Gelid Silent Spirit CPU Cooler Review

Conclusion

In the beginning we have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation with regards to this cooler. We were not expecting much from it (or any lightweight cooler to be totatly honest) and our first impressions did little to quell that that nagging voice screaming “CLONE!!”. Luckily, this little cooler turned things around pretty darn quick and won our hearts and minds as soon as we started taking a closer look at it.

The biggest reason for our complete and utter about face is the wonderful FDB fan which has graced the Silent Spirit. It really is a wonderful fan and even though it can spin at 2400rpms it probably has one of the best noise curves we have seen a long while (though to be fair nothing at 2400 rpms is exactly silent, quiet yes but not silent). In many ways it this fan which really underlines the duality of this unit. On the one hand you have this great and wonderful fan, but on the other you have the fact that no matter how good a fan is, the Silent Spirit can only accept smallish 92mm fans (unless you resort to a kludge like adapter). If this CPU cooling solution was only bigger and set up to handle a large version of that wondrous 92mm then we would really have something to talk about.

As it stands right now, this is a very, very good budget cooler which unfortunately is too small and too outdated to compete with the biggest and the best. Even if it had HDT (heatpipe direct touch) base it still wouldn’t be as good as the OCZ Vendetta 2 or Xigmatek S1283. Please do not get us wrong, this is a great cooler for the price, but thermal efficiency is not its strongest suit. It really only has one strong suit and that is its minuscule. In this area it is has very few peers and easily bests the AC Feezer 7 Pro which this cooler is loosely based on.

If you need a good replacement for your standard cooler and you are not interested in a slightly more expensive model (Xigmatek S1283 is only $7 more), or a slightly louder one then this cooler will not only meet but easily exceed your wildest expectations. It is only at high overclocks the the Silent Spirit start to disappoint, but then again, if you are serious about overclocking you are more than likely already into water cooling and thus not part of the market niche Gelid is looking to woo.

All in all, we hope to see more of Gelid's coolers in the future since the Silent Spirit is a great first effort. This isn't an easy market sector to get into but it seems that this is one company which is well on its way.


Pros
- Good, quiet fan
- Price
- Easy Installation (tool-less for 775 systems!)
- Pre-applied TIM
- Lightweight



Cons
- Only a decent Overclocker
- Fan may be very quiet but “wind noise” is a concern at 2400rpm
- For $7 you can get a much better, HDT based, cooler
- Too small for passive setups