Date: April 28th, 2006
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Spire
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PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH
Forty-five aluminum fins surround the two heatpipes, but don't appear to be soldered to them. The fantail is nicely sleeved in a white material and finished off with black shrink tubing. The VertiCool II weighs in at 470 grams, a shade over the ATX spec of 450.
Spire calls this a “Spider-Fan”. It is UV reactive and mounts onto a blue aluminum shroud. The fan is a ball bearing type with seven blades and is UV reactive. As we'll see a little later, the fan gives off a pleasant glow when exposed to UV light.
Since I'll be using the VertiCool II on a socket 939 CPU, I'll need to swap out the Intel brackets for the AMD units. Removing one screw (per side) releases the bracket from the base.
The Intel bracket (top) comes off easily. The AMD bracket (bottom) is a bit more troublesome to install because the screw is directly behind the captive retention screw, requiring a very slender screwdriver at an awkward angle.
Halfway through the bracket swap. A plastic sheet with a warning to remove it before installation protects the base finish. Also visible in this photo are the two heatpipes, which pass through the base and transfer heat to the fins to be dissipated by the fan.
The VertiCool II has a very flat, brilliantly polished base. I don't know how much this actually improves cooling, but it sure looks good and will inspire confidence in most users. Curiously, the actual footprint of the base is a bit smaller than a CPU heatspreader. Let's get this baby installed and see how it performs.
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