AMD Wraith Spire CPU Cooler

[minervx]

This is the stock cooler that comes with Ryzen 5 CPU.  I'm more into silence than overclocking, so this review is coming from a different perspective.  I've seen Youtube comparisons, and a good budget cooler like the Hyper 212 Evo appears to offer meaningfully lower temperatures for demanding tasks. 

 

As a stock cooler, the Wraith Spire is designed to be easily accommodated.  It is narrow enough to allow room for the RAM slots and short enough to be used in very small form factor cases.  It has very good build quality for a stock cooler and it's more aesthetically pleasing than perhaps a majority of aftermarket coolers.  It is very easy to install.  You just screw the 4 screws in evenly (i.e. 10 rotations per screw, rinse, repeat).  It comes with thermal paste pre-applied.

 

As far as noise goes, it won't be appallingly loud for most people.  If you don't plan on overclocking or running intense loads, it will be somewhat quiet.  It's definitely quieter than fans on the original Xbox One's and PS4's.  But it's not up to par for a low-noise PC.  It's, by far, the loudest part of my build (with except to the GPU at full load perhaps).

 

If you want silence, or maximum gaming performance, use an aftermarket cooler.  Otherwise, for a free cooler, it's not that bad.  There's no problem in keeping this cooler in your system until you can afford to upgrade to a better one.

 

Rating:

7/10 (if you're getting it for free)

6/10 (if you're paying for it)