GELID Silent Spirit
Feb 8th, 2009 | By Nivedh
GELID Silent Spirit
Date
: 02/8/09 – 04:10:23 AM
Author
:
Category
: Cooling
Page 1 : Index
Manufacturer
: GELID Solutions
We promised more reviews from GELID Solutions and here we are. The company, specializing in cooling products, has provided us with a few products that have been very pleasant to work with.
This time, I have a CPU cooler – the
GELID Silent Spirit
.
Page 2 : Package
Keeping with the simple, clean theme we have seen in previous products, the Silent Spirit comes in a cubish package with a carrying handle. A window on the front shows us a peek of the heatsink's fins.
On another side of the box, compatibility information can be found. Intel 775 and AMD 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+ are supported. Intel's new socket 1366 is also supported but you need to buy the adaptor separately. There is an airflow diagram showing the flow of air through the heatsink.
Features and specifications are found on another side.
Finally, we have the features, shown graphically.
Before opening up the package, let us take a look at the features and specifications.
Page 3 : Features & Specifications
GELID's well-designed website has a page for the Silent Spirit, with all kinds of information.
Here is the lengthy but detailed and interesting description:
Intel Socket 775 and 1366*:
All Pentium D/ Pentium 4, All Celeron D, All Pentium Dual-Core/ Extreme, All Core 2 Extreme/ Core 2Quad/ Core 2 Duo
AMD Socket 754/ 939/ 940/ AM2/ AM2+/ AM3:
All Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, All Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Sempron, Phenom up to 9850BE, Phenom II
*Mounting Clip for 1366 socket is sold separately.
Design Concept of Silent Spirit:
a) Fan Structural Design
The top-flow cooler ‘Silent Spirit’ follows an open frame structure concept whereby both design and dimensions have been improved to eliminate humming and buzzing noises while maintaining a compact overall size. The 92mm fan has been chosen for silent operation and high airflow and comes with an intelligent PWM control to allow users to set the fan speed in their BIOS accordingly. In addition the anti-vibration fan mounts are made of high quality rubber thus guaranteeing a long life span even during high temperatures.
By precise calculations and proven by prototype tests during the development stage, GELID's product developers concluded that
1. the optimal distance between the upper holding rib and the Silent Spirit fan blade is around 5 to 5.5 mm to achieve minimum turbulent flow caused by the upper support rib at minimum height.
2. the optimal distance between the side support rib and the outer diameter of the Silent Spirit fan blade is around 9 mm to achieve lowest turbulent flow caused by the side support rib.
3. the location of two cable guards must be especially designed to protect the fan impeller wedge by cables and provide max space for incoming air with minimum resistance from the fan holder structure.
4. thanks to the GELID intelligent PWM control technology it is possible to keep silent operation at low CPU temperature and to accelerate the fan speed when the CPU temperature becomes higher.
5. Four rubber fan mounts should be used to absorb even the slightest vibrations from the running fan.
b) Heatsink Structural Design
The cooler fan is installed on the heatsink at an optimal position and angle to maximize the utilization of cooling air to cool the heatsink.
The design of heatsink body contains two major elements a) unique fin architecture and b) heatsink orientation angle.
1. The precise calculated fins arrangement and architecture can help the air from the cooling fan evenly flow and pass through all areas of the fins to maximize the air cooling performance.
2. Unique heatsink angle can help to cool the components around the CPU but without generating back flow of air. Also, the deliberate angle and the heatpipe arrangement can provide constant liquid circulation inside the heatsink at any orientation of heatsink to ensure the stability of heat transfer.
3. Four high performance heatpipes soldered on the copper base at full round shape, which can ensure heat generated by single core, dual cores or quad cores CPUs can evenly distribute to 4 heatpipes.
4. The nickel plated aluminum heatsink connected with the heatpipe and copper base by soldering to ensure heat transfer area of heatpipe can be fully utilized and also prevent heat accumulation problem at low fan speed like traditional tower heatsinks.
MSRP: USD 35 / Euro 27
Features:
* Unique Fin Architecture
* Special Heatsink Angle Design
* Optimized Air Flow Concept
* Intelligent PWM Fan Control Curve
* Anti-Vibration Fan Mounts
Compatibility won't be an issue and the ‘optimized design’ of the cooler will be seen when we test the performance of the cooler.
The cooler is somewhat compact and has a very low weight. The fan speed ranges from 900 to 2400 RPM with corresponding noise levels of 10 to 25.8 dBA.
Let's proceed to getting our hands on the contents.
Page 4 : Package Contents
Inside the box, the Silent Spirit comes packed in between two plastic frames for protection.
A multilingual installation manual is provided.
AMD mounting hardware and a GELID sticker can be found in the box as well.
The cooler itself is as compact as the specifications stated. A custom 100mm fan with open frame and sleeved wire adorns the top. The cable is terminated in a 4-pin fan connector.
The fan is attached to a black frame using rubber mounting posts, to minimize vibrations, which in turn clips onto the fins of the heatsink.
Taking a closer look at the fins, we notice their dimpled surfaces. Furthermore, they are staggered and have different tip geometries to improve airflow and increase performance. The four heatpipes are soldered at the contact points as they pass through the fins.
The copper heatpipes emanate from the copper base and enter the fin region through one side and are terminated on the other side.
Viewing the heatsink from the sides shows the angled design of the fin array, which apparently improves airflow. Also, you can see that the copper base is surrounded by an aluminum block which has smaller fins of its own. This is good in that some of the heat is eliminated before it even goes through the heatpipes and to the larger fin array.
Looking at the bottom of the cooler, we can see the base and heatpipes in further detail. GELID's own GC1 thermal compound comes pre-applied on the base. The Intel 775 mounting pins come installed by default.
Though the base does not have a mirror finish, it looks sufficiently flat.
We can now move on to installation.
Page 5 : Installation
I'll be installing the GELID Silent Spirit on my Biostar TF7150U-M7 motherboard, which has an LGA775 socket. Prepare your CPU for installation by cleaning it of any residue. Since I will be showing you how to install the cooler as it comes from the box, no thermal compound application is necessary as it comes preapplied with GELID's GC1.
Unlike many other heatsinks, you do not have to remove your motherboard from the case in order to install the cooler due to its use of the Intel ‘push pin’ mounting technique. Just place the cooler over the CPU in the orientation of your choosing, making sure not to smear the preapplied thermal compound, and line up the push pins with the holes in the motherboard.
Press down on the push pins to secure the cooler to the motherboard. Note that in order to release the cooler; all you have to do is twist each pin in the direction shown by the arrow. Therefore, to install, make sure the pins are rotated opposite the direction shown on the pin before pushing them in.
Make sure to plug the 4-pin fan connector into your motherboard's header.
There were no clearance issues whatsoever and once installed, everything feels extremely stable, probably due to the Silent Spirit's low weight and sturdy build quality.
Installation went by smoothly and we are now ready to test the performance of the Silent Spirit.
Page 6 : Testing & Performance
For testing, I reinstalled the cooler, this time using GELID's GC1 thermal compound (review to come soon). I used the GC1 for all tests.
:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz (OC'd: 2.33 GHz) @ stock voltage
Motherboard: Biostar TF7150U-M7
Memory: Corsair Value DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) 2GB dual channel kit (2x1GB)
Video Card: PNY GeForce 8600GT PCI-E x16
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 160GB SATA II 8MB cache
Optical: Samsung DVD±RW
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
Case: Antec P182
Control Fans: 2x Antec TriCool (1 inlet, 1 exhaust) set to medium
CPU Coolers:
GELID Silent Spirit
, Intel stock cooler
Thermal Compound: GELID GC1 used for all tests
The ambient temperature was about 25ºC throughout all the tests.
First up we have the CPU temperatures at 1.86 GHz.
The Silent Spirit trumps the Intel stock cooler in cooling performance. It has a smaller ‘delta’ between the idle and load temperatures as compared to the stock cooler.
When overclocked, the results are similar, with the Silent Spirit doing well against the stock cooler.
Although I did not have time to do a full comparison with other coolers such as the Evercool Transformer 6 that I recently reviewed, I did do a few unofficial tests, off the record. The Silent Spirit performs as good as, if not better than, the Transformer. It is also much quieter.
Speaking of noise, the Silent Spirit features PWM fan speed control. Throughout the tests, the noise from it did increase and decrease but it was not loud by any means. In fact, I could barely hear the cooler over my air conditioner.
Page 7 : Conclusion
Once again, GELID surprises us with a quality product that performs extremely well. The GELID Silent Spirit has quickly become one of my favorite coolers. It is a great alternative to the Intel stock cooler.
With its four heatpipes and excellent design, the performance is great and it really is silent! I especially liked the fact that the base had fins of its own; this way, not everything is dependent on the heatpipes. Installation was extremely easy due to the push-pin type mounting technique. Also, the cooler's low weight and small size made it a pleasure to work with.
Two things I would have liked to see are the socket 1366 mounting hardware included as well as a small tube of the GELID GC1 thermal compound. For enthusiasts, pre-applied thermal compound just doesn't cut it because we might take a cooler off and put it back on several times before being happy.
Ultimately, I enjoyed working with the Silent Spirit very much and would highly recommend it as a replacement for the stock cooler.
Advantages:
- Better-than-stock performance
- Quiet
- Easy installation
- Sturdy, compact design
Disadvantages:
- Preapplied thermal compound