Thermalright Assassin X 120 R SE V2 (single tower air cooler)

Our analysis

Same single-tower idea as the ARCTIC Freezer 36 A-RGB, with half the fans: one 120 mm fan here against two in push-pull, fixed-color lighting against A-RGB, and 148 mm of height against 159 mm. Those 11 mm count in a mid tower with little headroom. We size the Freezer 36 for chips up to about 125 W; this one is the replacement for the box cooler on a 65 W Ryzen 5 or Core i5.

What stands out

• Four heat pipes, one 120 mm fan. A single tower with a fan Thermalright rates at 25.6 dB.
• 148 mm of height. 7 mm less than the dual-tower Peerless Assassin, so it is the easier one to fit when your case lists a low maximum cooler height.
• One tower, not two. There is less metal over the memory area than with a dual tower, which leaves more room for tall RAM heatsinks.
• Wide socket support. It mounts on AM4, AM5, LGA1851, LGA1700 and LGA115x/1200.

Where it falls short

• Do not expect it to hold a 14900K in check during a long render; Thermalright sells it as a single-fan tower, not a high-end cooler.
• The lighting is a fixed color, not addressable RGB.

Look elsewhere if

• You run an X3D or a K-series chip: the Peerless Assassin 120 SE steps up to a dual tower with six heat pipes and two fans; check its 155 mm height against your case. If you want no lighting at all, the Assassin X120 Refined SE keeps the same 148 mm height, four heat pipes and single fan.

It does not have its own guide yet, so see it next to the rest in CPU coolers, or put two models side by side in our comparator.