Cooling Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 110 Top Down Cooler - quick look & review

[REVOCCASES]

I needed a new top-down cooler for my latest 9.5L classic layout build and while browsing I found the Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 110 on sale for just EUR 30,-

so let's have a look what you get for that price...

My first impression was very positive. The cooler is well build and especially the TOUGHFAN feels rock solid...



the cooler comes with mounting hardware for all modern sockets... unfortunately the backplate (/frame) and the thumbscrews are made from plastic, metal would have been nicer but I guess the price must come from somewhere...



the fan mounting mechanism on the other hand is well thought of and I noticed that you even could mount one slim fan underneath the heatsink, although...



...that would only work with VLP RAM... anyways, for my build I'm good with the fat TOUGHFAN on top...





next up I tried mounting the cooler and surprise... the backplate (/frame) collides with some SMD components on the back of my BIOSTAR motherboard



not quite sure who's to blame for that oversight but if I had bought a NOCTUA that most probably would not have happened...



anyways, after removing some plastic material from that mounting frame I was able to mount the cooler without further issues...



oh, I still noticed something that *could* cause issues for certain users... the mounting frame is quite thick with 7mm and I know that *some* SFF cases only use 6mm or even 5mm motherboard standoffs...



now let's have a look at the performance: sitting on an i5 12400 the TOUGHAIR 110 performs really nice and quiet. Up to ~1000 RPM the fan is inaudible to me and keeps the CPU well around 65C during stress testing. At full speed (2000 RPM) I found the fan a bit too loud for my taste.



Summarizing I'd say its a good budget cooler for a lower TDP build where you are limited to <115mm cooler height.

 

[Analogue Blacksheep]

Seems very similar to the Thermalright SI-100 in appearance - I've been mulling putting one of those into that RCC-MIT1 I bought from you.

 

[ignsvn]

oh, I still noticed something that *could* cause issues for certain users... the mounting frame is quite thick with 7mm and I know that *some* SFF cases only use 6mm or even 5mm motherboard standoffs...

My guess is because it's made of plastic. Need to compensate the limited material strength with some additional thickness.

Likely can go thinner if it's made of metal.

 

[riba2233]

I love when components break ATX standards... Then you have to explain your customers that is not your fault.

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Do you see any advantage over sth. like the NH-L12 or the NH-D9L? Aside of the pricing, that is?

cu, w0lf.

 

[REVOCCASES]

depends on your build I guess... I chose it mainly because of the price and looks, plus I didn't need a premium cooler for my i5 11400



Like I said above, the Thoughfan gets a bit noisy at higher RPM (= if you use it with higher TDP CPUs) and Noctua clearly has a better mounting system for their coolers, so...