Spire TME III (TherMax Eclipse III) CPU Cooler Review

We’ve finished putting the Spire TME III through its paces and its now time to consider the value it offers you, the consumer. The Spire TME III is priced at $59.95/€48.99 and translated into UK pricing this equates to about £40 although we have struggled to find many places that stock it in the UK and across Europe.

At that price you are certainly getting a great deal. There is an exceptionally good level of acoustic performance which didn’t even rise as we escalated from stock speeds to a 4.5GHz overclock on our Ivy Bridge CPU. The cooling performance isn’t the best on the market and quite a few (more expensive) coolers can beat it but the cooler is still high performance by anyone’s standards and excellent considering the price. If you want to tame an overclocked Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E or Bulldozer CPU then this cooler is more than capable of the job.

The fact it brings with it two fans means you’ll also get good performance even in a relatively “air-starved” computer case. What we don’t always point out enough is that because all these CPU coolers are tested on open-air test benches, the performance can change once inside a case, for better or for worse depending on your configuration. If you happen to have a “silent case” with noise dampening foam and very few fans then something like this would be ideal because two fans mean it won’t struggle from a lack of airflow as much as a single fan cooler would.

I’ve tried really hard to find “bad points” about the cooler and I could only really come up with a few things. First was that the rubber fan mounts are very tricky to attach once the heatsink is installed (see installation page for more details). If I was to be really pedantic I would say that Spire should have included a dual 4 pin to single 4 pin fan cable to account for those people who only have a single CPU fan header. Finally the design at the top of the heatsink is a little bit scruffy, the fact the heat pipe capping isn’t uniform is a tad disappointing. Apart from that I am really quite happy with the TME III.

This is the first time we have looked at something from Spire and I am really impressed. Spire have produced a down-to-earth product that delivers value for money, performance, silence and clean aesthetics. If I was to equate this to a plate of food, its like getting served up a plate of home made roast dinner, you know its simple and honest – not complex, pretentious and overpriced like a plate of Michelin star food.

With all that said I think the Spire TME III is more than deserving of the eTeknix “Bang for Buck” award.