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Introduction:
Recently, a company called the Fanner Group sent us a quiet cooler from their line of Pentium4 Socket478 coolers. This cooler was dubbed the 9T236B1M3 EasyStream and is marketed under the company's Spire brand. For those of you that aren't familiar with the name, the Fanner Group is a globally established company that develops computer cooling solutions for distributors, ODMs and OEMs. Since their beginning in 1991, this Chinese manufacturer has expanded operations to The Netherlands, U.K., Germany, U.S., and Japan.
The Spire 9T236B1M3 EasyStream seems like a solid well-built heatsink/fan combo. The heatsink is made of a solid piece of aluminum, and the fan housing is attached by 4 screws. It comes with a 70 mm 3500 rpm fan. The heatsink is similar in size to the stock Intel heatsink, except on the sides. The sides of the Intel heasink are solid, and end below the fan housing. The sides of the Spire heatsink are slotted on the outside and rise approximately 1/2 inch higher than the Intel heatsink, and around the fan housing, presumably to increase airflow and heat exchange.
The unit came in a cardboard box, with top and bottom plastic protectors, a packet of thermal paste, and a brief multilingual installation guide. The unit was of solid construction with no noticeable defects in construction or finish. This unit has the same cam-lock fastening system as most other Socket 478 coolers, but utilizes metal rather than plastic clips to hook into the motherboard slots. This makes the unit slightly less bulky on the corners than the Intel unit. Power is supplied by a standard 3 pin plug that attaches to the motherboard fan header.
Here's the cooler specifications off the Spire web site:
