Testing Hardware:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58-UD5
Processor: Intel Core i7 920
Ram: Patriot DDR3 PC12800 6GB Tri-Channel
Video Card: Sapphire HD3870 Toxic
HDD: Seagate 7200.11
Power: Thermaltake Tough Power XT
Case: NA
Cooling: Spire TherMax Pro
OS: Windows XP SP3
Thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5

Competition:

Stock Intel Cooler

Testing of the Spire TherMax Pro

Over time, we've found that we have been able to get a better overclock on our i7 920 at a very respectable voltage of 1.4. We used this for the testing the TherMax. During testing, we allow the system to sit idle for one hour and then measured the temperature. Afterward, we then loaded OCCT and ran a 30 minute bench session with priority set at high and recorded the temps at the end. Each core was recorded for more detailed performance stats.

Results

We judged the TherMax Pro prematurely. We thought the cooler was going to be a stock cooler replacement with only slightly better performance. We were wrong and we apologize. The TherMax Pro crushed the Intel stock by a large margin. Enough to put it on par with our coolers like the Coolermaster 212 Plus.