Results

We always unplug the CPU fan and wait for it to heat up before testing its ability to remove the heat, but this time took several minutes which was far longer than usual. Unfortunately this is not a unit that we keep track of, but normally I don't get bored waiting for it to heat up either.

At a high (but loud) fan flow, the Tuniq Tower 120 is the best performing heatsink we've had to date, but compared to the slightly lower performing Thermaltake MaxOrb or V1 on high fan, Zerotherm BTF90 or the Scythe Infinity Mugen - it's also one of the noisiest.

At low flow, the results are quite disappointing, stuck between the Scythe Karma Cross and Asus Silent Square Pro mid-low way down the table. Above it I'd still go for a Noctua NH-U12, Thermaltake V1, or even an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro for half the price but a touch more noise. It's not all tears though, as the advantage is you can always change the fan for something a bit better. It is still a good cooler that still cools the surrounding PWM heatsinks and heatpipes pretty well, and it has a plenty of upgrade potential too.

To gauge the effectiveness of the included fan, we swapped it out for the silent fan that comes with a Noctua NH-U12. Unfortunately this didn't make the cooling any better, just slightly quieter. The fan runs at a slightly lower RPM and the DeltaT temperatures we found were within .1ºC of the standard fan at its lowest speeds. It looks like the Tuniq Tower 120 only really excels when you push a lot of air through it, and by that argument - what heatsink doesn't?

Final Thoughts

The Tower can't match the awesome Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro for price-performance, and it's generally far cheaper than the Noctua NH-U12 and matches the price of the Thermaltake V1 as well. The Karma Cross on the other hand performs about the same for about £5 less.

Even though its performance at the lowest, and quietest speed (the only one I'd run it at) is less than fantastic, I'm still quite impressed. I love the look and style - it's more than a boring square: it's currrrrvyyy. The installation is easy, it should fit any motherboard and far more secure than craptacular plastic push-pins, even if it does require removing the motherboard from the case.

The provided fan is annoying, ball bearing noisy but thankfully it's upgradable. However, so are Scythe heatsinks, the Noctua NH-U12 and the Cooler Master GeminII from off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a few more, and these don't have the same 25mm depth restriction. In addition, for £33 I'd expect an awesome fan to come with it in the first place, and while it is "nine bladed for better performance" perhaps a sleeve bearing would be more appropriate?

If you do get it, throw the manual out - I've seen three-year-olds scribble better images on walls with a marker. There's nothing to worry about though, because the installation is actually more self explanatory than I had initially thought, considering how many bits are in the box. It's a breeze to install and it leaves the top heavy unit very securely held. You're not likely to have to endure the reinserting of the supplied fan, hence the high "ease of use" score.

It has such potential and will work for many people who want to use a large fanned heatsink but are restricted by enclosed, high heatpipes on the motherboard like the Asus Striker Extreme. I can see why it's been previously so highly regarded, but for me it doesn't quite offer enough for the price and that is reflected in the score - though if you disagree then you can always let us know in the forums.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Ease of Use
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

What do these scores mean?