Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE CPU Air Cooler, 4 Heat Pipes, TL-C12C PWM Fan, Aluminium Heatsink Cover, AGHP Technology, for AMD AM4/AM5/Intel LGA 1150/1151/1155/1200/1700/1851(AX120 R SE)

I had an old i5-2500K that I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of, and decided that it was either time to let it go or get it to run at a useful speed. I was running overclocked at 4.4Ghz on the stock Intel cooler and getting temps of around 81c under full load, so to go further I needed better cooling., This looked like a great budget option. The result was a 30c drop in core temps while running a stress test! Averages dropped to 51c and max observed temp was only 54C! Awesome! With that kind of cooling performance I was ready to let the horses run on that old processor, and run it did! Right up until the 12-year-old Gigabyte z68 motherboard decided that 4.9GHz and 1.385v was just too much for its old components and beta UEFI. It died a good death right there on the dining room table... a bittersweet end to a legendary combo. But that no fault of the cooler. Performance was beyond expectations. It was well-packaged, easy to install, well-made, had everything I needed including thermal paste (saved me a trip to the basement), and man was it QUIET. Excellent cooler on-par with another brand I just installed that cost twice as much. I'm not sure whether I am going to hang onto it or not since I just ordered a replacement CPU that comes with a stock cooler (budget build - stock is good enough), but for under twenty bucks I wouldn't mind keeping this in the parts bin in case one of my machines needs a replacement.

Dan V. · 2024-04-09 · via amazon

This Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE CPU cooler is a solid option for the price. It feels well-made, the 120mm PWM fan runs smoothly, and the 4 heat pipes help provide good cooling for everyday PC use. It’s a nice upgrade over a basic stock cooler and works with a wide range of AMD and Intel sockets.

FK · 2026-05-10 · via amazon

Mister Twiggly is an ardent gamer, and his home-built gaming rig, while ancient, is capable. However, the stock cooler was getting a little noisy at times, so it was time for a replacement. Enter the Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE. Installation was fairly straightforward, though he had to pull out the motherboard to attach the backplate. From then on it was plain sailing. Testing showed that the CPU temperature is 10-15°C cooler at rest and 20-25°C cooler under load than the stock cooler, which he is holding in his right paw. Moreover, fan noise is barely noticeable - hardly surprising, since the fan is huge and runs far more slowly than its predecessor to cool that monster heatsink. This is music to Mister Twiggly's fluffy but sensitive ears. A very good solution at a modest price. Mister Twiggly says "Hurrah for Thermalright!", and gives this product his highest recommendation.

Mister Twiggly · 2026-01-02 · via amazon

heavy and well built. don't even try to put this on with the motherboard on it's end, lay the sucker down. it is quite heavy. Like I said well built, more than enough for my needs. Good for most CPUs, maybe not for the big suckers and more modern CPUs. I have an older setup so this works perfectly, almost overkill really. No frills, just excellent cooling. Don't forget the pea sized amount of thermal paste, very critical. the cooler is made with main stacks of copper with aluminum (?) grills. Fan is quiet and runs just fine, before installing ensure you have the fan pointing towards the exit air flow, because if you're pointing it towards an incoming fan you'll lose out on alot of the efficiency and could create hot pockets perhaps. So THINK before you install. these fans go only one way. NO RGB lighting on this, if you just need cooling and don't need a disco lighting setup. LOL.

Justin Huber · 2026-04-19 · via amazon

Another awesome unit from thermaltake for cheap. Keeps my r5-3600 super cool under heavy gaming. Easy to install and very secure. Just make sure you follow the included instructions to make sure it seats properly. Also fairly quiet

Bert · 2026-05-05 · via amazon

Best Buy

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VALUE SCORE

Price

$8.49