Spire WhisperRock IV Review
We have had our fair share of Spire products tested here at Modsynergy.com. Each time, Spire has performed great and without any problems. My stance is that Spire is the best company offering heatsink/fan combinations that perform very well, are a step from the stock AMD coolers and Spire coolers don’t hurt your budget. I believe they are the best value-to-performance ratio leader to date. Spire recently announced the release of their new cooler that improves on the successful predecessor, the Spire FalconRock II.
Welcome to our 100th review!
Specifications
- Dimensions Heat sink : 12VDC Fan : 80×80×44 mm (l × w × h)80×80×25mm
- Bearing: Ball bearing
- Rated speed: 2300 RPM +/-10%
- Rated power: 1,56 W
- Noise level: 21.0 dBA
- Air flow: 28.0 CFM at 2,300 RPM
- Current: 0.09 A
- Life hours Ball: 50.000
- Features: Blue transparent fan, 3 grip clip, Copper core, Fan Guard
- Connector: 3 Pin, mainboard
- Application: AMD : Duron ~ 1.3 GHz (Morgan), Athlon XP ~ 2700+ (Thoroughbred), Athlon XP ~ 2100+ (Palomino), Athlon XP ~ 3200+ (Barton), Athlon MP ~ 2600+ (Thoroughbred), Athlon ~ 1.4 GHz (Thunderbird)
- Thermal resistance: 0.56 °C/W
- Thermal type: White grease pre-applied
The Spire WhisperRock IV comes in traditional Spire corrugated packaging as we have seen before and opening the package shows the same care with every Spire product, a plastic cover to protect the base from damage. What strikes you first is the fan. The plastic 80mm fan on the WhisperRock IV is tinted in a purplish color and has a fan guard for safety. The ball-bearing fan spins around 2440RPM during my use and pulls 28 CFM’s while having a noise level of only 21dBA. That is 4dBA down from the fan on the Spire FalconRock II while pushing the same amount of air at the same amount of RPM’s. This new fan is literally silent as it will not be the main factor of noise in your PC. The second thing that’s striking is the heatsink. The heatsink is made out of Aluminum and has a copper insert for better heat conductivity. This heatsink is reminiscent of the heatsink found on that of the FalconRock II, but with some differences. Spire slightly changed the copper insert process and used different thermal interface grease on the copper base. These improvements have improved the cooler and it is capable of cooling AMD CPU’s up to the AMD XP 3200+ with a moderate thermal resistance of 0.56°C/W.
The Spire WhisperRock IV utilizes the 3-prong clip that I have come to love from the FalconRock II. This clip is very easy to install and has a slug where your screwdriver is placed to clip into the socket.
Spire pays attention to the quality of their coolers and have taken the liberty of sleeving the fan’s 3-pin connector so things will be tidy around the inside of your case.
The base of the Spire WhisperRock IV is good overall but with some machine marks and being a b it rough. Spire elects to apply a fine coat of white grease so you can cool your CPU out of the box. Arctic Silver Ceramique will be used for testing and set in for 72 hours.
Miscellaneous Images with Caption
The top of the 80mm fan
The fins are evenly distributed and construction is top rate
Testing
Testing will consist of monitoring the idle and load temperatures (New Max Payne 2 review soon...heh) with the Spire WhisperRock IV compared to the FalconRock II and a stock AMD cooler. Ambient room temperature was around 22-24 degrees and tested these three coolers. Again, Arctic Silver Ceramique is used and set in for 72-hours.
Results (AMD XP1900+ Stock)
Spire
WhisperRock IV Results |
Idle
(30 mins): 38c |
Load:
Max Payne 2 (1-Hour): 44c |
Load:
Toast 2 (5 mins): 45c |
Spire
FalconRock II Results |
Idle
(30 mins): 40c |
Load:
Max Payne 2 (1-Hour): 45c |
Load:
Toast 2 (5 mins): 45.5c |
AMD
Stock Cooler Results |
Idle
(30 mins): 55c |
Load:
Max Payne 2 (1-Hour): 62c |
Load:
Toast 2 (5 mins): 63.5c |
Conclusion
Spire has done it again and has improved from the already successful design of the FalconRock II while having a quieter fan…literally this is something amazing. The Spire WhisperRock IV is a great heatsink/fan combination that is silent and looks good too!
Spire has shown again how value coolers can compete which the big guns. Excellent job Spire! Easily recommended!
I rate the Spire WhisperRock IV a…
9.5/10!
+
Excellent performing cooler
+ Nice looks
+ White grease for out of the box use
- Base could have been done better
Alternative Pricing:
- Will be updated when I find a seller. The WRII is brand new and making it's way into resellers soon.
