Spire TME III CPU Cooler Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

The Spire TME III is a CPU cooler with a tower heatsink, five 8 mm copper heatpipes and two 120 mm fans. Let’s see if it is a good cooler.

The TME III is a new version of the Spire TherMax Eclipse II, which was an improved version of the original TherMax Eclipse, which performed poorly in our tests. We have no idea why Spire didn’t name this cooler “TherMax Eclipse III,” preferring the abbreviation instead.

The box of the TME III is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Package

Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: the cooler itself with one fan installed, a second fan, a syringe of thermal compound, manual, and installation hardware.

Figure 2: Accessories

Figure 3 displays the Spire TME III.

Figure 3: The Spire TME III

This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.

[nextpage title=”The Spire TME III”]

Figure 4 illustrates the front of the cooler, which is covered by the 120 mm fan. Notice the small auxiliary heatsink over the base, which was also present on older versions of the product.

Figure 4: Front view

Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler. The fins are folded, creating a closed surface.

Figure 5: Side view

Figure 6 shows the rear of the cooler, where the second fan goes.

Figure 6: Rear view

In Figure 7, you can see the top of the cooler, where the tips of the heatpipes are visible. Please notice that the fins are not plain, but have some kind of rugosity.

Figure 7: Top view

[nextpage title=”The Spire TME III (Cont’d)”]

Figure 8 illustrates the base of the cooler. The heatpipes touch the CPU directly, and there is a gap between them. The surface has no mirrored finishing.

Figure 8: Base

Figure 9 reveals the TME III without the front fan. The fans are held in place by four rubber pieces.

Figure 9: Without the fan

Figure 10 shows the 120 mm PWM fans that come with the TME III. The fans have extremely short wires, but the cooler comes with two extensions to connect them to the motherboard.

Figure 10: Fan

[nextpage title=”Installation”]

Figure 11 shows the backplate of the TME III, with the screws and nuts installed on the adequate holes for socket LGA1155 installation. Four plastic washers prevent the nuts from damaging the motherboard.

Figure 11: Backplate

In order to install the TME III, you need to put the backplate on the solder side of the motherboard, and then install the cooler in place, securing it with four thumbnuts.

Figure 12: Heatsink installed

After that, install the fans, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Cooler installed

Removing the cooler and observing the thermal compound “fingerprint,” we could be sure of a problem we noticed: the base of the cooler is far larger than the surface of our CPU, so only the three central heatpipes actually touch the processor. The heatpipes on the edges simply don’t pick up heat directly from the CPU.

Figure 14: CPU “fingerprint”

[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]

We tested the cooler with a Core i5-2500K CPU (quad-core, 3.3 GHz), which is a socket LGA1155 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 4.0 GHz (100 MHz base clock and x40 multiplier), with 1.3 V core voltage (Vcore). This CPU was able to reach 4.8 GHz with its default core voltage, but at this setting, the processor enters thermal throttling when using mainstream coolers, reducing the clock and thus the thermal dissipation. This could interfere with the temperature readings, so we chose to maintain a moderate overclocking.

We measured noise and temperature with the CPU under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all cores, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the “In-place Large FFTs” option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)

We compared the tested cooler to other coolers we already tested, and to the stock cooler that come
s with the Core i5-2500K CPU. Note that the results cannot be compared to measures taken on a different hardware configuration, so we retested some “old” coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read on the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that comes with it.

Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings.

During the tests, the panels of the computer case were closed. The front and rear case fans were spinning at minimum speed in order to simulate the “normal” cooler use on a well-ventilated case. We assume that is the common setup used by a cooling enthusiast or overclocker.

The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed near the top opening of the case. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which is not the case here.

Hardware Configuration

• Processor: Core i5-2500K
• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
• Memory: 6 GB OCZ (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800), configured at 1,600 MHz and 8-8-8-18 timings
• Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
• Video card: Point of View GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
• Video resolution: 1920×1080
• Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2470HN
• Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
• Case:  Cooler Master HAF 922

Operating System Configuration

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1

Software Used

• Prime95
• SpeedFan

Error Margin

We adopted a 2°C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2°C are considered irrelevant.

[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]

The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the full speed.

Cooler	Room Temp.	Noise	Speed	Core Temp.	Temp. Diff.
Cooler Master Hyper TX3	18 °C	50 dBA	2850 rpm	69 °C	51 °C
Corsair A70	23 °C	51 dBA	2000 rpm	66 °C	43 °C
Corsair H100	26 °C	62 dBA	2000 rpm	64 °C	38 °C
EVGA Superclock	26 °C	57 dBA	2550 rpm	67 °C	41 °C
NZXT HAVIK 140	20 °C	46 dBA	1250 rpm	65 °C	45 °C
Thermalright True Spirit 120	26 °C	42 dBA	1500 rpm	82 °C	56 °C
Zalman CNPS12X	26 °C	43 dBA	1200 rpm	71 °C	45 °C
Zalman CNPS9900 Max	20 °C	51 dBA	1700 rpm	62 °C	42 °C
Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition	22 °C	50 dBA	2400 rpm	65 °C	43 °C
SilenX EFZ-120HA5	18 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	70 °C	52 °C
Noctua NH-L12	20 °C	44 dBA	1450 rpm	70 °C	50 °C
Zalman CNPS8900 Extreme	21 °C	53 dBA	2550 rpm	71 °C	50 °C
Gamer Storm Assassin	15 °C	48 dBA	1450 rpm	58 °C	43 °C
Deepcool Gammaxx 400	15 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	60 °C	45 °C
Cooler Master TPC 812	23 °C	51 dBA	2350 rpm	66 °C	43 °C
Deepcool Gammaxx 300	18 °C	43 dBA	1650 rpm	74 °C	56 °C
Intel stock cooler	18 °C	41 dBA	2000 rpm	97 °C	79 °C
Xigmatek Praeton	19 °C	52 dBA	2900 rpm	83 °C	64 °C
Noctua NH-U12P SE2	18 °C	42 dBA	1300 rpm	69 °C	51 °C
Deepcool Frostwin	24 °C	46 dBA	1650 rpm	78 °C	54 °C
Thermaltake Frio Advanced	13 °C	56 dBA	2000 rpm	62 °C	49 °C
Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition	9 °C	48 dBA	2100 rpm	53 °C	44 °C
Thermaltake Frio Extreme	21 °C	53 dBA	1750 rpm	59 °C	38 °C
Noctua NH-U9B SE2	12 °C	44 dBA	1700 rpm	64 °C	52 °C
Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro	15 °C	54 dBA	2000 rpm	52 °C	37 °C
Deepcool Fiend Shark	18 °C	45 dBA	1500 rpm	74 °C	56 °C
Arctic Freezer i30	13 °C	42 dBA	1350 rpm	63 °C	50 °C
Spire TME III	8 °C	46 dBA	1700 rpm	70 °C	62 °C

In the graph below, you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.

In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The main specifications for the Spire TME III CPU cooler include:

• Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, AM2(+), AM3(+), and FM1 processors
• Dimensions: 2.8 x 5.2 x 6.0 inches (70 x 131 x 152 mm) (W x L x H)
• Fins: Aluminum
• Base: Direct-touch copper heatpipes
• Heat-pipes: Five 8-mm copper heatpipes
• Fan: 2 x 120 mm
• Nominal fan speed: 1,800 rpm
• Fan air flow: 74.63 cfm
• Maximum power consumption: 2.16 W
• Nominal noise level: 22 dBA
• Weight: 1.81 lb (822 g)
• More information: https://www.spire-corp.com
• MSRP in the U.S.: USD 65.00

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

When we tested the original Spire TherMax Eclipse, we were disappointed by the poor performance of the cooler. Then the manufacturer released the TherMax Eclipse II, which looked exactly like the first one, but showed an excellent cooling performance.

Now we tested the third version of the same cooler. We say it is the same cooler; except for the fans, the TME III looks exactly like the previous versions. In addition, we discovered that the TME III, like the first one, performs poorly for a cooler of this size.

All that remains now is to wait for Spire to launch the TME IV. If the sequence continues, it should be a good cooler.