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Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink Review
Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink Review
  69%   
Abstract: The DiamondCool II SP741B3 is one of those heatsinks that's just hard to peg at first glance. It's a hefty AMD Athlon64 heatsink made of copper for sure, and copper means it has to be good right?

 Manufacturer  Category  Published  Author 
Spire    Cooling / Heatsinks   Apr 25, 2006   Max Page  

Home > Reviews > Page: Final Heatsink Temperature Comparisons

FrostyTech.com Mk.II Synthetic Thermal Heatsink Test Results
Results based on readings from a 38x38mm copper interface die with 125W heat load on the Mk.II Test Platform. Thermal Test values for each heatsink were calculated by determining the rise over ambient temperature at time of test. Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.
Socket 939/940/754 compatible CPU heatsinks
manufacturer: model no.: *fan speed: 125w thermal test (°c) noise level (dba)

Noctua NH-U12 17.5 45.4
Gigabyte G-Power Pro high 18.6 71.9
Noctua NH-U9 18.8 58.4
Coolermaster Hyper6 high 20.5 54.7
Thermaltake Venus 12 high 21.7 68.1
ASUS Starice high 22.8 67.4
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro 23.2 50.9
Coolermaster Aquagate Mini high 23.2 59.2
Thermaltake Polo 735 high 23.4 68.0
Cooljag SFO-H high 23.6 60.6
Alpha PAL-8150 23.7 58.9
Zalman CNPS9500LED (clip parallel) high 23.8 50.3
AVC Z7U3301001 (stock 939) high 24.6 59.9
Gigabyte 3D Cooler-Ultra high 24.8 63.0
Scythe Shogun high 26.0 45.9
EKL V8 high 26.3 57.5
Gigabyte 3D Rocket-Pro high 26.9 56.7
Gigabyte 3D Cooler-Pro high 27.0 62.5
Spire SP601B3 28.3 48.9
Ajigo MF064-074 high 28.8 60.3
Gigabyte 3D-Rocket 28.9 50.7
Vantec Mach1 high 29.2 56.9
CoolJag SFO-D(18SC) 29.6 64.0
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 30.5 43.9
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu high 30.3 45.2
Dynatron SK-V24 30.3 56.4
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu high 31.0 45.2
Coolermaster Hyper48 31.7 43.6
Scythe Kama SCKK1000 31.9 47.5
Scythe Samurai SCSM1000 high 32.1 51.6
Zalman CNPS7000B-CU high 32.3 44.9
Thermaltake Silentboost K8 32.3 49.7
Jetart JAX801 33.2 53.5
Dynatron A22 34.5 44.5
nPowertek NPH K8-1 34.6 52.2
Ajigo MF043-044 (stock 754) 35.0 45.4
Verax Quattro 1 36.9 30.9
Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC 37.5 55.5
Gigabyte NeonCooler 8-BL 37.7 42.0
Titan TTC-K8ATB/825/SC 38.7 63.1
Evercool K802-715 42.1 51.5
Spire SP741B3 43.2 45.6
Evercool Magic Cooler 46.6 55.5
ASUS Starice low 92.4+ 34.4
125w thermal test (°c) noise level (dba)
*heatsinks are ranked according to the 125w thermal test results column (rise over ambient temp.). low temperatures with low noise levels are considered best. for reference heatsinks with variable-speed fans, only the high speed (12v) fan test result is included in the comparison sheet; more detailed results reside in each specific heatsink review.

With a 125W heat load applied by the FrostyTech synthetic thermal test platform, the Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 heatsink manages a rise above ambient temperature result of 43.2°C, with 45.6 dBA noise. This is hotter than we anticipated, and underscores some of the peculiarities of this heatsinks' design and construction that were mentioned earlier.

The Spire DiamondCool II seems to have the body of a performance heatsink, but the fan of a low noise heatsink. Because the fan is 90mm diameter and relatively slow turning (2400RPM), it doesn't appear as though enough pressure is being generated to move the necessary volume of cool air through the very closely packed copper fins fast enough.

The heatpipes restrict airflow from entering the array of copper fins further still, and to be honest we're split down the middle on their practical effectiveness even.

The DiamondCool II's massive 10mm thick copper base is ideal for dispersing heat from the AMD Athlon64 CPU to a wider surface area, but 28% of its top surface is not in contact with cooling fins. It's a lot of copper, maybe more than is really necessary...

There's no contest that the Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 is quiet, but its temperatures are a little high relative to the other low noise heatsinks in the reference list (look at the 'Noise Level' column to spot all sub-48dBA heatsinks). Given its materials and construction, we're really left wondering if the Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 heatsink didn't first came off the drawing board with a high-power 70mm fan perched atop... For your money, Spire's other recent low-noise heatsink which is the Spire Verticool II, is a better buy.

Related Articles:

For more reviews on the latest heatsinks and cooling solutions, rely on FrostyTech's inventory of 350+ heatsink reviews. Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as well...

1. ALPHA PAL-8150 ATHLON64 HEATSINK REVIEW
2. Spire VertiCool II SP601B3 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink Review
3. Gigabyte G-Power Pro GH-PDU21-MF Heatsink Review
4. Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Athlon64 Heatsink Review
5. Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC Athlon64 Heatsink
6. Spire VertiCool II SP601B3 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink
7. Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Heatsink Review
8. Noctua NH-U9 Low Noise Heatsink Review
9. Coolermaster Hyper48 KHC-L91 Heatsink Review

 Previous Page ° Heat Sink Review Index  

Table of Contents:

 1:  Spire DiamondCool II SP741B3 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink Review
 2:  360° View - Spire DiamondCool II Heatsink
 3:  Acoustic Comparisons and Base Surface Quality
 4: — Final Heatsink Temperature Comparisons

List all Spire heat sinks that Frostytech tested?

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