discussion CoGage True Spirit CPU Cooler Review

[AkG]

Low Speed Fan Performance Results

Low Speed Fan Performance Results

2.6GHz

Once again the True Spirit does lag behind the TRUE Black. When you compare it against the Gelid Tranquillo a five heatpipe design cooler which is in the same general weight class as the True Spirit, things look much, much better.

3.42GHz

Unfortunately, this combination of ultra low fan speed (and pressure) combined with higher heat load seems to be the tipping point for this heatsink. This is certainly not a bad thing as very few of these coolers are going to end up in real world situations that even remotely resemble this test.

3.8GHz

​

Well there you have it, version does what the older one could not: survive the most demanding test we can throw at it. It may not do a great job it actually beats a Zalman Flex!

Dual Fan Performance Results

​

We are not overly surprised with these results. Please don’t get us wrong, the numbers are very, very decent but the fact of the matter is the Spirit has been designed with fins which dislike low speed fans. With that being said, if we were to drop a pair of higher speed Scythe S-Flex “G” fans, Yate Loon D12SH’s or even a pair of Cooler Master R4 units onto the Spirit we would probably be singing a totally different song right now. Overall, the new improved True Spirit gives good but not great results dual fan results.

 

[AkG]

Sound Level Testing / Value

Sound Level Testing

While everyone "hears" noise differently there is one easy way to remove all subjectiveness and easily compare different fans: use a sound level meter. This way you can easily compare the various fans noise envelopes without us colouring the results and see what fans fit within your personal comfort level. Of course, we will endeavour to try and explain the various results (which are taken at a 30 inch distance) to help you our readers get an even better understanding of how loud a cooler's stock fan is, but even if you discount our personal opinions, the fact remains numbers don't lie. All fans are tested with both voltage regulation / PWM turned off.

​

The stock fan on the Spirit is not terribly loud, but it is not overly quiet either. To our way of thinking, it is a decent fan just one that is not quite powerful enough for the amount of noise it produces.

On the positive side it is a ball bearing unit so this noise profile should stay the same for the majority of its life span.

Value

The term “Value” is such an amorphous term that it truly has different meanings for different people. For some a CPU cooler is only as good as it over-clocking potential, for others it is how quiet it does its job; for others still it’s how effective it is for its cost. We here at HWC try to provide as many answers as possible for the term “Value”. Hopefully by this point in the review people looking at OC potential or loudness levels will have a fairly good idea of what its Value is. For the “best bang for the buck” crowd we have included a chart below showing how much each 1°C less costs when compared to Intel’s FREE stock cooler. No consideration has been made for noise levels, “looks” or any other extraneous factors; this is just raw performance vs. monetary cost. For any cooler which performs worse than the Intel stock cooler a rating of “FAIL” will be given. For any cooler which has a “Value” of more than $10 per 1°C a rating of “FAIL” will be used in the graph but the chart will list its actual “Value”.

All prices are based on either their MSRP (if no e-tailer prices were available at review time) or the lowest price found in our Price Comparison engine at the time of the review. If a CPU cooler does not include a fan the price of a Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM has been included ($12).

Please Note: This chart has be calculated based upon the differences between Intel stock cooler’s average load at its highest OC on a 920 @ 3.42GHz versus various after market coolers average load temperatures (in their stock configuration with MX-2 TIM) also on a 920 @ 3.42GHz.

The numbers really do tell the whole story here. The CoGage TRUE Spirit is one of the best value-minded coolers to ever pass through our hands. While it can’t post the best performance results, its cooling potential coupled with its price make this one heck of a good buy.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

If there is anything you should take away from this review it is the thought that sometimes change can be a very good thing. Even though the TRUE Spirit has not been modified all that much from the original design, the few tweaks that were implemented made a world of difference. It still has several areas where improvement could be made but for the most part this is an all-round better product than the original.

The basic design used contains the same time tested, battled proven hallmarks that have worked amazingly well for Thermalright in the past. It works here as well but to a lesser effect due to the limited size of the Spirit in comparison to its larger brethren. It is good to see that rather than wasting time, effort and resources on changing things which needed no modifications, Cogage made the right decision on tweaking the areas that desperately needed them.

As we saw in the testing stage, all this time and effort certainly has paid off as this cooler is a much, much better performer than its predecessor. It really is amazing the difference a simple backplate can make. Unfortunately, at ultra low RPMs or when using a highly overclocked processor, more robust designs such as the TRUE Black do easily edge it out. We just have to remember that most people looking for a more value orientated heatsink are not going to need all of the performance a much higher-end model will provide.

There are however things that we wanted to see changed that were left the same. The TRUE Spirit still ships with a fan which is a little loud for our tastes considering its somewhat anaemic performance. While the fan is a minor gripe, the same can’t be said about the lack of any AMD or LGA 1156 support. With AMD’s CPUs along with Intel’s lower end quads making some serious inroads in a number of market sectors, it is a crying shame that Cogage didn’t throw a bone to this expanding user base.

In the end, we think this new revision of the TRUE Spirit is a winner from a number of perspectives. This second version has improved performance through a new backplate mounting system while not costing any more than its predecessor. This coupled with its excellent price / performance ratio allows Cogage’s revised Spirit to win our Dam Good Value Award.


Pros:

- Long life ball bearing fan included
- Improved packaging and design
- Backplate based mounting setup
- Good performance results on most tests
- Dual fan capable design
- Very Good value for its asking price



Cons:

- Less than perfect finishing on the base
- Fan is still less than optimal
- Only comes with Intel 1366 mounting hardware
- Only includes enough wire brackets to mount one fan

​