Ultra Cheap $23 CPU Cooler Review: Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 Benchmarks

At time of posting, the Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 is a $21 (it keeps changing!) CPU tower cooler. This review benchmarks it for thermals and more vs. the best CPU coolers.
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Note that there's no included LGA1700 bracket right now. There will be in the future, but for now, they are selling them separately.

The Thermalright Assassin Spirit keeps changing prices as we've worked on it. It seems to range between $21 and $31, but at either price point, it's a seriously competitive, low-frills offering. The Spirit doesn't try to do anything special -- it certainly doesn't look special -- but it does perform well for a cheap tower cooler. That's about all it does. The Spirit drops coloring, lighting, and more user-friendly mounting to reach a low price-point. In this benchmark, we'll be looking at some of the best air coolers for CPUs on the budget market. This cooler is most suitable for something similar to an Intel i5 or AMD R5 CPU, but can obviously cooler lower-end CPUs just fine. We'll also test it against an R7 type of heat load. The Vetroo V5 is the most obvious recent competition vs. the Spirit 120.

Check out our Cooler Review Playlist to see full reviews of these coolers and more:
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We have an entire video on our Cooler Testing Methodology here:    • Why Most Cooler Tests Are Flawed: CPU...  

If you missed it, we reviewed the Alienware R13 prebuilt here:    • The Worst Pre-Built We've Ever Review...  

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RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]

Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 on Amazon (NO LGA1700 on this one, but cheaper for AM4): https://geni.us/2fNPBfd
Thermalright LGA1700 bracket on Amazon: https://geni.us/0MwqRC
Arctic Freezer 34 Esports Duo on Amazon: https://geni.us/mvdp
Scythe Fuma 2 on Amazon: https://geni.us/5qM0v
Vetroo V5 on Amazon: https://geni.us/9IAQF9
Noctua NH-U12S Redux on Amazon: https://geni.us/BnCTNY
Or if you want some liquid cooling, there’s the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 on Amazon: https://geni.us/RJBy

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 Review
03:02 - Weird Marketing Claims
07:17 - Mechanical Design
08:37 - Installation Process
09:58 - Packaging & Documentation
10:45 - Pressure Scanner Results
11:55 - Cold Plate Surface Flatness
12:53 - 68W R5/i5 Noise-Normalized Benchmark
14:25 - 68W 100% Fan Speed Thermals
15:28 - 123W Best CPU Coolers Noise-Normalized
16:18 - 123W 100% Fan Speed Test
17:31 - Conclusion

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Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing, Research: Mike Gaglione
Writing: Michael Kerns
Video: Keegan Gallick
Video: Andrew Coleman