Intel Core i7 / LGA1366 CPU Cooler Roundup

Spire TherMax 2

The box that the TherMax 2 came in really did get a good going over by Mr. Shipping Agent and it does show; however, the contents of the box were perfectly fine. To us this is the best accolade you can give a package: “it did its job”.

On three of the four sides the TherMax 2 is more than adequately protected, but on the front side a good sharp blow in the wrong place could have caused this story to have a much different ending. As you know,plastic film “windows” are a pet peeve of ours and this may not be the biggest windowed box we have seen. However, we can’t complain since the box did take a lickin’ and keep on ticking.


The TherMax 2 is a very interesting looking cooler, as you can tell this cooler’ fin design forms a big X. This may be very ascetically pleasing to the eye (or not depending on your personal tastes) but it does have the unintended consequence of significantly reducing the surface area of the fin array….you know the array of fins which cools the heatpipes. Basically, this is definitely not a good thing since the heatpipes need to have the maximum amount of fin surface area in order to dissipate heat.

The other faux pas of this X design is that a good portion of the air from the fan is going to be lost out the sides and will not force its way back to the other side of the X. In theory, this could leave half the cooler outside of the fan’s airflow. The first thing that crossed our minds was: what were they thinking?

On the positive side, this cooler has an HDT base which could help it in high thermal circumstances. However, this could also work as a double-edged sword since an increase of heat being transferred to cooling fins that aren’t being actively cooled by the fan’s airflow can lead to high CPU temperatures.


Taking a closer look at the base of the TherMax 2, we instantly knew the design wasn’t the only thing that it has going against it. The polishing and quality of finish is about what the original Xigmatek S1283 sported, which means not good at all. It may not be terrible, but it certainly is not anywhere near best in class. All in all, we don’t expect much from this heatsink but we have been known to be surprised in the past, so anything is possible.


The fan which accompanies the TherMax 2 is a sleeve bearing 120mm, 2200RPM unit and in what seems to be a reoccurring theme in this review, no model number is listed on the fan nor is there a 3rd party manufacturer’s logo or name anywhere to be seen. To us this means it’s either made by Spire or they just wanted their sticker to cover up any trace of the actual manufacturer. On the positive side this fan at its rated speed of 2200RPMs moves an impressive 93.3 cubic feet per minute. Unlike many we are going to look at today this fan is not PWM complaint and thus the only way to change the speed of the fan is via voltage adjustment. On the plus side, the power cable of the fan is a decent length and while it is not sheathed it is a flat wire style with all four cables stuck together.

As with many sleeve bearing fans this fan exhibits a bit of shaft slop, which is nothing to worry about. What is worrisome is a fan moving at the speed this one does also exhibits a lot of off axis slop. At best this combination will result in a fan which is noisier than it should be and at worst will have a shorter lifespan.