Just thought I would post a review of the XP-120, as many people on TE have been interested in buying either an XP-120 or an XP-90. Since I have an XP-120, I thought I would review that but the difference between the XP-120 and XP-90 is just abt 2-3 degC.
FIRST IMPRESSION
The XP-120 comes in a simple brown box. It feels very solid.
The heatsink is packed within the foam in the box.
The side slit is for all the other knick-knacks like the blue strips, the screws and the clamps for the fan and the thermal grease. The retention mechanism is packed below the heatsink. But overall, the XP-120 is packed very well. I could transport it with all my luggage from Bangkok with no problems at all. And it comes with the all the required things like the two blue rubber strips (to reduce the vibrations of the fan), and two clamps to hold the fan to the XP-120. It also comes with a single sheet of instructions.
It has the five heatpipes as shown in the pic below. The heatpipes supposedly contains some gases, which make sure that the heat is transferred quickly to the surface from where the heat is dispelled by the fan.
The pics of the XP-120 individually and when compared to the stock AMD heatsink.
It is HUGE!!! It is really enormous. The AMD stock heatsink is totally dwarfed by the XP-120.
For me, who had never done anything more to my comp than remove my graphics card and reinstall it, I was a bit apprehensive abt how difficult it would be to fit this.
But the instructions are very clear as to how to do it.
INSTALLATION
You need to remove the stock Retention mechanism first. Then you need to fit the supplied RM. They have supplied the screws as well to fit the RM.
After that, you need to seat the XP-120 carefully. You need to fit one side of the XP-120 first and then force the other side into the holes in the retention mechanism. It is a bit difficult but not all that difficult. It will be better if you remove the mobo from the cabinet and fit it. Otherwise, it will be really hard.
I used Arctic Silver 5 as shown below. This did not come with the XP-120. I discarded the supplied thermal grease in favour of AS 5 below.
AS5 is supposed to be applied as shown below. Just a small glob of AS5. Abt the size of an uncooked rice grain(this is how it is described on the AS5 site).
You can see that there are a few scratches on the base of my XP-120. This is NOT a manufacturing defect. The first time, I found it very difficult to seat the heatsink and so. The side which has the scratches should be seated properly first and then pressure should be applied to the other end so that it sits properly and gets clamped onto the RM. But I was afraid of putting so much pressure and kept pushing half-heartedly and so, the base got scratched.
Anyway after abt 2 hrs of trying, I finally fitted it without having to remove my mobo from my case.
The above pics were taken later. Not during the first installation of the XP-120. That is why you see the mobo outside the case.
It is not as hard as I make it sound. It was just that I was afraid to put more pressure onto something brand new.
POST INSTALLATION
The only complaint I had is that some fins are bent as shown in the below picture. I don’t think this is much of an issue. The fins are very thin and so, I guess this must be somewhat common. It can always be corrected by using a thin plastic strip like a scale or something. That is what I did, anyway.
[img=http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/962/computer0245yw.th.jpg]
And for the fan, I bought a Thermaltake Thunderblade Tri-LED 120mm fan. It has a rated max air flow of 78CFM and rated noise as 21 dBA. And it is certainly very quiet.
The moment I switched on my comp after installing the XP-120, I could instantly feel the reduction in noise. It was very very quiet.
And when I switched to Asus Probe, it showed the CPU temps as 33 deg C !!! On the standard heatsink, it would have been showing 42 deg C. A reduction in 9 deg C at idle!!
TESTING METHOD AND TEST SYSTEM
AMD 64 3200+ at stock and at 2.3Ghz@ 1.552 V and at 2.45GHz @ 1.616V
Asus A8V Deluxe
Thermalright XP-120 + Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm LED fan with 78 CFM
SIDE PANEL OPEN
Room temperature ---- Abt 28 deg C. Got cooler and cooler as it started raining. By the end of the test, I was getting load temps at 1.616 V as 41 deg C.
IDLE TEMPS ---- Restart the system and check the temperature after allowing the system to idle for 15 minutes.
LOAD TEMPS --- Run Prime 95 small FFTs test for 3 hours.
BENCHMARKS
I then ran Prime 95(the small FFT test) for 3 hours and noted the temps during that time. IT never went above 39 deg C.
During the same test, on the stock heatsink, the temperature had touched 52 deg C.
All the above tests were at stock voltage and speed AMD 64 3200+ 2.0GHz at 1.452V
OVERCLOCKING RESULTS
It was after I got my XP-120 that I actually started to push my CPU to its limits. I pushed it to 2.45 GHz (stable) @ 1.616V and ran Prime 95 for abt 3 hours. The load temperature did not cross 44 deg C even once. It kept fluctuating between 44 and 43 deg C. And it does drop down to 42 Deg C for long periods of time but that is probably because ot started raining at that time and so, room temperatures also dropped.
And the idle temp here was 35 deg C
Then, on my stock heatsink, I ran at 2.3Ghz @ 1.552V and the load temps went through the roof. It touched 57 degC !! After that, I was afraid of pushing my CPU on the stock heatsink further. And at idle, it was at 49 degC.
I then decided to run my CPU with XP-120 at 2.3GHz@ 1.552V and the results did not vary much. Load temp was marginally lesser at 42 Deg C. Idle was same at 35 deg C.
CONCLUSION
Unfortunately this is not available in India. But for those who are lucky enough to get it from abroad thanks to brothers/sisters/uncle/aunts/friends, this makes a lot of sense. This has to be one of the best on the market today.
And this does reduce the overall temps a bit also. I did not (could not, rather) measure the case temps but from the reviews I have read on the net, the case temps also go down. What I DID notice was that the motherboard temperature came down by around 5 deg C while using the XP-120.
The only major drawback abt this is that it does not fit on all mobos. The MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM is not compatible.
For a full list of motherboards and their compatibility, click here ---- AMD Motherboard Compatibility List
And for Pentium 4 Socket 478 mobos, click here…. Pentium 4 Socket 478 Compatibility List
The XP-120 is compatible with all LGA 775 mobos with the LGA 775 adapter kit(sold separately).
The XP-90 does not have any compatibility problems with known mobos.
The difference between the XP-120 and XP-90 is only abt 2-3 deg C. The XP-90 uses a 92mm fan compared to the 120mm of the XP-120.
And you can definitely increase the cooling capability of this by using a fan of higher CFM but it will obviously be noisier. And if you use the XP-120 in an air-conditioned room, the temperature will be obviously better than in a non-AC room.
And another interesting thing abt this is that the fan can be positioned in anyway. Either pushing air towards the heatsink or pulling air away from the heatsink and towards the side panel.
These tests have been done with the fan pulling air away from the heatsink. I find that it results in better cooling.
I got this for 3000Rs including the Arctic Silver 5 and 120mm fan and in my opinion it is worth it.
FIRST IMPRESSION
The XP-120 comes in a simple brown box. It feels very solid.
The heatsink is packed within the foam in the box.
The side slit is for all the other knick-knacks like the blue strips, the screws and the clamps for the fan and the thermal grease. The retention mechanism is packed below the heatsink. But overall, the XP-120 is packed very well. I could transport it with all my luggage from Bangkok with no problems at all. And it comes with the all the required things like the two blue rubber strips (to reduce the vibrations of the fan), and two clamps to hold the fan to the XP-120. It also comes with a single sheet of instructions.
It has the five heatpipes as shown in the pic below. The heatpipes supposedly contains some gases, which make sure that the heat is transferred quickly to the surface from where the heat is dispelled by the fan.
The pics of the XP-120 individually and when compared to the stock AMD heatsink.
It is HUGE!!! It is really enormous. The AMD stock heatsink is totally dwarfed by the XP-120.
For me, who had never done anything more to my comp than remove my graphics card and reinstall it, I was a bit apprehensive abt how difficult it would be to fit this.
But the instructions are very clear as to how to do it.
INSTALLATION
You need to remove the stock Retention mechanism first. Then you need to fit the supplied RM. They have supplied the screws as well to fit the RM.
After that, you need to seat the XP-120 carefully. You need to fit one side of the XP-120 first and then force the other side into the holes in the retention mechanism. It is a bit difficult but not all that difficult. It will be better if you remove the mobo from the cabinet and fit it. Otherwise, it will be really hard.
I used Arctic Silver 5 as shown below. This did not come with the XP-120. I discarded the supplied thermal grease in favour of AS 5 below.
AS5 is supposed to be applied as shown below. Just a small glob of AS5. Abt the size of an uncooked rice grain(this is how it is described on the AS5 site).
You can see that there are a few scratches on the base of my XP-120. This is NOT a manufacturing defect. The first time, I found it very difficult to seat the heatsink and so. The side which has the scratches should be seated properly first and then pressure should be applied to the other end so that it sits properly and gets clamped onto the RM. But I was afraid of putting so much pressure and kept pushing half-heartedly and so, the base got scratched.
Anyway after abt 2 hrs of trying, I finally fitted it without having to remove my mobo from my case.
The above pics were taken later. Not during the first installation of the XP-120. That is why you see the mobo outside the case.
It is not as hard as I make it sound. It was just that I was afraid to put more pressure onto something brand new.
POST INSTALLATION
The only complaint I had is that some fins are bent as shown in the below picture. I don’t think this is much of an issue. The fins are very thin and so, I guess this must be somewhat common. It can always be corrected by using a thin plastic strip like a scale or something. That is what I did, anyway.
[img=http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/962/computer0245yw.th.jpg]
And for the fan, I bought a Thermaltake Thunderblade Tri-LED 120mm fan. It has a rated max air flow of 78CFM and rated noise as 21 dBA. And it is certainly very quiet.
The moment I switched on my comp after installing the XP-120, I could instantly feel the reduction in noise. It was very very quiet.
And when I switched to Asus Probe, it showed the CPU temps as 33 deg C !!! On the standard heatsink, it would have been showing 42 deg C. A reduction in 9 deg C at idle!!
TESTING METHOD AND TEST SYSTEM
AMD 64 3200+ at stock and at 2.3Ghz@ 1.552 V and at 2.45GHz @ 1.616V
Asus A8V Deluxe
Thermalright XP-120 + Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm LED fan with 78 CFM
SIDE PANEL OPEN
Room temperature ---- Abt 28 deg C. Got cooler and cooler as it started raining. By the end of the test, I was getting load temps at 1.616 V as 41 deg C.
IDLE TEMPS ---- Restart the system and check the temperature after allowing the system to idle for 15 minutes.
LOAD TEMPS --- Run Prime 95 small FFTs test for 3 hours.
BENCHMARKS
I then ran Prime 95(the small FFT test) for 3 hours and noted the temps during that time. IT never went above 39 deg C.
During the same test, on the stock heatsink, the temperature had touched 52 deg C.
All the above tests were at stock voltage and speed AMD 64 3200+ 2.0GHz at 1.452V
OVERCLOCKING RESULTS
It was after I got my XP-120 that I actually started to push my CPU to its limits. I pushed it to 2.45 GHz (stable) @ 1.616V and ran Prime 95 for abt 3 hours. The load temperature did not cross 44 deg C even once. It kept fluctuating between 44 and 43 deg C. And it does drop down to 42 Deg C for long periods of time but that is probably because ot started raining at that time and so, room temperatures also dropped.
And the idle temp here was 35 deg C
Then, on my stock heatsink, I ran at 2.3Ghz @ 1.552V and the load temps went through the roof. It touched 57 degC !! After that, I was afraid of pushing my CPU on the stock heatsink further. And at idle, it was at 49 degC.
I then decided to run my CPU with XP-120 at 2.3GHz@ 1.552V and the results did not vary much. Load temp was marginally lesser at 42 Deg C. Idle was same at 35 deg C.
CONCLUSION
Unfortunately this is not available in India. But for those who are lucky enough to get it from abroad thanks to brothers/sisters/uncle/aunts/friends, this makes a lot of sense. This has to be one of the best on the market today.
And this does reduce the overall temps a bit also. I did not (could not, rather) measure the case temps but from the reviews I have read on the net, the case temps also go down. What I DID notice was that the motherboard temperature came down by around 5 deg C while using the XP-120.
The only major drawback abt this is that it does not fit on all mobos. The MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM is not compatible.
For a full list of motherboards and their compatibility, click here ---- AMD Motherboard Compatibility List
And for Pentium 4 Socket 478 mobos, click here…. Pentium 4 Socket 478 Compatibility List
The XP-120 is compatible with all LGA 775 mobos with the LGA 775 adapter kit(sold separately).
The XP-90 does not have any compatibility problems with known mobos.
The difference between the XP-120 and XP-90 is only abt 2-3 deg C. The XP-90 uses a 92mm fan compared to the 120mm of the XP-120.
And you can definitely increase the cooling capability of this by using a fan of higher CFM but it will obviously be noisier. And if you use the XP-120 in an air-conditioned room, the temperature will be obviously better than in a non-AC room.
And another interesting thing abt this is that the fan can be positioned in anyway. Either pushing air towards the heatsink or pulling air away from the heatsink and towards the side panel.
These tests have been done with the fan pulling air away from the heatsink. I find that it results in better cooling.
I got this for 3000Rs including the Arctic Silver 5 and 120mm fan and in my opinion it is worth it.
