Review Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Review: Incredible, Affordable Air Cooling Performance

[Darkbreeze]

Honestly, this is one of the poorest, least informative reviews of a CPU cooler I've ever seen on TH in all the years I've been a member, and even before that. Not even a mention of memory clearance. Installation section was like an afterthought. No noise normalized results. Just, not very thorough IMO.

 

[Math Geek]

Would of been nice to see this compared to the original PA120. Anyone seen such comparisons? Thermalright's website is just about useless in terms of describing the significant differences other than height. Digging into the fans, the SE supposedly spin 50 rpm faster.

from what i saw the difference is the fan and fewer sockets it can mount to (left out some less popular ones from what i see). i've not seen a review of it, but from what i could find, there should be pretty much no difference between them.

 

[o0Julia0o]

Does the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE is compatible to a micro-ATX AM5-Mainboard likt the: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650M PG Riptide/index.asp

Because the ram hat to fit under the cooler and the fan on it.
Like this ram: https://www.gskill.com/products/1/165/396/Flare-X5-DDR5-AMD-EXPO
or even this(higher): https://www.gskill.com/products/1/165/393/Trident-Z5-Neo-DDR5-AMD-EXPO

is it possible?

 

[Math Geek]

from what i have seen, if the cooler mounts to the stock backplate, then it would be AM5 compatible. however, this cooler has it's own custom backplate, so from what i understand, it would not work on an AM5 board.

that is assuming that thermalright has not updated it to work which i have not researched at all.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Redacted.

 

[Math Geek]

that's interesting as it goes against what i thought was said about compatibility. or perhaps i misunderstood what i read.

at least it's a good answer that it will work on AM5.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The very first page of this review specifically says that it is AM5 compatible.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se

As far as memory compatibility, if you look at the top of this page you'll see that I specifically complained about the fact that there are NO references to memory compatibility in the review, and beyond that, there is nothing on the Thermalright website regarding memory compatibility either so your guess is as good as anybody else's and you'll probably just have to try it out. I will say however that as with basically ALL of these style of twin finstack coolers you can almost always move the front fan to the back with no loss of performance which gives you pretty much full compatibility regardless of memory height.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Fortunately, while the socket has changed, existing coolers will work just fine with AM5. The placement of the holes is the same as on AM4, and so any AM4-compatible brackets will work on an AM5 motherboard.

Best coolers for AMD AM5 PCs in 2024

Building a new PC on AMD's AM5 platform? You'll need to get yourself a good CPU cooler.

www.xda-developers.com

 

[ReveurGAM]

True to its name, Thermalright brings an unmatchable combination of value and performance to the air-cooling realm with the Peerless Assassin 120 SE air cooler.

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Review: Incredible, Affordable Air Cooling Performance : Read more

Why wasn't it compared against other top air coolers, like the bq DRP4, DC AK/AG620, N NH-D15, N NH-U12A, or even it's big sisters, the PA120, PS120 and FC140?

Was it revenues?

 

[ReveurGAM]

Would of been nice to see this compared to the original PA120. Anyone seen such comparisons? Thermalright's website is just about useless in terms of describing the significant differences other than height. Digging into the fans, the SE supposedly spin 50 rpm faster.

The heatsink on the SE is a bit smaller and has fewer fins. Combine that with the fans, which are much lighter, and the whole device is a lot lighter. It isn't going to beat the PA120, PS120 or FC140.

 

[ReveurGAM]

Difficult to increase sample size with multiple TH reviewers. Leaves me wondering about comparison to the Deepcool AS500 (or similar single-tower 140mm coolers, Scythe Fuma 2, etc.) Would be nice if testing can be normalized in a way that allows results to be transferred/combined for larger lists.

The Scythe Fuma 2 has some obvious compatibility benefits: Offset fins, and a 15mm front fan. Seems like some sort of shroud for the center fan of the PA120SE would've been a welcome inclusion to make removal of the front fan a viable alternative in the case of RAM clearance issues. Duct tape at $36 I suppose.

Can't deny that value though. For $36...no brainer. Hopefully price doesn't shoot through the roof as more people learn about this product.

The price will go up. After several reviewers declared the PA120, it's price went up almost overnight.

 

[ReveurGAM]

I've had this cooler for a month now, replaced the stock fans with arctic p12's. It's friggin amazing.

Regular or max?

 

[ReveurGAM]

Nice performance!

I hope their support improves in the US - it's lacking.
Nan's Gaming Gear looks to have flown the coop,
Amazon handles the shipping, but the seller info is in Chinese,
Newegg's got 'em sold and shipped from Chinese 3rd party sellers.

Chinese or Taiwanese? They are very similar...

 

[ReveurGAM]

Put the some Noctua fans in that cooler and your golden.

Then it's not a $35 cooler if you have to pay to replace fans on a cooler that has a long warranty.

 

[Phaaze88]

Chinese or Taiwanese? They are very similar...

Chinese.
I used DeepL Translate to read the seller's address, when searched, took me to locations in China.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Chinese.
I used DeepL Translate to read the seller's address, when searched, took me to locations in China.

There are times when you are really glad that snark does not have to be a part of one's daily routine. So, yes, props on that, er, stuff.

 

[mwm2010]

Wow. I should probably buy this. For only $3 more you get aRGB. Why would you buy a $150 AIO for, say, an i7-13700KF when you could have this instead?

 

[ReveurGAM]

Wow. I should probably buy this. For only $3 more you get aRGB. Why would you buy a $150 AIO for, say, an i7-13700KF when you could have this instead?

Was that sarcasm?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Who cares? Even if it was intended as such, you shouldn't feed the trolls. There are signs all over the park saying so.

 

[helper800]

Then it's not a $35 cooler if you have to pay to replace fans on a cooler that has a long warranty.

I was referring to IF the fans failed down the road.

 

[Math Geek]

i don't think it was sarcasm but rather the truth. spot on truth of it. for $40 you get the same or better than what a lot more can get you. i love mine and won't hesitate to suggest it to others or buy another one when i need another cooler.

not saying it is the answer for everyone and all builds but i imagine for a large portion of folks, this cooler is ample and a heck of a deal.

 

[ReveurGAM]

I was referring to IF the fans failed down the road.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[ReveurGAM]

Who cares? Even if it was intended as such, you shouldn't feed the trolls. There are signs all over the park saying so.

Hmmm..."There are times when you are really glad that snark does not have to be a part of one's daily routine. So, yes, props on that, er, stuff."

Was that sarcasm? Oh wait, are you a troll?

Seriously, though, I would like to know. Why? Well, as I stated previously, this review was rigged to put the PA120SE on top, by comparing it to other heatsinks that it could beat. Where are the best-in-class air and water coolers that would show people how good this cooler really is? This is not to say that only this reviewer did this - other reviewers deliberately compared PA120s to lesser coolers.

Where are the NH-D15, bq! DRP4, TR PS120, TR FC140, DC AK620, DCAG620, and all of the other heavy hitters?
If people want good advice, then reviewers should provide it - not help improve sales of coolers that are very good but not even the best from that manufacturer, don't you think? At least Gamers Nexus did a comparison with OC'd CPUs that gave it an easy time against some of the strongest air coolers while still showing that it doesn't outperform the best AIOs. What would've happened, I wonder, if that PA120 had been on a 13700kf, the 13900k or even the 12900k? My guess is that the PA120SE would get to a certain temperature where it would fall behind...

 

[Darkbreeze]

My reply was not towards you, so, I will just not feed the trolls either. End of story.

 

[mwm2010]

Hmmm..."There are times when you are really glad that snark does not have to be a part of one's daily routine. So, yes, props on that, er, stuff."

Was that sarcasm? Oh wait, are you a troll?

Seriously, though, I would like to know. Why? Well, as I stated previously, this review was rigged to put the PA120SE on top, by comparing it to other heatsinks that it could beat. Where are the best-in-class air and water coolers that would show people how good this cooler really is? This is not to say that only this reviewer did this - other reviewers deliberately compared PA120s to lesser coolers.

Where are the NH-D15, bq! DRP4, TR PS120, TR FC140, DC AK620, DCAG620, and all of the other heavy hitters?
If people want good advice, then reviewers should provide it - not help improve sales of coolers that are very good but not even the best from that manufacturer, don't you think? At least Gamers Nexus did a comparison with OC'd CPUs that gave it an easy time against some of the strongest air coolers while still showing that it doesn't outperform the best AIOs. What would've happened, I wonder, if that PA120 had been on a 13700kf, the 13900k or even the 12900k? My guess is that the PA120SE would get to a certain temperature where it would fall behind...

I left out some context there. I have this cooler, so I am biased toward this one, but i do realize that there are many coolers out there (NH-D15) that are way better.