Thermalright XP-120

Fins & Base

There are a total of 52 fins soldered to the base of the XP-120. The thickness of the fins are more or less same as the Zalman coolers we saw earlier - at around 0.2 mm. But these fins have a wavy-profile.

The XP-120's base is the only part that isn't made out of aluminum. It is actually a nickel-plated copper base. As you can see, it doesn't have a mirror finish. The machining marks are evident. But it is very flat which is the most important thing.

Accessories

The provided fan mounting clips can accommodate fans that are anywhere from 25mm to 35mm thick. Thermalright also provided two strips of rubber tape which can be placed between the fan and the fins to reduce the amount of vibration from the fan passing to the fins. The two screws included are for the mounting bracket.

The XP-120 also comes with a relatively large syringe of thermal transfer compound. It's a pretty large amount, compared to the thermal paste provided with other heatsinks.

The Mounting Mechanism

Take a look at the mounting clip outlined in the square box.

To install this heatsink on a Socket 478 platform, all you need is to push both of these clips down to lock them to the Socket 478 mounting bracket.

Of course, you will need to consider the orientation that suits your motherboard best before you start mounting it.

There are only two possible orientations for the XP-120 though. If this particular orientation causes the XP-120 to interfere with other components, then you will be forced to mount it in the other way.

To mount the XP-120 on the Socket 754/939/940 platforms, you will need to replace the stock mounting bracket with the one provided by Thermalright.

It "emulates" the mounting brackets on Socket 478 platform. Therefore, it is possible to mount other Socket 478 coolers to your Socket 754/939/940 platforms with this bracket installed!