SUMMARY: An OK choice for low-noise, non-aggressive P4 cooling.
The good guys at Spire were nice enough to send a sample of the SP495S11-U QuieTude VI ™ P4 Heatsink for a test spin. The fan is rated at 2300 rpm, 25.8 cfm @ 19 dBA – low noise, but at the expense of airflow. The heatsink is rated for Intel Celeron D ~ 2.93 GHz, Pentium 4 ~ 3.6 GHz (Prescott) and Pentium 4 ~ 3.4 GHz (Willamette).
Mounting is straight forward – there are two clips which engage the P4 retention bracket – very simple and secure.
Construction is aluminum with a round copper base insert. The base could be finished better:
When I ran my nail over it, I could feel ridges; this heatsink ships with thermal grease pre-applied, although in testing I removed it.
The Spire SP495S11-U was tested on an Acorp 4S845A motherboard with a modified P4 1500 to read CPU case temps.
| Motherboard | CPU Case Temp | Ambient Temp | Delta | C/W | MBM Temp |
| 2380 rpm, <50 dBA² | 43.1º C | 23.3º C | 19.8 | 0.34 | 35º C¹ |
Die Simulator results place Spire’s SP495S11-U in the lower rank of P4 heatsinks tested to date (Heatsink Ranking).
Spire SP495S11-U is an OK choice for non-aggressive CPU cooling. Fan noise is low and performance, as expected, is the tradeoff.
²Note that manufacturers measure fan noise usually 3 feet from the fan.
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