Thermaltake SpinQ Six Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review
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Results
For idle testing, the computer was left with no applications running for 20 minutes. For load testing, the Prime95 v25.11.2 Blend test was run for 20 minutes. To record temperatures, CoreTemp version 0.99.5 was used with a consistent room temperature of 72F. The Element T case was used with both side panels on, no side fan, one bottom front and top rear 120mm fan and one 250mm top fan which came with the case to simulate actual use. And finally, GELID Solutions GC1 thermal compound was used.
At the stock frequency, The Phenom II dual core does not put out much heat at all, although the Thermaltake SpinQ edges out the Rocketfish by a degree on both idle and load. However, both coolers had idled well below room temperature, which does not leave much room for improvement. The SpinQ on high beats out the stock cooler by a solid 13C, only reaching 7 degrees above room temperature. At this frequency, there was no difference on which way the cooler was mounted (heat pipes on the RAM side vs PWM side -as suggested).
Cranking the CPU up to 3.8GHz, there is a much better view of how the coolers compare (at load, anyway). The stock AMD cooler reached a toasty 59C at load which is a staggering 26C warmer than the SpinQ on High, and is very bad as the chip forced reboot for me at 61C. All coolers beat the stock offering by a consistent 8C at idle. With the heat turned up a bit you can see the Rocketfish cooler did very well at max fan speed, beating the SpinQ’s suggested install direction on high. The variance between which way the SpinQ is installed is now more
apparent with the suggested installation direction reaching 2-3C warmer
than the other direction that actually allows you to use all RAM slots.
apparent with the suggested installation direction reaching 2-3C warmer
than the other direction that actually allows you to use all RAM slots.
For comparisons with many other high end CPU coolers, the Thermaltake SpinQ’s performance on the High fan setting is also included in the Legit Reviews Intel Core i7 Test System results found Here.
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