frankytanky5076]

Super cheap crap, you’ll end up replacing the fans anyway so the value proposition is not that good

[@kinzie3915]

Even after replacing the fans, it still costs 40% of the 120€'s NH-D15 or similar. Just because fans are not best quality doesn't mean the whole cooler is "Super cheap crap".

[@cardboardsnail]

fwiw anecdotally my thermalright fans have been fine for 3 years and counting. Even if the fans do go though, the cooler uses regular fan clips, so it wouldn't be difficult to replace the fans anyway

[@Jacob-hl6sn]

retard