New copper Spire HSF

And it's only 30% louder than the 5F263B1M3.
Basically it's a copper version of the MicroFlow. Certainly is pretty though.
 
Thanks for posting the review Steve. One question, do you think that the noise level of the 80mm fan would have been different if measured when actually attached to the heatsink versus being measured as a chasis fan?
 
It depends upon the heatsink. The WhisperRock and FalconRock are fairly low pressure designs...they allow the air to flow and escape pretty easily. I'm sure the noise level will increase but not by much in this case. Now, you can REALLY tell the difference on an OCZ Gladiator with the densly packed fins. That is a higher pressure design that resists airflow more. Fan noise goes up because there is turbulence in fron the the fan blades created by the air restriction.

By configuring the fan to suck off the heatsink rather than blow on it, the noise is reduced. But, depending on the design, efficiency is also reduced.

C
 
That's a good point.

I wonder if the high pressure design makes it any more effective of if it's possible to make an equally effective cooler using a low pressure design while being quieter.
 
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