MaximumPC 2005 12

J

ust when we thought CPU coolers couldn’t possibly get any larger, along

comes the Tower 120. This sucker is absolutely massive, but don’t let that

scare you away; it’s an exceptional cooler. Despite its obscene girth—or, actu-

ally, because of it—the Tower 120 offers tantalizing performance at a surpris-

ingly affordable price—half that of Zalman’s prized CNPS9500 cooler.

Though it follows traditional CPU cooler design with its copper base

plate, six heatpipes, and big-ass array of

aluminum fins, the Tower 120 blazes a

new path by dropping a giant

adjustable-speed 12cm fan

right into the middle of the

array of fins, so it sucks air

in one side of the cooler and

blows it out the other. It’s a

fantastic alternative to hang-

ing the fan off one side of the

fins, which usually creates

clearance issues somewhere

around the CPU socket.

The only downside to

the Tower 120’s size is that it

requires a motherboard back-

plate to support its weight. The

backplate is included with the

kit, but you have to remove the

mobo in any P4 (Socket 478

or LGA775) system to install it. Athlon 64 processors use the stock backplate,

so no mobo removal is necessary. Once the backplate is in place, the Tower 120

attaches with large thumbscrews that are a cinch to tighten. An included fan

speed controller fits into an empty PCI slot.

During testing, the cooler performed exceptionally, posting numbers right

up there with the very best CPU coolers we’ve tested. As we expected, the Tower

120 makes a bit of noise with the fan turned all the way up, but it’s remarkably

quiet on 90 percent of the available settings.

Sure, it’s huge, but every worthwhile CPU cooler is large and in charge.

This one is just a bit larger than

most, but it certainly earns its

keep with stellar performance.

—JOSH NOREM

Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler

It’s big, but it’s also bad (meaning good)

9 MA XIMUMPC DECEMBER 2005

reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

If you look

closely you can

see the bottom

of the 12cm fan

dangling down

in the middle of

the cooler. Tuniq

calls this design

“midship ventila-

tion” and it works

splendidly.

TUNIQ TOWER 120

$40, http://www.tuniq.com.tw



MA XIMUMPC

KICKASS

TOWER 120 STOCK COOLER

Best scores are bolded. All temperatures were measured via the onboard

sensors, using the utilities provided by the motherboard manufacturer.

Idle temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of inactivity and full-

load temps were achieved running CPU Burn-in for one hour.

BENCHMARKS

AMD FX-55 TEMPS

IDLE

FAN LOW (C) 33 N/A

FAN HIGH (C) 32 40

100% LOAD

FAN LOW (C) 52 N/A

FAN HIGH (C) 45 54

INTEL LGA775 3.6GHZ

IDLE

FAN LOW (C) 36 N/A

FAN HIGH (C) 34 44

100% LOAD

FAN LOW (C) 48 N/A

FAN HIGH (C) 44 63

T

he engineers at Sling Media must really identify with Charlie and

the Chocolate Factory’s Mike Teavee, because they’ve invented a

device that enables you to watch your home television anywhere you have

Internet access.

Actually, the Slingbox does more than that: It can control any media

device (DVD player, camcorder, etc.) outfitted with an infrared remote-con-

trol receiver, and then stream that device’s A/V output over the Internet

to your remote PC. (You can also set up multiple Slingboxes, one for each

device). In short, the Slingbox is an ingenious and well-executed idea.

Here’s how it works.

Simply plug your device’s A/V outputs into the Slingbox (we used the

S-Video and stereo output from a satellite TV tuner/DVR), hardwire (unfortu-

nately) the Slingbox to your router, and then install the player software onto

as many computers as you’d like. Uncommonly thorough documentation

made configuring both the Slingbox and our router a snap.

Once you’ve installed the SlingPlayer software and opened a port

on your router, you can control whatever device you’ve plugged into the

Slingbox from anywhere you have Internet access. Your commands are

sent over the network to the Slingbox, which transmits them to the device

through an infrared emitter. Media then streams back to your router, over

the Internet, and to your PC.

We took a laptop to a coffee shop with a Wi-Fi hotspot and watched

both live TV and programs we had previously recorded on our set-top DVR

at home. Native resolution is only 320x240 pixels, so we didn’t get anything

close to a home-theater experience, but neither did we experience any

audio or video breakup.

Our only real gripe with the Slingbox is its goofy formfactor. The silver

brick with the “My TV, My Music...” messaging punched into its top just

doesn’t integrate well with a

home-entertainment system.

—MICHAEL BROWN

Sling Media Slingbox

This little silver streaming box is in a category all its own

Integrate the Slingbox into your home-entertainment system,

and you can watch TV anywhere you have Internet access.

SLING MEDIA SLINGBOX

$250, http://www.slingmedia.com