Spire 9T236B1M3G Pentium4 Heatsink Review

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Who remembers the time when big loud fans were being slapped onto undersized heatsinks and being sold to consumers hungry for some overclocking? With heatsink names that always somehow managed to fit the word "overclock" into their description, it still makes me cringe a little. The sound of fear these days comes from those old 60 dB Delta's reeving up - which while good for cooling - are utterly, absolutely, and unconditionally too loud for normal every day computers in the home.

Whatever, that was then and this is now. Manufacturers and consumers have regained their senses and cast out the loud heatsinks for quieter ones; Zalman's, Coolermaster's, Globalwin's, the list goes on. Fanner, who create heatsinks under the Spire and sometimes even Speeze name have recently added this little lower noise heatsink to their line up.

The Spire EasyStream 9T236B1M3G is a Pentium 4 heatsink which should enter the markets priced pretty competitively. The heatsink is after all entirely extruded aluminum, though to give credit where it is due, Fanner have machined the base rather nicely. For a Pentium 4 heatsink this is a very rare sight.

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: 9T236B1M3G HS Material: extruded aluminum Fan: 3700RPM, 12V, 0.2A, 27CFM Fan Dim: 15x70x70mm FHS Dimensions: 64x70x83mm Made by: Spire / Fanner Sold By: www.spirecoolers.com

The low noise aspect of the heatsink stems from running the EasyStream's 70mm fan at just 3700RPM. This cuts down on the amount of airflow being delivered to the heatsink body comparatively, but thermal performance can still be pretty good if the heatsink is designed to be efficient as possible. Let's move forward and find out...