Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB White CPU Air Cooler, 6 Heat Pipes CPU Cooler, Dual 120mm TL-C12CW-S PWM Fan

After 3 years, It was time to upgrade from my AMD stock Wraith Prism air cooler that came with my 3900x processor. I was simply sick of how loud it was. It ran at a constant 50+ decibels (I used an app to measure) and 3000+ rpm. I also looked at my CPU temps for the first time while playing hogwarts legacy and it was running at 100c while playing and at 85-90c while web browsing. At less than half the cost of a premium cooler, the peerless assassin was worth a try. When I went to take out my stock cooler, I discovered that I had never clamped the cooler down all the way and it was loose. DOH! My computer was not cooled properly for the past 3 years. After removing it, and going through some trial and error installing the peerless mounting hardware, I finally got the peerless in place (with thermal paste). Also, I didn’t know thermal paste was already included! I figured best be safe and use the more expensive $6 paste I bought separately. The Fan installation was confusing however and that took more youtube watching and trial and error. My ram was too tall so the fans don’t sit flush on the cooler, the fan had to be lifted about 3/4 inch to accommodate the ram. (middle fan was fine). Next, while looking at the included y-splitter for powering both fans, I discovered one side was 4 pin and the other was 3 pin. I assumed it may have been the wrong splitter because you would assume both sides would be 4 pin to power both fans from the same power source on the motherboard. However it turns out this is normal and only one fan uses the 4 pin while the other uses a “slave” 3 pin to match the rpm’s of the other fan. When I finally got both fans connected to power I tucked away the other cords and didn’t worry about RGB because my computer was already looking fugly as hell with the giant new air cooler. When I turned on my computer, it was still pretty loud, but I knew that I had to tune my fan curves still to make sure the fans were turning at the right rpm in relation to cpu temps. I used MSI Center software to do this. After the tuning process was complete I was blown away by how quiet my PC was. It was night and day. Also, looking at temps, the cpu was now sitting comfortable at 40-50c while browsing and 50-60c while gaming. The temps were cut in half and the noise was also cut in half, if not more!!! Should have done this from the beginning of building my PC.

Taylor F · 2023-03-26 · via amazon

I recently installed three of these Thermalright fans in my new NZXT H6 Flow build, and they've been outstanding. Installation was incredibly simple thanks to the daisy-chain feature, meaning all three only took up one fan port on my ASRock B650 Steel Legend motherboard - a huge plus for cable management. Performance-wise, these fans are surprisingly quiet, even when my AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (cooled by a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB) is under significant load. Most importantly, they deliver excellent temperature control, keeping my entire system consistently cool without any noticeable temperature spikes. In fact, the thermal performance is even better than some hybrid coolers I've used in previous builds. For anyone seeking effective and quiet cooling without a hefty price tag, these Thermalright fans are a fantastic choice. They have proven to be a critical component in keeping my new, fairly powerful setup (which also includes a SAMSUNG 990 EVO Plus SSD and TEAMGROUP T-Create DDR5 RAM) running optimally. The combination of easy installation, whisper-quiet operation, and superb thermal performance makes them an unbeatable value. I highly recommend them!

Trexopus · 2025-05-19 · via amazon

I have been using these coolers for a number of years now and have had absolutely no issues and they perform better than most of the far more expensive coolers. The fans are pwm so ramp and slow with my fan curves. Sometimes I will get fans that have a slight whine to them but it's not a concern if your wearing headphones. I installed one on a heavily over locked 5900x and it never got above 70C under load. The white of the fans and the cooler are a little different but unless you are really really looking you don't notice it. I will continue to use these in subsequent build because for the money it's the best cooler out there.

Larry Rodriguez · 2026-01-10 · via amazon

First off… I love this product. When it fits, It works out great! Just look at those pictures. It looks dope in there. It's so big it's dwarfing a 3 slot 30 cm long graphic card. And the cooler.. Ooh...I was so surprised at how perfectly the color from the case fans match the cooler ARGB fans. If you want to your PC look fly on Cheap and also have it perform good, It's hard to beat this CPU cooler. And the performance... that's the best part of this.. I'm getting CPU temps of 70s on my 7800x3d using this.. And I spent less the 40 bucks. Installation is simple enough. Lots of people made videos installing this CPU cooler into their machines. I happen to have done this on a AM5 motherboard with a 7800x3d chip. The problem is making the CPU cooler fit can be hard. I was sweating if I even would be able to get the glass on my computer case when I got this. This turned out to be not an issue, I ended up with a center meter to spare. The real issue is if you will to clear your ram sticks like I did. I managed to clear it with space for a ARGB header cable to slip under, but only because I had bog-standard ram sticks that did not have fancy lights. If you have fancy ram, those big fat sticks of ram that look like they got something to prove to the world, and light up like it's Christmas.... you might want to just get a water pump and 240mm radiator CPU IO instead of this. But if you want to chuck your fancy ram sticks... you can still put the fans on the back of the CPU cooler radiator instead of the fronts, or even move them up a little, so the fans stick up. Chances are the CPU will clear the ram if they are taller than stock. The other problem you will find with the fan is getting the cable for the ARGB header is hard... like this should have been a few more inches longer. I just was lucky my header was very close... but this is why you see cables leave all over the place. But hey. If you can't the ARGB header cable to stretch to reach... it's a 5 dollar problem... I have seen ARGB cable extensions on Amazon, that will help you if you have this problem.

baloneyjustice · 2023-10-13 · via amazon

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VALUE SCORE

Price

$20

Price

$46.07