Spire Cool Force 3 Get our reviews RSS feed here  |
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Author: Whoopty | ||
| Posted: 15:38, January 9th 2008 | |||
| Link: http://www.spirecoolers.com | |||
| Score: 1 out of 10 [?] | |||
| Price: N/A | |||
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The CoolForce 3
The look of the Spire Coolforce is dominated by the large black shroud that covers it. Underneath the Spire logo is a grungey mis-mash of white with some pale gray artwork reminiscent of XFX styling.
![[Spire Cool Force 3]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3]') "[Spire Cool Force 3]")
Click to enlarge
At the other end of the cooler is the fan. A thin, black , coaxial one, designed to suck air in from the bottom of the case and blow it across the internal heatsink.
![[Spire Cool Force 3 Fan]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-Fan.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 Fan]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 Fan]")
Click to enlarge
The heatsink is mainly made up of aluminium fins. These have a large surface area to disperse as much heat as possible.
![[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/SSpire-Cool-Force-Fins.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]")
Click to enlarge
These fins are mostly hidden within the plastic, black topped shroud, but they are still visible at both ends.
![[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-Fins2.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 Heatsink]")
Click to enlarge
The base of the CoolForce is made of copper and has a quite obviously machined surface. No polishing has gone on so the core isn't in the least reflective. Although this kind of thing is usually only for show, a cooler like the ZEROtherm Nirvana looks a lot more impressive because of it.
![[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-Core.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]")
Click to enlarge
![[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-Core2.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 Core]")
Click to enlarge
The main cooling block doubles as GPU and RAM cooler, using small, adhesive heat pads to transfer heat from the RAM chips to the core and then on to the fins.
![[Spire Cool Force 3 RAM Sink]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-RAM.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3 RAM Sink]') "[Spire Cool Force 3 RAM Sink]")
Click to enlarge
The fan is powered by a small 2 pin power cable. Although this makes it possible to power the CoolForce off of the GPU if it has the 2 pin connector, it would have been nice to see a standard 3 pin instead.
![[Spire Cool Force 3]](javascript:popImage('http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/images/SpireCoolForce3/large/Spire-Cool-Force-Power.jpg','[Spire Cool Force 3]') "[Spire Cool Force 3]")
Click to enlarge
Buy now
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