Last night we got to spend an extensive amount of time talking to Thermalright at the Wynn. We learned a lot of amazing details that we’d like to share.

First and foremost, Thermalright is ending the production of the TRUE Copper after one final batch. While a production unit with its (massive) bulk is relatively safe for knowledgeable enthusiasts, it poses a risk to the average consumer who can easily crack their motherboard.

Secondly, Thermalright is expanding into its own line of cases and power supplies. We learned that the firm is completely against rebadging products, so they’ve hired an electrical engineer who is in the process of designing a brand new unit for the company. The units are designed to be completely passive, and while there have been prototype models developed, the project isn’t as far along as the cases which are very near to completion.

We spent a while talking about the future of cooling, and the individual we spoke with said that Thermalright — and indeed the industry — is nearing the limitations of air cooling. Direct touch tower coolers represent the pinnacle of performance, and the introduction of exotic materials to further dissipate heat would make for outrageous prices.

We also learned that Thermalright doesn’t really have any plans to branch into water cooling because their customers prefer air cooling almost as a rule. Their air cooling products are so popular that it’s not uncommon for resellers to buy their entire stock within a day of a new product becoming available. They can barely make their goods fast enough.

From here, Thermalright is looking at ways to further dissipate heat under load temperatures. They are indeed experimenting with composite materials, new TIM (carbon nanotubes were delicately bandied about), and different heatpipe chemicals. They’re also developing new heatsinks for other products like video cards, motherboards, and more. We’ve only begun to see what they’ve got up their sleeve for peripheral components. We’ll have to wait until Computex to see what the famous air cooling guys are up to on that front.

Lastly, the company is working on developing a new brand of heatsinks for the value enthusiast. Details are still sketchy, but they’re looking to stratify their brand by keeping Thermalright the premiere product, while the new brand plays in the same price bracket as products like the OCZ Vendetta; cost-conscious, inexpensive, high (but not the best) performance cooling.

Signing off, we asked them about their bases and their representative chuckled and said “well, you know my answer on that.” I think we all do.