Spire TherMax Eclipse II
May 15th, 2010 | By ChrisThe following system configuration will be used to test the Eclipse II’s cooling capabilities:
- Control
- ASUS P5WD2
- NZXT Lexa S
- Intel Pentium D 925 @ 3.00GHz
- OCZ EL Platinum Rev.2 2x1024MB @ 4-4-4-15, 400MHz
- FSP Everest 800w
- ATi Visiontech HD3850
- Seagate Barracuda 80GB
- Windows 7 Home Premium
First off, the Pentium D is outdated hardware; so why did I choose it for this test? Mainly, because it runs hot. Being a dual core CPU running at 3.00GHz, with old 65nm fabrication, heat is inevitable. Using a more modern CPU, however, would run much cooler, and the heat sinks would plateau and the differing performance between them wouldn’t be as substantial.
For the test, I will have the processor idle for two hours. Once the two hours are done, I will record the temperatures of the CPU core. I will then stress the CPU with two instances of SP2004 for two hours. Temperatures will be recorded again. The Eclipse II will be tested against the following competitors:
- Coolers
- Stock cooler
- Evercool Transformer 4
- Cooler Master V8
- OCZ Vendetta 2
- OCZ Gladiator Max
- Zaward Vapor 120
The ambient room temperature is 20 degrees Celsius
Here are the results:
The Eclipse II starts off with strong performance. It sits at 2 degrees cooler than the previous leader, the Evercool Transformer 4, and a full 18 degrees cooler than the stock heat sink; now that’s an upgrade. Observe what happens when we run some SP2004;
The Eclipse II jumps up 22 degrees, placing it at a toasty 50 degrees. In this test it falls behind the Transformer 4 by four degrees, but redeems itself by trumping all other test subjects; particularly the stock heat sink, which is beaten out by a full 23 degrees.
During the tests, both 120mm fans were running at their full 2200 RPM. While the high speeds assisted in cooling performance, there’s a sacrifice that needs to be made – silence. While the rush of air and scream of fans isn’t overly distracting, it’s still there, and is a deal breaker for anyone looking to combine silence and performance together.