Introduction
When I first received this cooler, there was one word to truly describe how I felt, whoa. Coolermaster had managed to buck the trend and give us a tower style heatsink that could not only operate quietly and possibly efficiently, but also be aesthetically pleasing, not only to modders who live for bright shinny things but for also the more laid back crowd that still wants a dash of excitement and contrast in world filled with iced brushed aluminum and austere matte black surfaces.
Using the standard setup of an all copper base to collect the heat, four all copper heatpipes to channel the heat and massive all copper fins to disperse it. Looking at the basic specifications it seems as if this is just another tower cooler until you take a look at Coolermasters "Vortex" style fan which blows air in a full 360
° axis.
Taking a look, it already seems to blow the standard Intel reference cooler out of the water in terms of size and weight.
Many manufacturers search out designs that will help them develop a product known for extraordinary performance. I've already tested various types of cooling solutions ranging from the more traditional Tuniq Tower 120, to the more exotic Vigor Gaming Monsoon II thermoelectric cooler. Can the Coolermaster Sphere compete with its competitors?
[BREAK=Features & Specifications]
Features & Specifications
- Heat Sink Dimensions - 132 x 113 mm
- Heat Sink Material - 100% copper with 4 heatpipes
- Fan Dimension (W / H / D) - 66 x 68 mm
- Fan Speed- 2200 R.P.M.
- Fan Life Expectancy - 40,000 hours
- Bearing Type - Long life sleeve
- Fan Noise Level (dB-A) - 22 dB-A
- Connector - 3-pin
- Weight - 684.54 g
Universal design- Intel Core 2 Quad™, Core 2 Extreme™, Core 2 Duo™ and AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core, AMD Athlon™ 64 FX
Complete Cooling Solution
- Cools CPU and its surrounding components (motherboard, VRM, chipset and graphic card, etc.)
Superior cooling performance
- 4 heat pipes
- 100% copper structure
- Superior vortex fan
- Radial Copper Base
Silent Operation at only 22 dBA
Includes[BREAK=Overview]
Packaging and Contents
The CM Sphere comes packaged in the standard plastic shell in a very stylish black box.
The plastic bubble pack is very similar to the one that Intel uses for its heatsink.
Inside the plastic pack you will find everything you need to install the CM Sphere onto your CPU.
All of the hardware you need is also included. The brackets, backing plates, screws, washers and nuts needed to set the Sphere in any LGA775, Socket AM2 or 939 board you wish. As an added bonus, Coolermaster even includes a Arctic Silver type thermal grease.
The CM Sphere is an all copper heatsink. There are 4 heatpipes that wrap through copper fins and around the vortex style fan.
The fan is a 66mm by 68mm design that rotates at 2200RPM. Because of this low fan speed the noise is only 22dBA which to put into a human perspective is about the sound of a soft whisper or rustling leaves. Quite quiet indeed.
The base is just a copper block where the four heatpipes attach. Its not a mirror finish, but for the average overclocker, a mirror finish is actually disadvantageous. What is important is that the copper base is almost perfectly flat, with no concave or convex curve.
[BREAK=Installation]
Installation
I used the Intel LGA775 bracketing kit for this review since I'll be testing on the Core 2 Duo. The two brackets are screwed to the base of the heatsink. At the end of the brackets a screw and rubber washer are installed. If you are the kind that isn't the type to read directions, then, in all likelihood, you'll have a hard time installing the screws. They are threaded backwards. This though is a smart idea because when you are installing the heatsink, most people don't have a screwdriver that can get onto these screws to hold them in place while you install the nuts.
Installation on the motherboard is just as simple provided the motherboard is removed. As a matter of fact, because it doesn't use the flimsy push pin design, you will need to remove the board. This is the case with most other larger format style cooler, so I'd recommend you get used to the idea of doing this.
Clearance doesn't seem to be an issue unless you have a mATX board, where there will be trouble clearing the first row of DIMMs, or unless you have an oversize northbridge cooler like that of some 680i boards or on the older 975X. It fits comfortably in both my P965 DQ6 and also the P35 version as well.
[BREAK=Testing]
Testing
Testing was done by booting the computer after one full hour of cool down.
Testing the CM Sphere's idle temperature was done by stopping all processes while preventing the computer from going into sleep mode, turning Speedstep and C1E off and recording the average temperature using Core Temp and Speedfan. Testing at load was done via a full Prime95 Torture run.
The test system is as follows:
- CPU - Intel Xeon LGA775 3060 @2.4GHz (1.25v)
- Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
- RAM - 2 x 1GB DDR2-800 Buffalo FireStix
- GFX - Foxconn 8800GTX Stock Clock
- Storage - Western Digital Raptor 150GB
- Optical - Lite-On 16X DVD+/-RW with Lightscribe
The ambient temperature was kept at 70
°F.
[BREAK=Results]
Stock
Load
Noise
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Conclusion
The results aren't exactly all what you think of them. while it may seem to experience readers that the Xeon 3060 seemed to be running hot, this is only the case because of the VCore I ran for those speeds. Those VCores represent the average needed to get to those clockspeed for most steppings. With tuning and trial and error, most Core 2 Duo's can run at lower VCores, meaning less heat and lower temps.
Looking at the graphs, the Tuniq Tower 120 and the Thermalright Ultra 120 both seem to edge out the CM Sphere. That is until you look at all the factors. The Tuniq Tower is loud for a heatsink of this class and style, and the Thermalright option, while being quieter than the Tuniq Tower is incredibly large. While the Coolermaster Sphere may not be the best heatsink for those who would overclock it does have something that both the Tuniq and the Ultra-120 lack, style and originality.
XCPUS and Redline Rating:
Innovation: 8.0 of 10
Performance: 7.0 of 10
Quality: 9.0 of 10
Stability: 8.0 of 10
Overclocking: 7.0 of 10
Value: 8.5 of 10
Overall: 8.0 of 10
This Cooler Is Ninja Approved.
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