Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE (dual tower)

Our analysis

The Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE is one tower with four heat pipes and one fan; this is two towers, six heat pipes and two 120 mm fans, each rated at 25.6 dB like the single one. The extra metal costs 7 mm of height, 155 mm against 148 mm. The single tower is sized for a 65 W Ryzen 5 or non-K Core i5; this one is the cooler we recommend for chips up to 125 W, X3D parts included, without a pump.

What stands out

• Two towers, six 6 mm heat pipes. Thermalright mounts them on a nickel-plated C1100 copper base.
• No pump to wear out. It is the cooler in our value build because it has no pump or liquid inside, so there is nothing to leak or stop.
• Two fans rated at 25.6 dB. That is Thermalright's figure for each 120 mm PWM fan.
• Wide socket support. AM4, AM5, LGA1700, LGA1851 and LGA115x/1200 are all listed, so it can follow you to a new platform.

Where it falls short

• It is 155 mm tall, and some mid-size cases will not close over it. Check your case's maximum cooler height before buying.
• It has no RGB, and for an overclocked Ryzen 9 or Core Ultra 9 our temperature guide points to a 360 mm liquid cooler instead.

Look elsewhere if

• Your case is short on headroom: the Thermalright Frozen Notte 240 ARGB V2 moves the heat to a 240 mm radiator and adds ARGB. If you run a high-end chip with an overclock, the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 brings three P12 Pro fans on a 360 mm radiator plus a VRM fan.

We explain where it fits by wattage in our TDP-based cooler guide, and it is the cooler in our best value gaming PC build.