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Spire SPA04B4 WhisperRock IV Copper Core Heatsink
Spire SPA04B4 WhisperRock IV Copper Core Heatsink
  72%   
Abstract: The inward curve of the heatsink means that noise levels can be kept under control with the large 35mm thick fan above, while still maintaining the profile necessary to make it mountable.

 Manufacturer  Category  Published  Author 
Spire   Cooling / Heatsinks   Dec 27, 2003   Max Page  

Home > Reviews > Page: Surface Roughness Comparison

Surface Roughness Comparator:

Surface finish is an important factor that we all look for when holding a new heatsink. Flipping a cooler over to see how well the base has been machined is a quick way to judge the attention to detail that was put into making it. The following FrostyTech Surface Roughness Comparator offers a concise cross section common machine surface finishes. Not every heatsink base will fit into the envelope of this gage, but it does offer a very handy set of representations.

This commercially available gage has 22 machined surfaces from 2 to 500 microinches; Lapped (2, 4, and 8 µ" RA), Ground (8, 16, 32, and 63 µ" RA), Blanchard Ground (16 and 32 µ" RA), Shape Turned (32, 63, 125, 250, and 500 µ" RA), Profiled (63, 125, 250, and 500 µ" RA), and Milled (63, 125, 250, and 500 µ" RA).

FrostyTech Surface Roughness Comparator
2L4L8L8G16G16BL32G32BL32ST63G63M63P63ST125M125P125ST250M250P250ST500M500P500ST

the base of a heatsink plays an important role in how well the cooling apparatus interfaces with the processor. poor surface roughness will affect a good heatsink just as much as a good surface finish will improve thermal conductivity. in an effort to put a more quantitative spin on the comments we provide about base finishes, frostytech has begun using a surface roughness comparator.

move your mouse over the image above to see an example at right. numbers are in microinches, and finishes from 2 microinches to 32 microinches are excellent-to-good.

Evaluation Notes:

The Spire SPA04B4 WhisperRock IV heatsink has a surface roughness of approximately 16M , so it is well within the acceptable range of surface finishes. A finish of 16M is not given on this example gage, but one of 16BL roughly approximates the degree of very subtle surface irregularities found.

Acoustic Samples: Listen to this Heatsink!

The Spire SPA04B4 is squarely targeting the low noise cooling crowd, and in this respect it does so very well. The heatsink barely makes a noise. To listen to this heatsink for yourself in operation, be sure to click on the little headphones icon below and download the Acoustic Sample MP3 file.

(high) FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling Chamber

Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording. Click on the headphones to listen to an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation.
Listen to this Heatsink now.

Sound Level Measurements:

Listening to the actual noise a heatsink makes allows you to hear what pure numbers alone cannot get across. To further emphasize FrostyTech's reliance on cold hard facts when evaluating a heatsink, we also take Decibel readings with a sound level meter. These results may be higher than the manufacturer's listed specs, but then again these are real world measurements. Measurements are made on the dB (A) scale.

FrostyTech Sound Level Results
- Manufacturer Model Noise Level Scale
Verax (low RPM) P14Cu 31.2 dB Quiet
Verax P11T 35.3 dB
Spire SPA04B4 35.3 dB
Spire 5U213C1H3G 35.7 dB
Titan D9TBCu35R1 37.5 dB
ArcticCooling CuSilent2 37.9 dB
Aopen ACK7L 40.4 dB
Coolermaster HSC-V62 43.7 dB
Akasa AK821 44.2 dB
Spire 5F263 44.5 dB
Zalman All Flower HSF 47.4/28.9 dB
Arkua 728M-7N01 48.2 dB
Taisol CGK760092 48.4 dB
Cho-Liang CB0307U-17 49.5 dB
Titan TTC-CU9TB/SC 50.5 dB
Taisol CEK787172 50.7 dB
nPowerTek TTIC NPH-2 50.7 dB
Arkua 628 50.7 dB
Tocools Novasonic 52.2 dB
Tocools Novasonic-AlCu 52.4 dB
Thermal Integration TI-V77L 53.0 dB
Sibak AE01625B 58.2 dB
AVC Tundra 2 58.4 dB
Sibak AC02625B 59.7 dB
Coolermaster HHC-001 59.9 dB
Sibak AC06725TH 62.4 dB
Dynatron DC1206BMP 65.1 dB
Thermalright SLK800 66.2 dB
Thermalright AX-7 66.4 dB louder

Weighing in at just 35.3 dB the Spire SPA04B4 is among the quietest of Socket A heatsinks we have tested today. From what we know of low-noise heatsinks, it may not be the best option thermally... Let's find out!

 Previous Page ° ° Next Page 

Table of Contents:

 1:  Spire SPA04B4 WhisperRock IV Copper Core Heatsink
 2:  Closer Examination of the Heatsink
 3:  Heatsink Thermal/Acoustic Test Parameters
 4: — Surface Roughness Comparison
 5:  Final Temperature Results

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