[PhatSOB]

Reviewed by: Jason ?PhatSOB? Hambly
Date: September 20, 2005
Manufacturer: Tuniq
MSRP: $49.99US

Introduction:

Tuniq is a division of Sunbeamtech and considers itself to be in the fashion end of the computing industry. Tuniq is committed to being stylish, durable and offering superior performance to the world of computer modding. Today I will be looking at their newest fashion item called the Tower 120. Let?s see how it looks and works.

The Package and Contents:

Package:

The Tuniq Tower 120 arrived in a large box. Inside the box, every part was surrounded with thick protective foam. There is almost no way that this item was going to be damaged before it gets to the customer. The foam was so tight around the heatsink that it was fairly difficult to get it out of the box. However that is an issue I am very willing to deal with, as the item is going to be safe during shipping.

Contents:

Included in the box you will find:

- Tower 120 cooler
- ?H? Bracket
- LGA 775 back plate
- Socket 478 back plate
- Fan controller
- Mounting screws
- Thermal Paste
- User?s Manual

After removing all of the parts from the box and getting a good look at everything, the quality that Tuniq has put into their hardware is evident. From the design of the heatsink to the texture of the control knob, the quality is just amazing.

Specs and Features:

The Specs:

Material ? Copper and aluminum fins
Socket Type ? Socket 478, LGA 775, K8 (754 / 939 / 940)
Fan Speed ? 1000 ? 2000RPM
Thermal Resistance ? 0.16 ? 0.21 °C/W
Fan Dimension ? 120mm(W) x 120mm(H) x 25mm(D)
Heatsink Dimension ? 131mm(W) x 108mm(H) x 153mm(D)
Weight ? 798g (without fan)

The Features:

- Midship Ventilation - Unique 9 blade fan in the heart of cooler offers better performance than regular 7 blade fans
- 120mm fan with ultra silent operation
- Fan controller included
- 3x heatpipe design provides superb heat dissipation
- Large heatsinks to maximize cooling performance
- Perfect for all K8 or P4 CPUs - Specially designed clips provide a secure attachment on motherboard
- High performance thermal grease included. - ( Tuniq TX1 Thermal Grease ) Thermal Conductivity : > 3.3W/m.K

Specs and Features: 4.5/5

Installation:

Commonly with aftermarket CPU coolers there is extra work that must be done. Whether it is removing a back plate or just dealing with a difficult installation method. Tuniq has solved this problem, especially when installing the Tower 120 on a K8 motherboard. All that had to be done to prepare the motherboard for the Tower 120 was remove the two screws holding the mounting bracket on the front on the motherboard. The back plate stays in place. The only thing that kept this cooler from being the easiest aftermarket cooler that I have installed was the size of it. You just have to set it on top of the CPU and screw in the two thumb screws that are supplied with the kit. Due to the size of the cooler and our mid tower case, there was very little room left over to get your fingers around and underneath. With a little bit of contortion, I was able to get my hands in and get it screwed down. After the cooler was in place, I was a little bit of worried about whether or not the case door would fit back on. This was due to a fan that I added to the case last year after installing a 6800GT that needed some extra cooling; fortunately I installed the fan just low enough on the door to clear the cooler. The Tuniq Tower 120 requires the width of your case to be atleast 19cm due to the Tower itself standing 15.5cm high. Around the base of the cooler the Tower 120 needs 5.5cm of clearance. Not very many Northbridges will stand this tall so this shouldn't be a problem. below is a diagram showing the size of the unit and required clearances.

After the cooler was installed I went ahead and installed the rear panel control for the fan and attached it to the fan in the cooler. I don?t know why but the knob on the controller feels amazing. It feels like rubber but it is metal, the friction on it is just the right amount to give you a feel that you are turning it up or down and it looks great. I liked the knob so much I almost wish it was on the front of the case, almost.

Installation: 4.5/5

The Setup:

Asus K8V Deluxe
Athlon64 3200+ Clawhammer
512MB Samsung PC3200 OEM RAM
MSI Geforce 5600 VIVO
Seagate 80GB 7200.7
Antec Mid Tower Case
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition

The Tests:

The tests included running Folding@Home, 24 man Counter-Strike server with 16 bots, and a 24 man Day of Defeat: Source server. All applications were run simultaneously to record the maximum temperature. The results were recorded in Motherboard Monitor 5. I then idled the computer for 15-20 minutes until the temperatures stopped dropping to record the minimum temperature.

The Results:

For comparison I used the stock AMD cooler that came with the CPU. You can see that the Tuniq Tower 120 dropped the temperatures from the stock AMD cooler by several degrees at both idle and full load. The fan in the Tower 120 did not make much of a difference in performance. I feel that on a CPU that gets warmer then the Athlon64 that I used, the fan would provide the extra cooling needed.

Performance: 4.5/5

The Price:

The Tuniq Tower 120 has a suggested retail price of $49.99US when it hits stores this October. Tuniq says that the Tower 120 will be available at NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, and Xoxide. This is right around the price of the other coolers that Tuniq will be competing against. The pricing (below $50) is quite reasonable compared to several hundred that would be required for water cooling.

Price 4/5

Pros:
- Bigger than everyone else
- Quiet on low setting

Cons:
- Absolutely huge
- Tricky install into a small case

Specs and Features: 4.5/5
Installation: 4.5/5
Performance: 4.5/5
Price: 4/5
Overall: 17.5/20

Conclusion:

After running the Tuniq Tower for a few days, I am very satisfied at the performance it provided. The heat pipe design took care of the cooling duties almost entirely on its own. The fan was just there to assist on those really warm days. Anyone looking for a great heatsink fan to replace the stock cooler will be happy with the Tuniq Tower. For those with a window on their case this HSF also looks great and really stands out in a crowd. The Tuniq Tower receives our Best on the Planet Award.

We would like to thanks Kevin at Tuniq for sending us this cooler for review.

[chriso_86]

Nice review man!! That is the biggest stinking cooler I have ever seen!! I thought the cooler master hyper 6 was big, this one really takes the cake!

[Guest_m.oreilly?_*]

monster. a "cool" monster

[David_Heavey]

Nice!. Great review... again

[rainor88]

Nice one, but I would like to know how noisy it is, it says in Features that it's "with ultra silent operation" but I guess that might only be specs from the manufactorer...

Anyways, nice review as always.

This post has been edited by rainor88: Oct 3 2005, 10:28 AM

[KitePlans]

its huge!!!thanks man!!

[nuelrosson]

great review phats

[guru]

120mm fans, as a rule, are very quiet. They don't neet to turn quickly to move a large volume of air. I would expect this HSF to be very quiet especially with a nine-blade fan.

[TomCat_Ri]

Almost 900g with cooler... just like Zalman 7700 CU... This one is a monster too.

[redfox21700]

Great something from someplace! I thought my hsf was oversized (Tt Big Typhoon). That must be horrible to install in my case (The surgeon general has nothing on me!). My hsf was horrible (need flexi-screwdrivers... wonder if they exist.)

[PhatSOB]

Nice one, but I would like to know how noisy it is, it says in Features that it's "with ultra silent operation" but I guess that might only be specs from the manufactorer...

Anyways, nice review as always.

thanks rainor, I didn't realize I missed that. with the fan set to low it is almost completely silent, when it is set to high you can hear it from outside the case but no more then a case fan.

[Tweak]

Reminds me of the TT Sonic Tower.

[rainor88]

thanks rainor, I didn't realize I missed that.  with the fan set to low it is almost completely silent, when it is set to high you can hear it from outside the case but no more then a case fan.

Thanks, sounds good.

[dk61]

I just recieved the one I won in the competition and was wondering whether I need to remove the motherboard to fit this or whether I can do it while it is in?

[dk61]

does not matter it can not be installed in my AM2 board when I removed the retention bracket there were no holes in centre for H bracket and none anywhere that could be used, the thermal paste although very sticky and thick has dropped the temperature though.

A very disappointed dk

[PhatSOB]

oh man that sucks, there are not many HSF's designed prior to the AM2 that are going to fit onto the AM2 cpus. the new mounting scheme messed that all up.

I am glad the HSF finally got there, good old Canada Post took there good time getting it there.

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