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We've seen CPU coolers in all shapes and sizes, materials and costs, and it's always refreshing to see something come along that breaks traditional notions of design. While we certainly think Performance is King, we also appreciate aesthetics as icing on the cake. After all, who loves a hotrod that drives the ladies away? No, we want killer performance and we want that to come in a package that makes us proud to show it off.
Today we're looking at a CPU cooler that has the stunning looks to satisfy: the Thermaltake SpinQ. Sporting an utterly gorgeous chrome-like aesthetic that features an innovative helical design, it is also finally Socket 1366-compatible, so we'll be dropping it on a Core i7, cranking up the heat, and see if the SpinQ has the brawn underneath the hood to match its hotrod exterior.
Packaging:
 
A Closer Look:
 
 
Installation:
 
Performance Test:
To test the heatsink, we boot into Windows and let the system sit idle for 10 minutes, then measure temperatures. We then load the CPU cores to 100% using Prime95 for 20 minutes and then again measure the temperatures. This entire process is done twice and then averaged to avoid any minor discrepancies that might occur. Ambient temperatures are kept at 25°C, and Arctic Cooling MX-2 is used for the thermal interface material. CoreTemp was used to record all temperatures. Temperatures are reported to the nearest whole degree Celcius; anything less than one degree can be attributed to slight testing variances. Frankly, the tolerances at less than one degree are extremely minute for testing such as this. All thottling features in BIOS are disabled.
Our test setup is as follows:
So how does the SpinQ perform? Let's take a look below.
As we can see, the SpinQ does a very good job and keeping the hot i7 920 under control when running at stock speed, showing a significant improvement over the stock Intel cooler. The Thermaltake is close to the top tower-styled coolers in terms of cooling efficiency at idle, so the results here are encouraging. But a highly overclocked Core i7 is what separates the good from the great, so let's juice up the voltage and overclock this chip and see what happens.
When we cranked up the voltage and overclocked the CPU by over 1GHz, we see that the Thermaltake SpinQ struggles to cope with the enormous about of heat generated by the Core i7, with the temperatures levelling out at 83° Celcius. The Thermaltake can't match the top cooling efficiency of the HDT tower coolers, but it does manage to post respectable results on a CPU that is pushed to the maximum capabilities on air cooling. With the 40% larger surface area of the Core i7 over the Core2 chips, clearly the current crop of heatsinks struggle to keep the chip cooler under load. Idle temps are fine, but when the cores are juiced up then things start to get interesting. Regardless, a 3.8GHz ultimate overclock on a 2.6GHz chip is excellent, so the SpinQ is doing a good job allowing us to the push the i7 920 very hard.
The fan noise on the SpinQ is quiet as long as it's not running on maximum RPMs. Keeping the controller somewhere in the middle range is a recommended, and then it will be inaudible inside your case. Your RAM fan, GPU fan, or hard drive will make more noise than this fan, so there are no worries here.
Conclusion:
The Thermaltake SpinQ is an exercise in design excellence; it really is a gorgeous cooler, from the chrome-like finish to the unique helical shape, this is a sublime example of successful design. Even so, beauty is only skin deep, and performance is what ultimately counts when the layers are peeled back. The SpinQ's cooling performance is good in handling a Core i7 quad core precessor at stock speeds, and while it does manage to keep a highly overclocked beast under control, it's not the top performer out there.
The installation of the SpinQ is more convenient than most other coolers we've reviewed due to its cylindrical design that allows a good bit of working room. The cooler isn't terribly heavy either, so the push pin mounting method here is acceptable and a backplate isn't really necessary. This is handy since you won't need to remove the motherboard in order to install the SpinQ. Listing for approximately $60 USD, the price is competitive with other top coolers on the market.
In the end, the choice here is much the same as the old adage, "Does form follow function?" The answer entirely depends on what you value the most. As it relates to the SpinQ, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, since it may not be the top performing cooler on the market, but it is a good all-around product, offering solid performance and a gorgeous and unique look. If you're searching for new Core i7 cooler that is eye-catching, then the SpinQ should be near the top of your list.
source: http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=753&page=5
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