:. Introduction .:
If you want to over clock
you PC or just want to extend the life of your components, these new Spire
coolers will be just what you are looking for. The Spire company produces
high-performance, very quiet, and low cost cooling solutions that many big
computer manufacturers and computer enthusiasts have taken a liking to.
This review will consist of three products that will dramatically decrease
your computers operating temperature: the Spire hard disk cooler, chipset
cooler, and an 80mm case fan.
:. Specifications .:
The following specifications are for the Spire
cooling devices named in the introduction.
Spire HD Cooler:
HD05040B FlowCooler™
|
Dimensions |
Frame: |
130x100x17 mm |
|
Double Fan: |
50x50x10 mm |
Bearing |
Sleeve or Ball Bearing |
Speed Rated |
4800 RPM |
Noise |
29 dBA |
Air Flow |
2 x 9.0 CFM (4800 RPM) |
Amps |
0.10 |
Life (hours) |
Sleeve: 30.000 / Ball:
50.000 |
Connector |
4 Pin, power supply (Pass-through
adapter included) |
Mounting hardware
included |
Spire Chipset / VGA
Chipset Cooler: 3A16S2 Chip
Cooler™
|
Dimensions |
40mm x 40mm x 12mm (L x W x H) |
Bearing |
Sleeve Bearing |
Speed Rated |
4500 RPM ± 10% |
Noise |
12.3 dBA |
Air Flow |
8.0 CFM (4500 RPM) |
Amps |
0.12 |
Life (hours) |
30.000 |
Connector |
2 Pin, MotherBoard / VGA Card
Connector |
Spire Case Cooler:
FD08025B1M3/4 Case Blower™
|
Dimensions |
80mm x 80mm x 25mm (L x W x H) |
Bearing |
Sleeve or Ball Bearing |
Speed Rated |
2500 RPM ± 10% |
Noise |
28.0 dBA |
Air Flow |
28.8 CFM (2500 RPM) |
Amps |
0.15 |
Life (hours) |
Sleeve: 30.000 / Ball:
50,000 |
Connector |
3 Pin, mainboard |
Mounting hardware included |
:.
Spire Coolers HD Cooler, Chipset Cooler, and Case Cooler .:
When I received these Spire
cooling devices, they looked and felt very expensive. The fans were very
sturdy and included all of the necessary hardware for installation.
Pass-through 4-pin connectors are included in the HD cooler and Case Fan
so you can tap into your existing 4-pin connection without losing any
outlets. To keep this review organized, each cooler in the subsequent
paragraphs will be dealt with individually. I will first discuss the
advantages of a Spire hard drive cooler.
The Spire Hard Disk Cooler is the most unique of its
kind. I have not come across any drawbacks to this cooler since it is
extremely quiet, looks very cool, and most importantly, does an excellent
job cooling your HD.
Why cool an HD? well there are many reasons: you can extend the life of
your hard disk, cool down your overall case temperature since
much of the heat produced is from the HD. As well, if you run a SCSI
10,000 RPM drive, those really heat up and this cooler would be perfect
for those applications.
Not only does the Spire HD cooler perform very well,
it looks like no other cooler on the market. The light blue metal casing
feels very rugged and looks really nice inside a case, especially if the
HD is mounted perpendicular.
The Spire Chipset Cooler is another excellent
performance cooling item. Many MotherBoard companies usually place heatsinks
or bad quality Chipset fans. In fact, I had quite the experience with my
ASUS board. It had a very cheap chipset fan that started making all kinds of
weird noises a month after I purchased my MoBo. The fan had broke after a
month of operation.
This Spire Chipset cooler is much much better. It has
a solid design and won't
break
on you like those other no name brand coolers. It is very easy to install -
well taking off your other cooler will be somewhat tricky. Once that's done,
all you have to do is clip the cooler in.
The underside of the cooler is very smooth - which
ensures proper heat distribution. This is something consumers should keep in
their focus when purchasing heatsink-based coolers.
The Spire Case Fan is also another high quality
cooler. Although this cooler is fairly weak for a case exhaust, it is
extremely quiet and does do the job. Case fans tend to really annoy people
since they tend to make the most noise. However, that's not the case with
the Spire Cooler's Case Fan. I did not even find a difference in noise with
the fan turned on.
This
case fan also has a pass-through adapter which allows you to connect to your
existing 4-pin connectors and not hog connections. The cable is also long
enough (I found it to be the exact size) to reach the power source.
Another small but effective feature was the fact that
the fan had an airflow and rotation arrows on the top. With this, the
installation turns into a 2 minute job because you don't have to turn on
your computer just to check the airflow.
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