1. Introduction
Spire has been producing quality cooling products for all types of CPU processors. Recently, Spire announced a new series of coolers for both Socket 775 and K8 socket, called the "Fourier IV". We tested Spire's proposal against Intel's stock cooling system, comparing noise production, heat dispassion and of course, price.
The Fourier IV is the latest DIY Heat-Sink design to cool both the latest Intel and AMD micro-processors.
The Fourier IV is an all new processor cooler based on the Waved-Fin design, equipped with 4 Heat-Pipes." said Vincent Chan, Thermal Engineer for Spire.
Also new on this advanced processor cooler are the swift fan exchange clips enabling you to remove the fan quickly and without tools. When utilizing a low power Celeron or Duo-Core micro processor with good system cooling, using an active cooler is not mandatory as the Spire Fourier IV heat-sink offers exceptional passive cooling qualities on it's own.
The Fourier IV is an excellent DIY option for those who are upgrading their system, enthusiasts and gamers alike.
- Main Features
- All Copper High-density Wave Heat Sink
- 4 thermally improved copper heat-pipes
- Ball bearing 90mm blue translucent fan
- Silent; Manually controlled PCI Fan Control
- Universal Clip for 775 and K8 sockets
- Passive or active solution; Swift click on/off fan
- Specifications
| Dimensions |
Heat sink : 126×107×99 mm (l × w × h)
12VDC Fan : 92×92×25 mm |
| Bearing |
Ball bearing |
| Rated speed |
2000 - 3500 RPM +/-10% |
| Rated power |
2.4 - 4.8 W |
| Noise level |
19.0 - 26.0 dBA |
| Air flow |
36.8 - 58.21 CFM |
| Life hours |
Ball: 50.000 |
| Connector |
3 Pin, mainboard |
| Application |
Intel : Celeron D ~ 2.93 GHz (340J)
Core Duo ~ 2.33 GHz (775 Dual-core)
Pentium 4 ~ 3.73 GHz (775 Prescott)
Pentium D ~ 3.4 GHz (775 Dual-Core)
Pentium EE ~ 3.73 GHz (775 Dual-Core)
AMD : Athlon 64 ~ 4800+ (K8)
Athlon 64 FX-51 (K8)
Athlon 64 FX-53 (K8)
Athlon 64 FX-55 (K8)
Athlon 64 FX-57 (K8)
Athlon 64 FX-60 (K8)
Opteron ~ 2.6 (K8)
Sempron ~ 3300+ (K8) |
2. Installation/Package
Spire provided us with a retail package of their Fourier IV. The box is big and heavy and costs around US$42, as found on various online stores.
The box includes the Spire Fourier IV and several other components used in installing the cooler, for either Socket 775 or K8. There is also an external speed regulator and thermal paste for optimum results:
Let's now take a close look at the Spire Fourier IV. Reading the specs, you should have already realized that this a...big cooler.
With an overall height of 10cm and 12cm in width, that makes it almost double that of Intel's stock cooler:
There are four copper pipelines that transfer heat from the base and hence the CPU, to the upper copper fins. According to Spire, this new design offers higher heat dispassion:
The base is made from copper. You can also see the 90mm rotating fan:
Let's now see how this baby can be installed in our Socket 775 system. The first thing you must do, is mount the two metallic plates to the base of the cooler with the four screws. Nothing difficult here, after a few minutes, your cooler should look like this:
The next step is to turn the motherboard upside down and position the X shaped metallic plate for the main mounting procedure. There are four holes at the extremes to which we actually "screw" the Fourier IV cooler to the motherboard. This is probably the most difficult step. Before proceeding with this, make sure you have placed enough thermal paste on your CPU. We want to have the best possible heat transfer from our CPU to the cooler.
After finishing mounting all four screws, turn the motherboard right side up and install the various cables. We are now ready to see how the Fourier IV will help us reduce our CPU temperatures.
3. Performance
We saw that the installation was a little tricky but nothing too difficult. Now how about it's performance? Don't forget that this cooler costs an additional $42! We made a direct comparison with the Intel stock cooler using the following test system:
- Asus P5W64 WS Pro (Intel 975X) + Intel E6600 @ 3.15GHz
- OCZ GameXStream GXS600 SLI-Ready
- 2x1GB OCZ DDR2-6400 SLI Ready
- WD 800JB 7200RPM
Our aim was to run 3DMark06 which stresses both the CPU and GPU producing maximum heat. In addition, we overclocked the CPU to 3.15GHz which produced additional heat on our system. Note, that both coolers were running at maximum rotating speeds. All temperatures were logged using CoreTemp 0.94b.
The results are rather impressive. In all cases, the Spire Fourier IV managed to keep a temperature difference of 10°C.
At full load, we can see a temperature difference of up to 17.5°C! At idle, the Fourier IV runs at 56 temperature difference, whereas Intel's stock fan at 65 temperature difference. In any case, the Spire Fourier IV keeps the CPU very cool.
4. Conclusion
The Spire Fourier IV is a new approach for CPU coolers. At first, it looks and feels big with a rather unusual design. The four copper pipelines, promise to do an excellent job transferring the heat away from the CPU, which was confirmed by our tests. In general, the Spire Fourier IV (at full speed) managed to keep the CPU's temperature almost 10°C lower than Intel's stock fan. Under full load, the difference was even greater, and reached 17.5°C. Very impressive.
The installation procedure is a little tricky, but shouldn't worry most users. It's simply different to what you been used to with Intel's stock fans. It uses four screws to mount, so you think twice before removing it, but at a retail price of US$42, the package delivers good performance. You can now overclock your system to new heights with the Spire Fourier IV air cooler...
| Installation |
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| Performance |
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| Value for money |
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