Thermalright HR-03 GT

Thermalright has been making elegant CPU and VGA coolers for many years now. Don't let the sweet exterior fool you though, as Thermalright's coolers perform even better than they look. The HR-03 GT is our only cooler in this round up that can be mounted with the fins above the graphics card giving the user the option to mount the system with fins on top or bottom. This will go a long way for end users looking to use SLI or CrossFire modes.

Right out of the box the HR-03 is passive so we are going to test the cooler with a low speed Nexus 92mm fan that passes enough air to keep our card cool while keeping the acoustics to non-existent levels outside of the case.

Specifications

• Dimension: L133 x W156 x H38 mm (heatsink only)

• Weight: 410g (heatsink only) Recommended Fan (92x25mm)

Features

• 6 heatpipes for maximum amount of heat transfer

• Proprietary two-heatsinks-in-one design to maximize cooling capacity

• Two ways of mounting the cooler on video card for best space and configuration management in ATX and BTX form factor cases

• Light weight and easy no-tool installation

• SLI compatible for serious gaming enthusiasts

Compatibility

NVIDIA 6800 Series - (GS,GT,Ultra)

NVIDIA 7800 Series

NVIDIA 7900 Series

NVIDIA 7950 GT

NVIDIA 8600 GTS

NVIDIA 8800 GT

NVIDIA 8800 GTS (G92)

NVIDIA 9600 GT (G94)

ATI X1800 Series

ATI X1900 Series

ATI HD-3850 Series

ATI HD-3870 Series

Product Images

Thermalright took the minimalist approach with their packaging, brown box style.

The side of the box lists what product is inside, so at least you know what you are grabbing off of the parts shelf.

It is beautiful! The cooler is very shiny and those heatpipes are placed perfectly across tightly spaced cooling fins.

I was disappointed when I saw that the GPU mating surface had small machine marks; I was expecting a perfectly flat, mirror surface.

Calling the caped crusader? You have to admit that it reminds you of the Bat Signal.

Here we see that the six heatpipes run through the entire fin area.

The accessory package comes with enough memory heatsinks to cool two graphics cards and Thermalright gave us enough thermal paste for several applications.