1. Introduction
Since 1991, Spire has provided us with a wide range of cooling solutions, PC cases, power supplies and modding accessories. Having already reviewed two coolers for AMD processors, its time to take a look at Intel processor coolers as well. In the following pages we will be reviewing the SP495S11-U QuieTude VI, an Intel P4 Socket 478 compatible CPU cooler.
The Cooler...
The SP495S11-U is a simple enough cooler, without any innovative technologies, apart from the QuieTude VI fan. As for the design, here Spire has made a change to the translucent blue Diamond fan located on the top of the heatsink, and is more UV reactive. This gives a nice glow to the cooler, with the appropriate UV light installed inside the case, which will excite all case modding enthusiasts. The QuieTude VI is an upgrade to the QuieTude V and apart from the new look we referred to earlier, also features an ultra-silent 19.0dBA fan. This new fan generates higher airflow giving the QuieTude VI™ improved cooling performance.
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| The diamond cooler... |
The copper core is located at the base of the heatsink, which by default is covered with a thin layer of thermal compound, making for easy installation of the cooler onto the CPU without the need to apply thermal paste. In fact, the use of the original thermal compound is suggested by the manufacturer for better results.
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The copper core heatsink, paste free... |
Here are the detailed specifications as provided by Spire :
| Socket 478 Cooling kit |
Product Name |
SP495S11-U QuieTude VI™ |
Dimensions |
Heat Sink : 100x83x50 mm ( l × w × h ) |
| 12VDC Fan : 80x80x25 mm |
Bearing |
Sleeve bearing |
Rated speed |
2300 RPM +/-10% |
Rated power |
1.20 W |
Noise level |
19.0 dBA |
Air flow |
25.78 at 2,300 RPM +/-10% |
Current |
0.10 A |
Life hours |
Sleeve: 30.000 |
Features |
Blue transparent diamond fan, Copper core heatsink, tool-less installation |
Connector |
3 pin, mainboard |
Application |
Celeron D ~ 2.93 GHz 340J |
| Pentium 4 ~ 3.6 GHz (Prescott) |
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Pentium 4 ~ 3.4 GHz (Willamette / HT NW) |
Thermal resistance |
0.335 °C/W |
Thermal type |
White grease pre-applied |
The SP495S11-U QuieTude VI is compatible with three types of P4 Socket 478 processors as can be seen from the above table.
2. Installation
Installation of the SP495S11-U CPU cooler is quite easy and will not occupy more than a few minutes of your time. No retention module change has to be made, since the cooler fits right in by default, onto the current motherboard supporting clip. For installation and test of the SP495S11-U, we used the following system :
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as is reported by the CPU-Z utility... |
We first dettached the stock CPU cooler from the motherboard and cleaned the processor surface from any thermal compound left by the previous installation...
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make sure the CPU is clean of any thermal compound... |
We then removed the protective plastic from the Spire cooler, exposing the white thermal grease at the bottom of the cooler.
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the white grease is not to be touched... |
Then we placed the Spire cooler onto the motherboard....
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the spire cooler will fit right in... |
and fastened the brackets.
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| Fit the fastening clip and then push down and lever back so it clips over protruding ear on the opposite side of the supporter. |
After placing the brackets on each side of the cooler, we attached the power cable to the power socket on the motherboard.
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Plugging the power cable.. |
With the installation of the cooler completed, we move on to see how the cooler performs under specific CPU loads. As mentioned before, the installation was easy and should cause no problems whatsoever.
3. Performance
To measure the CPU's temperature, we used SpeedFan v4.24 which provided us with real time monitoring and created a graph of the temperature over time. After letting the processor cool down in idle mode, we fired up Prime95 and ran the in-place large FFT test to heat it up to its maximum level. This is the graph of the temperature with the stock Intel fansink:
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| The temperature started at 45C... |
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| and here is the reported fan speed... |
The reported temperature for the Intel Prescot CPU and stock CPU cooler, was 45°C at idle mode and rose up to 67°C as the Prime FFT torture test was put to work.
We installed the Spire cooler and let the processor idle for a few minutes so that the temperatures would drop. We then went on with the Prime FFT torture test once again, pushing the CPU to full load. This is what we got..
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| the temperature in idle mode is the same as with the stock cooler... |
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| the RPM graph under the Spire cooler |
As we can see from the above tests, we didn't get any drop in the final temeprature. Tthe Spire cooler, simply managed to delay the rise. The big difference however was the significant noise reduction that we achieved with the Spire cooler, even if the RPM average was 100 rpms faster that the stock cooler.
We saw how the Spire cooler works under certain circumstances, that of idle and full load. What we got was noise reduction, but unfortunately not any temperature reduction.
4. Conclusion
Spire has manufactured a variety of cooling solutions for both Intel and AMD processors. Its latest, the SP495S11-U QuieTude VI, an Intel CPU cooler was the one we looked at in this review. At the end of the day, what we achieved can be summed up in two words... low noise. Its 19dba fan produces less noise than the stock cooler while the final temperature levels are the same for both cooling solutions. A nice feature of this cooler is the stylish blue diamond fan design, which is UV reactive and can give a great look to your case, provided you have a UV light installed.
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up and working... |
Installation of the SP495S11-U QuieTude VI was fairly easy. The retention clips are a straightforward matter and the use of thermal compound is not required, since the cooler comes with a thin layer of thermal grease which can be used instead.
The price of the SP495S11-U QuieTude VI is between $20~25.
Pros:
-Low noise
-UV reactive diamond fan design
-Easy to install
Cons:
-No significant temperature drop
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| Value for money: |
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