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Needless to say we were impressed with the Thermalright Venomous-X, as it set a new record on our test bed for air-coolers. Prior to testing the Venomous-X, the coolest we have been able to get our overclocked Core i7 processor with an ambient room temperature of 21 degrees was 65 degrees when under load. The Venomous-X may not have crushed this record, but with a stress temperature of 64 degrees, it has set a new all time record for air-coolers. Furthermore, this meant that the Venomous-X was 4 degrees better than the Ultra 120 Extreme and 2 degrees cooler than the TRUE Copper. This is a truly impressive feat for a product that doesn’t look a great deal different to its predecessor. Where we think Thermalright has really got things right with the Venomous-X is in the mounting design. Often quality coolers are let down by poorly designed mounting systems that do not apply enough pressure in the correct places. The Venomous-X seems to have got this right and we think the improved contact between the base of the heatsink and the processor is largely responsible for the performance gains.  Not only does the new mounting method provide great contact between the cooler and the processor, but it also makes for a quick and easy way of installing the Venomous-X. Although this system can provide a great deal of pressure, at no point did we see it bending the motherboard, as the support backplate appears to take up much of the stress. Like all high-end CPU coolers the Thermalright Venomous-X is priced aggressively at $65 US, a price which we might add does not include a fan or a means of mounting this heatsink on an AMD platform. The AMD bolt through kit costs around $8 US more, so it’s not the end of the world, but it will bring the total cost to around $73 US, and then there is still a need for at least one 120mm fan. Still, when compared to the competition, the Venomous-X is not exactly overpriced. The Prolimatech Megahalems costs roughly the same amount, as does the Noctua NH-U12P SE 2 Ultra Silent, though that product does include a pair of fans. The older Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme can be had for around $55 US now, but we would be happy enough to spend $10 US more on the Venomous-X.
Reviewed By Steven Walton |
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