Spire KestrelKing CPU Cooler
Review by: Steve
Edited by: Ji4m
Provided by: Spire Coolers
Price: $17 Canadian

Introduction:
Today we are going to be looking at a relatively inexpensive cooler from Spire called the KestrelKing and it's for the AMD K8 platform of processors. This cooler has some fancy looks to it for the price, but will it hold it's own in terms of cooling our CPU well for being an aluminum heatsink?

In The Box:
(1) Cooler
(1) Motherboard backplate
(1) Motherboard bracket
(2) Bracket mounting screws
(1) Tube of thermal compound
(1) Installation Guide

Specs:
Socket 754 / 940 / 939 Cooling kit
Dimensions
Heat sink : 70×55×43 mm (l × w × h)
12VDC Fan : 80×80×25 mm
Bearing Ball bearing
Rated speed: 2700 RPM +/-10%
Rated power: 1.80 W
Noise level: 22.0 dBA
Air flow: 34.46 CFM at 2,700 RPM
Current: 0.15 A
Life hours: Ball: 50.000
Features: Blue transparent diamond fan, 6 prong tool-less clip, Copper base
Connector: 3 Pin, mainboard
Application
AMD : Athlon 64 ~ 4000+ (K8), Athlon 64 FX-51 (K8), Athlon 64 FX-53 (K8), Opteron ~ 2.4 (K8),
Sempron ~ 3100+ (K8)
Thermal resistance: 0.345 °C/W
Thermal type: White grease

Features:
One feature you'll notice of the KestrelKing is the large sized UV reactive fan on the front. The fan also has a very unique styling to it. It appears to be the shape of a short blunt cone and is not flat like traditional fans, although the blades themselves are standard and don't follow the cone shape of the housing. This can be seen better in the images below. As mentioned above, the fan is also UV reactive so for those people with UV cathodes in their system the entire fan will glow a nice blue/purple colour. The fan is also quiet which I was happy to see. It runs at about 22db and there is no built in rheobus like some coolers have to control the fan speed. However, although some may be accustomed to that feature on their current cooler, the fan is quiet enough on the KestrelKing that a feature like that just isn't required.

In terms of the heatsink, it appears to be almost entirely aluminum with a round section of copper on the base which will sit right over the core of the CPU. Aluminum is an alright material with decent performance to keep costs down, but if the heatsink were to be made entirely of copper, which conducts heat better than aluminum, then there would be a notable cooling increase.

Installation:
Installation can go one of two ways depending on your motherboard configuration.
The first way is if your motherboard has the black mounting bracket which is bolted on to a backplate behind the motherboard with 3 retaining clips at either end. In this case you will not need to use the included bracket because your motherboard already has a similar bracket mounted already. First you will want to remove your old CPU cooler and wipe all the old thermal grease off the CPU for a nice clean surface. Second, you need to take the included tube of thermal grease and put a very thin layer over the entire CPU. The final step is to set the cooler on the CPU and hook the bracket which sticks out either end over the clips on the motherboard bracket then plug the fan in.

For those who do not have that bracket and backplate on their motherboard, your installation process will be slightly longer. The first step will be to remove the motherboard from your case and remove whatever style of mount was standard on the motherboard. Second, you will want to follow the installation guide carefully and put the backplate on the back of the motherboard and hold the included bracket on the front of the motherboard and line up the mounting holes. The next step will be to bolt the bracket to the backplate using the included screws. The process of installing the actual cooler is then the same as above.

One con that I found with installation is that the clips at both ends must be pushed on by hand which is something I personally don't like to see some people do. Some users who are not real careful can possibly do some damage if they push too hard. I would have liked to have seen it mounted using a clipping mechanism similar to my stock cooler where the clips are loosely put over each nub on the black mounting bracket and then a clamping switch on the cooler would tighten the whole assembly.

Testing:
To test the cooling abilities of the KestrelKing I will record the CPU temperature under idle conditions and then again after being under 100% load for ten minutes. The results will be compared to the stock AMD cooler.

Testing System:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 939)
Motherboard: Biostar NF4UL-A9
Memory: 512mb Dual-Channel OCZ Premiere Series
HDD: Western Digital 160gb PATA
Video: XFX GeForce 6600GT PCI Express
Power Supply: XGBox Magnum 500W
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2

Test Results:
Spire Kestrel King:
Idle: 31C
Load: 42C

Stock AMD Cooler:
Idle: 35C
Load 42C

As you can see in the testing results the idle temperature did have a 4 degree celsius drop with the KestrelKing compared to the stock cooler. However, when under full load the CPU temperature with the KestrelKing was exactly the same as with my stock AMD cooler, 42 degrees celsius.

When looking at the price of the cooler, getting a slight drop in idle temperatures is very exceptional even though the load results may not be any different than stock. I was also happy to hear how quiet the KestrelKing was. I personally would buy it just for noise reduction and the UV reactive fan housing. For the small price tag it is a great little upgrade that looks wonderful if you have a case with a side window and UV lighting.

Conclusion:
For being made of Aluminum and not having a massive price tag, the Spire KestrelKing offers an exceptional cooling replacement for those looking to add a little style or noise reduction to their CPU cooler.

Pros:
UV Reactive fan
Very quiet operation
Sleeved fan wire is a nice touch
Inexpensive

Cons:
The clip mechanism should be more similar to the stock cooler with a switch type mounting clamp.
Should be made of copper for better cooling abilities

Rating: 7/10

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