Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
For those of us that like benchmarks and pretty graphs, I can tell you that the addition of the SP302AP-B will make for a cooler system, looking and feeling. To benchmark the temps, I used a temperature logging application called Core Temp and produced a full load with HotCPU. Each test was run for 2 hours and an average of all the logged temperatures generates the results below. Measurements are in Celsius and ambient temperature is steady throughout the tests.
The perfmance benchmark indicate that the PacificBreeze II does as it suggests in keeping your laptop running cooler. The items not indicated are that this only accounts for CPU temperatures. There is a noticeable difference in all aspects of total system cooling.
Spire did a good job here building a mostly solid feeling product. Usually we see companies taking shortcuts when building affordable solutions, however Spire chose to only use plastic for the frame. The metal base and aluminum cooling plate give you a sturdy feel.
The only flaw I could find was that the unit’s expandable design could use a bit of improvement as it doesn’t slide very easily when bringing the expanding sides back together; the top and bottom shimmy a bit either way causing it to get stuck. Outside of that, Spire has a good cooler at a good price (about $20 USD) that performs as advertised. One thing to note is that this goes beyond just CPU cooling and cools the entire system, including the very warm HDD and GPU. If you are the type that has a laptop that is on constantly and functions more like a desktop replacement, you should definitely consider Spire’s offering. Bottom line… would I buy one? Yes… at $20.00, you can’t go wrong.
