Thermaltake SpinQ VT

Introduction

Thermaltake has been in the CPU cooler game since just about as long as CPU coolers began to aftermarket. They tend to have a lot of non-standard coolers that feature as much style and flair as they do performance. The Thermaltake SpinQ VT is the successor to the popular Thermaltake SpinQ we reviewed a while back, see the SpinQ review here.

The SpinQ VT rotated the CPU from a horizontal aspect to a Vertical aspect. While the original SpinQ didn't provide stellar performance it did provide stellar bling. A very large portion of end users aren't in the overclocking community and the SpinQ fit their bill very well, it did well for a baby overclock but it wasn't really an enthusiast cooler per say.

Sometimes all you need to do to a cooler is reorient the heat pipes for a more efficient coolant liquid/aerosol cycle and it can make a huge difference. Just for fun we tossed the SpinQ VT on our LGA 1366 i7 965 and took it for a drive. Given the more style than performance linage of the SpinQ VT's older brother we were a little surprised.

We tested the SpinQ (original) on the LGA 775 Q6600 so we won't be running it against it's younger brother on the LGA 1366 i7 965. The SpinQ held the Q6600 pretty well at stock speeds and a baby OC wasn't out of the question but the i7 965 is hyperthreaded and a little much for the SpinQ. Since the Q6600 is getting a little long in the tooth we don't really test with it anymore so we went to our current test platform the i7 LGA 1366 series and gave the SpinQ VT a Sunday drive. We didn't go for uber high overclocking but took it up to 3.6GHz on the SpinQ VT which we feel is aimed more toward aesthetics than uber performance.

Specifications

As you can see the SpinQ VT has a universal design which will weigh heavily in it's acceptance and success. It fits everything from LGA 1366 to LGA 775 on the Intel side and AMD from AM3 to Socket 754 making it one of the most universal CPU coolers out there. Interestingly enough Thermaltake has gone with an 80mm fan but given the coolers design any larger fan would probably cause the SpinQ VT to be to large and cause it to overhang vital components. We tried it on our Asus P6T6 (LGA 1366) and an Asus P7P55D-E Pro (LGA 1156)and we were able to use both short and tall ram kits in every ram slot on both boards. The SpinQ VT was a little close to the top PCI-E 1x slot on the P7P55D-E but there was room to install a PCI-E 1x card without direct contact.

While testing we noticed the almost total lack of sound coming from the SpinQ and that is going to make it popular among the non-overclocking silent PC fanatics. When we cranked the fan up to high we did notice a little sound coming from the SpinQ VT but not enough to annoy anyone but the most sound intolerant. One omission on Thermaltake's part we did notice is the cooler doesn't have a 4pin connector, they did however include a manual fan controller on the SpinQ but it resides inside the chassis so to adjust the fan you have to remove the chassis's side. A back panel expansion port controller would have made the package sweeter. We prefer a 4 pin power connector that allows us to adjust fan speed from BIOS. We do realize though that a lot of non-overclockers could care less about BIOS fan speed control so we are on the fence about the lack of a 4 pin controller.

Features

• Universal Socket Compatibility & Easy Installation Support latest Intel socket LGA1366 & LGA1156
• Excellent Cooling Capacity
• supports 180W 3pcs U shape heat pipes ensure ultra high efficiency Classic cylinder heat sink and spiral aluminum fins 80mm blow fan with brilliant Red LED 
• Optimized Structure & Smart Airflow Design VR Fan allows the users to adjust the fan speed from 1000 to 1600 RPM Dissipating the heat with Multi-direction
• Premium thermal grease sample included

We don't particularly like the Intel push pin design CPU hold downs and prefer a backplate on our CPU coolers but we have to say the install on the SpinQ was ultra easy. We just set it in place and pushed on the pins and it easily snapped into place and we were ready to go. Thermaltake even included enough Thermal Paste to use on one or two CPU installs and that will help keep the cost down for most end users.