CPU Heatsink Roundup May 2006

Cooling/CPU Cooling by jmke @ 2006-05-01

Eight new heatsinks are compared to 21 other air cooling solutions from different manufactures. We have some promising entries from Spire, Aerocool, Scythe, Thermaltake and Tuniq for you today!

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Spire DiamondCool II

Spire DiamondCool II
Supplied by: Spire

Spire’s has made some very successful mainstream heatsinks in the past, with the DiamondCool II they have made an Athlon 64 compatible version of their S775-only version. Fully copper construction and 4 heatpipes combined with an UV active 92mm fan this unit looks promising. Retail price is approximately $30.

Madshrimps (c)


Specifications :

Compatibility:
  • AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

    Fan included: 90mm x 90mm x 25mm
    (2400rpm / 2.4W / 41CFM)

    Heatsink Dimensions: L89xW80xH53mm
    Weight: ~600gr

    In the Box :

    Madshrimps (c)


  • Instruction manual
  • Tube of thermal paste
  • K8 metal mounting bracket

    Construction :

    The DiamondCool II has 4 heatpipes which are joined in a rather thin base; the base and upper part of the heatpipes are connected by a series of small copper fins. The 90mm fan which sits on top has custom size mounting holes and a unique open design at the top; it’s installed in way which pushes air through the fins. The base has clear marks of machine lapping I could feel the grooves when running my nail over the base.

    Madshrimps (c)Madshrimps (c)Madshrimps (c)


    Installation :

    Installation requires motherboard removal as you need to remove the default AMD bracket and install the included one. I wanted to test the DiamondCool II with another fan but the mounting holes of the included 90mm fan don’t match with those of a regular sized 92mm fan.

    Madshrimps (c)Madshrimps (c)


    Performance and Noise :

    With the fan at full speed the DiamondCool II is trailing the stock AMD cooling solutions by quite a bit, although the fan is not very loud at full speed, it’s very quiet either. When reducing fan speed to 50% the noise drops to 35dBA but the resulting temperature increase is very worrying.

    Madshrimps (c)


    I was unable to get the system running stable at overclocked speeds as the temperature quickly above the upper limits. Remounting the heatsink did not improve the results; there was sufficient contact between the CPU and the heatsink. Colleague reviewer Max Page from Frostytech had similar results, the temperature on a 125W test bed rose ~43°C! His analysis of why DiamondCool II performs so badly is spot one:

    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 Verdict:

    While the DiamondCool II looked like an okay performance/noise heatsink judging by its the specs-sheet, it turned out this was not quite the case in practice. Only lower clocked CPU’s will see a benefit in the performance/noise department as the included fan is quite silent, yet at higher CPU clock speeds (and heat generation) the design of this heatsink is not efficient at all in removing the heat.

    PRO
    Silent fan at 50%.


    CON
    Only compatible with Athlon 64/FX/X2 platforms.
    Not for overclockers
    Motherboard removal required


  • Where to buy?

    Next up is the Spire VertiCool II ->
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