Spire TherMax Eclipse II Cooler Review

System Setup & Notes

• CPU: AMD Phenom X4 955 (Overlocked @ 3.8GHz)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P
• HDD: Seagate ST3500630AS
• VGA: Sapphire AMD HD4850 512MB
• PSU: NorthQ Black Magic Flex 650W

For testing, we decided to test the cooler by using the included SP802 “Bluefrost” thermal compound. With a layer on the CPU we left the system working in order for the thermal paste to stabilize for 8 hours. We tested the cooler by running it with the motherboard fan speed control disabled. CPU load was achieved by running Prime95 torture test (blend) 30 minutes. The idle temperature measurements were noted after the system was resting at the windows desktop for 30 minutes. Ambient temperature is maintained at 22 degrees Celsius throughout the duration of testing.

Spire's insistence of using powerful cooling fans once again pays off. The fast 120mm fans combined with the large heat dissipation surface and the sophisticated cooling body offer exceptional thermal performance, easily outperforming some of the most popular tower coolers.

When it comes to acoustics however the TherMax Eclipse II is at a great disadvantage; even with a single fan rotating at its full speed, the cooler is loud. Only hardcore overclockers and people who use headsets for gaming/music will be using both 120mm fans at maximum speed. The rest will simply try and reduce the speed of the fans by either controlling them through the motherboard (given that the motherboard supports that) or seek to buy a fan controller. What is even more strange is that Spire does provide a fan controller with their inferior TherMax II cooler but not with the Eclipse!

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