Introduction:

Although Spire was founded in 1991, it's PC coolers are not highly accepted by computer enthusiasts, particularly amoungst overclockers. But, the price may attract many others. With production facilities in China, Corporate Office in the USA and overseas branches in The Netherlands, U.K., Germany, France, Taiwan, Japan and Brazil, Spire is ready to provide the best service for the resellers and end users.

Nowadays Spire is offering a wide range of CPU coolers, computer cases/ecnlosures, power supplies and many more you probably will hear in the near future or found their products in the shop down the street near you...

Today I'll be taking a closer look at the SP495S11-U, a.k.a. Spire QuieTude VI. Manufactured for the budget minded computer users, the name reveals part of its' capabilities; Silence.

After a year (or more) of continuous usage of your boxed Intel cooler, there's a big chance that is has become noisy, producing a rattling sound, and filled with dust plus other terrible things.... This review compares the cooler with the Intel boxed unit in not only performance wise, but also the sound level and design closely.

Let's take a closer look at the cooler itself:



Specifications:

The cooler is packaged a basic designed box. Inside you'll find the heatsink itself, a short manual and two clips you'll need to install the cooling. There's no extra tube of thermal compound added, because a layer of TIM is re-applied on the heatsink base.


Click for larger picture ...


The cooler is made entirely of aluminum except a small part of the base, the center. But it’s hidden …
After cleaning the pre-applied thermal grease off, the copper core presents itself.


Click for larger picture ...


Heat sink:

Size: 100x83x50 mm (l x w x h)

12VDC Fan:

Size: 80Å~80Å~25 mm

Type: Sleeve bearing

Rated speed: 2300 RPM +/-10%

Rated power / current: 1.20 W / 0.10 A

Noise level: 19.0 dBA

Air flow: 25.78 at 2,300 RPM +/-10%

Features: Blue transparent diamond fan, Copper core heatsink, tool-less installation

Description

Designed for the enthusiasts in mind, the QuieTude VI's custom translucent blue Diamond fan is attractively displayed in our new retail packaging.

The QuieTude VI™ features the same efficient copper core insert heat-sink technology and as the original QuieTude™, but has been upgraded with a more impressive look and ultra-silent 19.0dBA fan. This new fan generates a higher airflow to give the QuieTude VI™ improved cooling performance, and its designed for the faster Intel® Celeron and Pentium 4 Prescott™ processors up 3.6GHz.

Application:

Celeron D ~ 2.93 GHz 340J

Pentium 4 ~ 3.6 GHz (Prescott)

Pentium 4 ~ 3.4 GHz (Willamette / HT NW)

As you can see it's only suited for Intel Socket 478 processors. Rated to the fastest (Prescott) CPU, I also expect it to cool down the cpu at a level better then the original all aluminum cooler.

The complete information can be found here.


Installation:

The installation doesn’t differ much from the Intel supplied cooler. The boxed cooler uses some sort of hold down that can be clicked in the retention bracket. The only thing you need to do then is to pull down the levers.
The installation of Spire is similar if not identical to Intel Stock unit. After applying thermal grease on the cpu (in case you removed the pre applied pad), you place the sink on the processor. Then you take the two clips and hook them down in the retention bracket. This way there will be enough pressure on the processor exerted on the heatsink achieving efficient heat transfer.


Left the boxed cooler installed, on the right Spire.


Click for larger picture ...


Time to test the heatsinks...

Noise production:

Although Spire specifies a noise level of 19 dBA, these tests were done in special laboratories and not in the normal working environment. There are elements that will influence the noise level, such as the air resistance generated by heatsink design.

To measure the noise level, my editor stopped by with his SmartSensor SL4001A digital sound meter. First we measured the ambient sound with computer and devices that could generate sound turned off. The outcome was 32 dBA. And that’s silent. I live in a very quiet neighborhood, so there were no cars driving by, no loud children yelling on the street or …. close to pure silence without hearing my own heartbeats.

Time for the Spire cooler now. The sound meter was placed around 60 cm away from the cooler. We measured the sound level by using a fanless PSU. We got 33 dBA. You could barely hear the fan running. Keep in mind this was tested in a case less setup, so when you install it inside a computer housing, it will be practically silent. The boxed cooler produced about the same noise, but added a rattling noise.

For your information, here are the average fan speeds:
Spire: 2250 rpm
Boxed: 2400 rpm

Testing:

First, the test setup. As I didn't have a socket 478 PC myself, I paid fellow reviewer Gamer a visit....

Gamers' Test Setup
CPU	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 533 fsb (Northwood)
Cooling	Boxed cooler Spire SP495S11-U QuieTude VI
Mainboard	XFX Mach4 Intel 865PE
VGA	Nvidia ti42000
Memory	2*256Mb DDR pc3200 BH5

All results were taken with room temperature at ~24 °C. Due to room temp fluctuations, different mounting and user error can account up to 1-2°C of inaccuracy from obtained results. Please keep this in mind when looking at the results. Each heatsink was tested repeatedly; if I got questionable results the test was restarted.

Setup was installed in a case less environment

For stressing the CPU, I used S&M which can be found here (click = download).

A noname white thermal paste was used as cooling compound.



The Spire in both idle and stressed mode is better then the Intel retail cooler.

Conclusion:

It's time for a conclusion. The Spire QuieTude VI performs not only a tad better then the Intel boxed cooler, but also lowers noise. Besides, you can add the great looks and the lower price (around 15 $) to the package.

To be honest, I actually expected a LED or lighted fan with the semi clear blades. Regardless, the non-LED doesn’t spoil its main purpose; a good cooler for those who look into replacing their boxed cooler and get more for less money.

But there is a side note ...Users with Prescott copper base Intel Cooler may find the Spire a disappointment in cooling performance based on the narrow margin it gains when compared with the old all aluminum sub 2.8 Ghz Northwood Stock Cooler.

PRO
Better performance then boxed cooler
Stylish (fan) design


CON
No led fan


I would like to thank Mark from Spire

/piotke out

Questions/Comments: forum thread