Spire DiamondCool

Introduction

How many people have an Intel Pentium 4 Prescott LGA-775 that is running a bit warm? Now that I have everyone’s attention, what are you going to do about the problem? The Intel stock cooler can barely cool a high-end Pentium 4 at stock speeds; Don’t even think about decent overclocks with it. The summer heat is coming in the northern hemisphere and the problem isn’t going away soon. Have no fear, Spire is here with a solution called the Spire DiamondCool.

Spire offers a few coolers meant for OEM use; these coolers resemble the stock Intel cooler. Spire also offers coolers designed for the enthusiasts who obtain high temperatures after overclocking. The DiamondCool is Spire’s answer for the LGA775 overclockers. We had a look at the Spire VertiCool SPA49B0 and it walked away with great recommendations. The DiamondCool uses the same heatpipe technology found in the VertiCool SPA49B0, as well as many other coolers. Will the DiamondCool live up to its brother? It’s time to find out.

Spire DiamondCool

The DiamondCool is comprised of 4 copper heatpipes that wrap around the top and extend to 55 copper fins. The heatpipe design isn’t new, many coolers have similar designs and they have all performed well. This cooler has 4 heatpipes, which should suffice for cooling, but other coolers offer more heatpipes and bigger heatpipes. Bigger pipes lead to bigger coolers, which creates compatibility problems with certain motherboards. Spire decided to keep the size down to avoid this problem.

The bottom is a chunk of copper that is shiny, but not reflective. It looks smooth enough to provide good contact with the CPU.

Specifications and Fan

The design of this cooler has been seen before, but it is a proven working design. The fan doesn’t look all that powerful; I would have liked a powerful fan to whisk away the heat. The top of the fan has a finger guard. While this may seem very “noob”, even people that know what they are doing end up sticking their fingers in fans. The fan is offset by 45 degrees, which could lead to compatibility issues. Yet, the fan does not stick out very far and should not be a problem for any motherboards.

Installation

I have problems installing and removing the stock cooler. I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I need some needle nose pliers and a whole bunch of forcing. Needless to say, I am very happy to see a cooler with easy installation. If you can use a screwdriver, you can install this cooler. It took me mere seconds to screw the cooler into place. All you have to do is screw the screws on the cooler through the board into the back plate. For convenience, they moved the mounting holes of the fan off the corners and cut that part out of the cooler.

Some coolers have become so big that they do not fit correctly on some motherboards. I’ve found that this motherboard I use has issues with certain coolers.

Test Setup and Results

Test Setup and Method:

For the testing of the Spire DiamondCool, a temperature probe was placed next to the heatspreader. Both coolers were placed on the CPU with Artic Silver’s Ceramique thermal paste. For the idle read out, the computer was left idling on Windows. For stress tests, 2 instances of CPU Burn-in were used. The ambient temperature during these tests was 23° Celsius.

Test System Specifications:

• Intel Pentium 4 520 2.8 GHz
• ASUS P5WD2 955X
• Patriot PC2-5600+XBLK
• ATI X800XL
• OCZ PowerStream 520 Watt

Results:

The results are better than the stock Intel Pentium 4 CPU cooler. At stock speeds, there was a noticeable difference in temperature. Once I overclocked the Pentium 4 520 to 3.6 GHz, the Spire DiamondCool opened up the gap. I’m happy with the temperatures. I have a feeling a more powerful fan would have turned the DiamondCool into a great cooler.

Conclusion and Thoughts

The Spire DiamondCool’s appearance is eye-soothing. There are two things the DiamondCool does better than the stock cooler. Generally, Intel’s stock coolers aren’t the best in the world for keeping the CPU cool. The other advantage is the mounting and installation. I have never had a cooler that was so easy to install. Anyone that can use a screwdriver can install the DiamondCool in under a minute. Compatibility for this cooler presents no problems. However, the DiamondCool is not without its downfalls. The only thing I would fix would be the fan. It really is not powerful enough to do an outstanding job at cooling. It performs well with what it has, but it would have been a lot better with a powerful fan. The Spire DiamondCool can be found for $25 on the street. You can’t compare this to a $50+ cooler, but it is a contender in the lower price range coolers. You would be foolish not to give the Spire DiamondCool a shot.

We would like to thank Spire for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.