Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler, 6 Heat Pipes AGHP Technology, Dual 120mm PWM Fans, 1550RPM Speed, for AMD:AM4 AM5/Intel LGA 1700/1150/1151/1200/1851,PC Cooler

This air cooler was surprisingly good for the price. First of all, it was packaged very neatly and protected very well. It has a really nice, big heatsink and good fans with it. It's quiet, and comes with a lot of mounting hardware, so no matter what motherboard you have, you can use it. Although hard to get on first, it is a relatively simple set up process. Set the backplate for you motherboard under it. Put the spacers on the holes, place the retention brackets over the spacers, and then screw it in until the backplate and retention bracket are both snug against the motherboard. Take off the plastic piece from the heatsink, and then screw is onto the retention brackets. Take the fans, and position them with on ein the middle and the other on one side of the heatsink, both facing the same way and use the clips to keep them onto the heatsink. The fans also come with a splitter cable to minimize the total amount of fan headers needed. My one gripe is the fan clips. I just don't like them, they're somewhat hard to get on properly. If the fan clips were easier to get on, there would be no reason to get a different air cooler without rgb.

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!

I've been building PCs for over a decade, and the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE is hands down one of the best air coolers I've used—especially at this price point.Pros:Outstanding cooling performance: Easily keeps my Ryzen 7 5800X under 70°C under full load. It's right up there with much more expensive coolers like the Noctua NH-D15.Quiet operation: Even under load, the included fans are whisper quiet. Idle temps are practically silent.Easy installation: The mounting system is simple and solid. Thermalright includes all necessary hardware and clear instructions.Excellent build quality: The heatsink is hefty and well-made, and the fans feel durable with no rattling or vibrations.Great value: For around $35–$40, you're getting premium-tier performance without breaking the bank.Cons:Large size: Make sure to check your RAM clearance and case dimensions. It's a big cooler, so compact builds may have issues.Plain aesthetics: It's not flashy—no RGB or aggressive design—but if you care more about performance than looks, it’s perfect.Bottom line:If you're looking for top-tier air cooling without paying premium-brand prices, the Peerless Assassin 120 SE is a no-brainer. It punches way above its weight class and is one of the best deals in PC cooling right now.

I turned on PBO for my Ryzen 9 7900 to get closer to the performance of the R9 7900x. I did this to fix stuttering after upgrading my GPU. With PBO off, the CPU struggles to keep the GPU fed. Anyway, running at the normal 88 watt TDP, the AMD Wraith cooler that comes with the CPU was adequate. Not great, but it kept the CPU temperature in line. Really stressing the CPU with modern games and a modern GPU (upgraded from 3060 Ti to 9070 XT), the Wraith simply couldn't handle it. Temps were spiking and the CPU was thermal throttling. I bought this cooler and installed it. Immediately, it kept the average temperature while gaming to the mid-upper 60s C with the occasional spike into the 70s or 80s. Those spikes occur only under particularly heavy load such as loading a new area in a game. Overall, I've been very impressed with this cooler for my CPU. I just installed it today, so I haven't got any long term data yet, but if nothing changes, my review will stay at 5 stars.

based on AMD Ryzen 9 cpu on an MSI mini-ITX board housed in a Thermaltake cubic desktop box - installation was pretty straightforward. The CPU temperature which was peaking at nearly 100C with the stock AMD cooler, is now down to 85C on the same games - a win! Unfortunately, the heat pipes at the top of this cooler are taller than the top cover of the Thermaltake Core V1 gaming cube case I bought a few years ago. Fortunately, there is a clear plastic window on top and I will be able to make some holes for the heat pipes to protrude, and it looks like newer Thermaltake boxes are taller. The protruding heat pipes do not seem to be critical to cooling; why did they not cut them flush with the top of the heat fins?

I upgraded my 16 year old's CPU because a power spike took his old AM4 processor out.. didn't want to redo the motherboard and RAM so went with a Ryzen 7 5700x. I had bought a 120mm AIO for him but it wouldn't fit in his case so we installed it with a wraith stealth cooler that came with his old processor.. temps were sitting around 85c though so I decided to order this.Installed it yesterday and temps have been closer to 50c since installing it.No noise to speak of and installation was pretty easy.Overall this one looks like a winner to me.. I would buy it again.