Our Verdict
A superb choice for many gaming PCs, offering excellent performance and a robust design. It's a little louder than some, and a little larger, but you can't complain at this price.
For
- Excellent performance
- Affordable as heck
- Good quality
Against
- A little loud compared to some
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When I wrote my review of Arctic's Freezer 36, I was inundated with comments telling me to test the Thermalright Peerless Assassin. Subsequently, two of my colleagues recommended the very same cooler as one of their favourite purchases in recent years. So, I bought one, and in this review I'll cover why my colleagues, and the internet at large, are correct. This thing rules.
I purchased the Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2, a version of the cooler with six heatpipes, for £26. It's currently $33 on Amazon US. Thermalright has around 40,000 variants of any one cooler, all with names using a combination of around ten words, and spanning nine pages on its website. I opted for one of the cheapest available at the time, but if you wanted something prettier, there are many more to choose from.
The longevity of any fan bearing can be pretty variable depending on how well they're made. I've not run these for any suitable length of time to comment on their lifespan. Though, presuming they last a couple years at the very least, replacing them with something similar wouldn't cost much at all.
The heatsink is fairly basic with six heatpipes and a small cutout on the outer edge to reduce any chance of compatibility issues with memory kits. The version I have is bare metal, though there are smarter options available. Personally, I don't mind the bare metal look, especially as Thermalright has included two black covers for the top of each heatsink to help it blend in a little through a windowed side panel.
Installation is easy enough. On Intel systems, like the LGA1700 system I've tested it on, a rear bracket is mounted to the motherboard and then, on the other side, four spacers and screws hold two metal brackets in place. The cooler sits atop these brackets with two spring-fitted captive screws to lock it firmly into place. You can mess with the orientation pretty easily and it supports a few generations: 1700/1150/1151/1200/1851.
It's more or less the same install process on AM5/AM4 with fewer steps and different brackets.
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Game and synthetic benchmarks | measured in HWInfo
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2 | 72 Max °C, 51 Avg °C |
| Arctic Freezer 36 | 71 Max °C, 55 Avg °C |
| Be Quiet! Dark Rock 5 | 71 Max °C, 56 Avg °C |
| Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro | 77 Max °C, 59 Avg °C |
The Thermalright really shines in testing. It keeps a Core i7 14700K totally under control in games and is on a level-pegging with the best air coolers I've tested to date. Like any air cooler in combination with this power-hungry chip, it can struggle to keep a lid on temperatures in demanding benchmarks like X264 or Cinebench but it fairs better than most. With a more reasonable 120 W power limit in place on the 14700K, mimicking the power load of more modern processors, the Peerless Assassin is practically frosty.
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Fan noise | measured 15 cm away | Toptes TS-501B sound level
Fan noise
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2 | 58 |
| Arctic Freezer 36 | 51 |
| Be Quiet! Dark Rock 5 | 47 |
| Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro | 52 |
✅ You want top performance for less: With a tiny price tag and exceptional performance, this cooler leaves no crumbs.
❌ You want the quietest cooler, or something compact: There's no denying the heft of the Peerless Assassin. Though therein lies the secret to its excellent performance. It's also a little louder than competing options, but not by a huge margin.
In terms of price/performance, then, it's pretty untouchable. Though it is noisier than some competing units. The Freezer 36 remains a solid pick for that reason, offering similar temperatures (with some leniency for fluctuations in ambient temperatures during testing) and quieter operation. Though it's a little pricier at $37 at time of writing.
At this price, and providing you have space for it, the Thermalright Peerless Assassin is superb choice for keeping costs down with a fresh build.
I asked my colleagues if they could sum up their feelings on the Peerless Assassin in a single word: Andy said it was "big", "mighty" and "chungus", and then "bigmightychungus"; and Nick said it was "peerless (for the money)". Despite their inability to count, I think their feedback speaks volumes about the Peerless Assassin. It's great, and you don't need anything more than it offers for many of today's popular CPUs.
1. Best AIO:
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro
2. Best budget AIO:
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Core II
3. Best high-end AIO:
Be Quiet! Light Loop
4. Best screen:
NZXT Kraken Elite RGB (2024)
5. Best air:
Noctua NH-D15 G2
6. Best budget air:
Arctic Freezer 36
A superb choice for many gaming PCs, offering excellent performance and a robust design. It's a little louder than some, and a little larger, but you can't complain at this price.
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