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Does anyone have the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120?

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Filingo

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I was just about to buy it when I saw many reviews complaining about the fan sound - either it's too loud or it's making annoying high pitch sound.
It's weird that there is a high percentage of complaints out of so few reviews (only 15 right now on Amazon) for a cooler that has low noise fan in the specs (25.6 dB max)

So that's a red flag and a deal breaker

I just wonder if it's really that bad or some of the users are doing something wrong?

Anyone has it and can tell me about the sound of it?
This is the cooler:
https://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-Peerless-Assassin-Aluminium-Technology/dp/B08XM557HS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=peerless+assassin+120&qid=1632243554&s=specialty-aps&sr=1-1&th=1

thanks
 
#2 ·
I opened our link to see owner reviews and what they actually said about fan noise, Google search found just one comment like your posted. That review was 4-5 star (can't remember which). Could you please give use links to "many reviews complaining about the fan sound" ? I'm guessing it's peeps running fans full speed, and in my experience any fans become audible / loud in 1000-1200rpm range, then getting progressively louder. Peerless Assassin has 1550rpm fans, so obviously they will be loud to most of us at full speed.

Going to Amazon.com and searching reveiws of Peerless Assassin I found:
"I did not measure the SPL of the fans but I wouldn't be surprised if they are >30 dbA. Don't know if the listed noise rating is accurate." ​
To me this is no surprise. Fan specs are with fan in open air use, not as we use them. |Noise readings are always much lower than in normal use.

Review by Eric B (Amazon.com
"For perspective, I have this CPU cooler installed on a Ryzen 3800x in a Cooler Master NR600 case, with 3 Thermalright TL-C12B intake fans on the front, 2 on top and one rear as exhaust. With a moderate manual fan curve ( up to 40 C all fans at 40%, 50 C 75%, and 65 C 100%), room temp 73 F (22.8 C), my PC is at 32 C while watching youtube or netflix (basically idle), and under 30 minute stress tests in Aida64 it hold stable at CPU 58 C, CPU Diode 70 C. This matches the performance I was seeing with the EKWB 240mm AIO and DeepCool Castle 240mm AIO, at 1/3 the cost. The cooler and fans, when not being pushed in the stress tests are near silent, and when running the tests are on par with the AIOs."​

Review by CS:
Tltle: "Grea buildquality and easy to install, but beware of loud fans" ​
"I've been intrigued by Thermalright's products for years but this is the first I've tried for myself. Packaging and build quality are both absolutely fantastic, especially for the price. Mounting system is (VERY) similar to Noctua's SecuFirm system which is to say that it's well thought-out and easy to use. I had no issues installing the cooler on a B550 Gaming Edge motherboard. Do keep in mind that the fin stacks are not mounted with an offset like you find on the Scythe Fuma 2, so low-profile RAM is best and any RGB effects will be partially obscured."​
Says "loud fans" in title, but nothing about them in review.

To me Amazon buyer reviews give Peerless Assassin a rating of 4.9 out of 5. To me that is saying Peerless Assassin 120 is a very good cooler at very good price.
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
These are the reviews on Amazon that I found complaining the sound: (Some of these you found as well)

1) "Loud fans but good performing dual tower heatsink"
2) "My one complaint is that the included fans, while not loud, are kind of high-pitched which can be annoying at times."
3) " However, the thermalright fans are MUCH louder when >1300 RPM, and they appear to move the same amount of air at 1500 RPM as the scythe kaze flex at 1200 RPM."
4) "Great build quality and easy install but beware loud stock fans"

So it's 4 out of 15 reviews which is quite a lot? (26%)

But you're right about the RPM. Maybe I should just adjust the curve to not go over 1200 RPM?

Do you think there's a big difference in cooling between 1200RPM to 1500RPM when comparing same fans??
 
#4 · (Edited)
Thanks for the info.

To keep in perspective, in a review system with 5 stars being best Peerless Assassin 120 has had 15 total owner reviews with all but one being 5 stars and that one being 4 stars. This means all owners are very pleased with product.

Like I said before, 1550rpm fans are not going to be quiet at speeds above about 1100-1200rpm. I don't know of any fan that is, and over the years I've used and tested a lot of fans. 120mm fans start being audible at about 1100-1200rpm. 140mm fans start being audible at about 1000-1100rpm. It varies some depending on fin design / grill design.

So having 4 out of 15 reviews comment that fans being "loud" is no a surprise, but what I would expect honest users to say about noise levels of 1550rpm fans.

I would love to have one to test. I think it is quite good cooler. I've used / tested many coolers over the years including most if not all Thermalright heatpipe coolers up until about 2 years ago (I took some time out). All scored in the top 2 or 3 cooler in their class. To me that says a lot about Thermalright quality. I'm getting back into testing mode, so may try getting some of these newer Thermalright cooler to test.

Just in case you are interested, here's dimensional drawing of Peerless Assassin 120
Product Rectangle Font Parallel Pattern
 
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#6 ·
Filingo said:
This is awesome, thank you. I will get one as well and update here if I remember!
Looking forward for your testing results as well!
Click to expand...
You are welcome. Thanks for say "thank you". Many don't

Please post up after you get yours to let us know how it all works out. Every little bit of info helps.
 
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Discussion starter · #7 · (Edited)
doyll said:
You are welcome. Thanks for say "thank you". Many don't

Please post up after you get yours to let us know how it all works out. Every little bit of info helps.
Click to expand...
Haha you're welcome and deserve it!
Indeed, I might be buying it right now, the only problem is, that it cost 46$ (I want the white version), and I get free shipping above 65 and up to 75$ on Amazon, so I am looking for something else to buy with it, any ideas? I was thinking about a USB drive or a 240gb Sata3 SSD for my HTPC (Kingston A400 240GB) or maybe a micro SD card, or anything that I could buy for my pc itself ?

Edit: How did you find these detailed product images? It's not on Thermalright's website :D
 
#8 ·
I find 240-500GB SSDs nice as transitional drives, like when encoding, rendering, etc. Maybe just me.
Maybe a fan or two? I've heard P12 / P14 are good for low price. They make very good case intake fans.
 
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#10 ·
Did you get PA120 yet? Really interested in hearing how you get on with it.
 
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Discussion starter · #12 · (Edited)
doyll said:
Did you get PA120 yet? Really interested in hearing how you get on with it.
Click to expand...
Not yet, I ordered it and it should be here next week.
Ordered the white version, and now I realized the black might've been better with my black case, but what can I do :ROFLMAO:

b0z0 said:
I've ordered mine, and it should be here Friday. I also ordered Artic P12 fans to replace the stock fans.
Click to expand...
Awesome! Can you please test with the stock fans and report as well? I might change the fans as well

Edit: Guys prepare me what tests do you want me to do? Before, After etc and with what softwares
 
#14 ·
Straighten it out and run it..
 
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#16 ·
Filingo said:
@doyll

Ok, it arrived. I'm not sure if I should return it or not. The fans look weird - the cable is twisted and lifts the sticker, and the soldering looks really bad and might be a fire hazard? Should I install it nonetheless, or just give up and return it?

View attachment 2527823
Click to expand...
I would do what Owterspace said. Probably be fine and you can intall it. If that doesn't work you can still return it for refund or replacement.
 
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#18 ·
Filingo said:
These are the reviews on Amazon that I found complaining the sound: (Some of these you found as well)

1) "Loud fans but good performing dual tower heatsink"
2) "My one complaint is that the included fans, while not loud, are kind of high-pitched which can be annoying at times."
3) " However, the thermalright fans are MUCH louder when >1300 RPM, and they appear to move the same amount of air at 1500 RPM as the scythe kaze flex at 1200 RPM."
4) "Great build quality and easy install but beware loud stock fans"

So it's 4 out of 15 reviews which is quite a lot? (26%)

But you're right about the RPM. Maybe I should just adjust the curve to not go over 1200 RPM?

Do you think there's a big difference in cooling between 1200RPM to 1500RPM when comparing same fans??
Click to expand...
Thermalright has always had great fans. Their older TY-140 ( ) performed substantially better than the fan on the old NH-D14. I'd chalk up any issue with fans being too loud being PEBKAC, since I doubt they've gotten worse. Potentially the user isn't adjusting the fan curve properly, or isn't using PWM at all. As far as a difference between 1200 and 1500, probably zero. These days, a heatsink fan on a properly mounted heatsink with good contact and the right amount of paste should never have to hit 1500 or even 1200rpm unless it's under all core heavy load anyway.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I still have some TY-140 in an old system. I'm also still using TY-143 in another system. Had to square them and make adapter mounts to use them as case fans. There is definitely a big difference between 1200rpm and 1500rpm in both increased airflow and noise. Down side of TY-140 was being limited by it's 1300rpm max speed. I had a couple of high performance systems that needed 1500rpm at times, so used TY-143 because they idle down will idle down to 500-550rpm on PWM and are silent at those speeds. I often used them if needing more airflow than TY-140 had .. but never liked their red/orange colors. Didn't like TY-141 as much as others, but they weren't bad.

Both my 6700 and 3600 have big hi-performance cooler and their fans often run 1300-1400rpm under heavy load, and that is with air temp entering cooler at 23-24c, which is 2c above room ambient.

Does the review you posted image from have rpm to airflow and pressure data?
 
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#20 ·
From the Amazon QA section, Thermalright says the ram clearance height is 46mm, which from their YT installation video appears to be to the bottom of the notch on the HS. So the front fan is pushed up slightly to accommodate RAM clearance.
 
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Owterspace
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