AMD Stock Coolers Tested: Wraith Prism vs. Wraith Spire vs. Wraith Stealth

[Godel]

I definitely did read the article. The prism and the deepcool performed around the same, there was no clear winner. The $40 prism performs around the same as a $15 deepcool. So by that logic, the deepcool wins on price.

The AMD Prism doesn't cost $40 or even $15 as you're getting one for free with the CPU.

From the article the $40 price is what is being asked by after market sellers on eBay, not AMD.

If you're seriously overclocking it's probably worthwhile to consider an aftermarket cooler, otherwise AMD's stock cooler will be good enough for most people at no extra cost.

 

[cliffordcooley]

The AMD Prism doesn't cost $40 or even $15 as you're getting one for free with the CPU.

The true value may not be known, but we are paying for the cooler. The very same notion about Windows 10 upgrade being free, when in actuality it was paid for with previous OS purchases.

 

[Evernessince]

The true value may not be known, but we are paying for the cooler. The very same notion about Windows 10 upgrade being free, when in actuality it was paid for with previous OS purchases.

Now you are just wandering into philosophical territory. Technically speaking nothing is for free. You could argue you're very same argument for every and any "free" thing.

This article was written with that basic expectation of that baked into it. You can argue the real cost of the cooler till the cows come home but what I do know is that the 2700X is $320 while the 8700K is $330 and the 2700X actually comes with a cooler, a competent SFF and RGB one at that as well. If people are trying to make the point that AMD can lower prices if they don't include a cooler Intel certainly isn't proving that point. In fact they are doing the opposite.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Now you are just wandering into philosophical territory. Technically speaking nothing is for free. You could argue you're very same argument for every and any "free" thing.

Yep that is precisely what I'm doing. No matter what philosophical discussion you get into. Nothing will change about the statement of "nothing is for free". Someone somewhere is paying for it. I guarantee manufacturers are not gonna eat the cost. They may say the included item is free, but the cost will also be included as well.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

@Evernessince @cliffordcoley,

So these games I've been getting for free from Humble Bumble, Origin and Steam aren't "truly" free? Oh God, I wonder if the Devil actually owns my soul right now. I'll have to go back and read the fine print.

 

[cliffordcooley]

So these games I've been getting for free from Humble Bumble

Nope still not free. A form of marketing to get people interested in spending money. Money of which pays for the free item. Which doesn't account for all the money the items have made in the past. So in a sense the items have already been paid for, or else it wouldn't be offered for free.

 

[theruck]

TS has no more topics to propagate Ryzens so decided to go for the least interesting and cheapest thing about a computer just to keep the talking about CPUs which have no reason to be bought by the consumers.

 

[Shadowboxer]

TS has no more topics to propagate Ryzens so decided to go for the least interesting and cheapest thing about a computer just to keep the talking about CPUs which have no reason to be bought by the consumers.

Yup. Also interesting to note TS hasn’t posted an article on the newly discovered Epyc vulnerabilities when many other tech sites have.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....2018/05/25/amd_epyc_sev_vm_encryption_bypass/

 

[SamuraiSamson]

It would be really great if an objective noise measurement could be included in these tests.

 

[plonk420]

It is good that AMD ship a better cooler than Intel do on their chips. Please, find it on your heart to forgive me if I still don’t think the cooler is very good when I see it performing on par with a $15 budget part.

and it probably costs AMD $2-4+shipping. I'd rather have a CPU cooler (or a backup one) rather than save $2-4

 

[Shadowboxer]

and it probably costs AMD $2-4+shipping. I'd rather have a CPU cooler (or a backup one) rather than save $2-4

If it’s that low, me too. But we don’t know how much it costs. In terms of shipping costs for AMD they could save quite a lot shipping significantly smaller boxes without a cooler.

I’d be willing to bet AMD could knock off at least 10 dollars per unit if they got rid of the cooler.

But we don’t know.

 

[MoeJoe]

Julio arguing with the readership.

The 1st rule of 'Write Club broken ...

 

[cliffordcooley]

Julio arguing with the readership.

Giving emphasis on an article is not arguing. Nothing wrong in trying to steer someone in a specific direction. No wonder staff has little to do with a forum after articles have been posted.

 

[UncleSharkey]

I have the Deepcool with the double cooling fans on my FX 8320 and it works great. But if you don't overclock it is nice that AMD gives you a decent fan but yes there are cheaper ones out there that cool better and are actually cheaper.

 

[RealNeil]

I recently had someone give me a Wraith Prism and a Wraith Spire. I tested them on a Ryzen 6-core that was intended for my wife's office PC use. Both were more than enough for the 1600X CPU.
I used the Wraith Prism for it and it's been a good system for her. The Spire is on the shelf as a backup.

While these are not super OC coolers, they do look good and they're fairly quiet.

 

[beachbowi]

Its an odd article. No noise tests on a cooler review? And the only stress test is Blender and Overwatch? I mean its like you purposefully didnt put a load on the CPU! I get it you want to represent real world use but we all live in different climates anyway...

Your points are all valid. But. your criticism is completely unwarranted. This article was not meant to be the definitive, end-all review on the best cooler for Ryzen processors. It is a simple, concise and general review of how the stock AMD offerings compare with one another and with a second, somewhat familiar cooler, to give a general idea of what direction a new Ryzen owner might want to take for cooling options. Sensible readers can read between the lines. If you have so much time on your hands, and you enjoy writing 40 page reviews of something as basic as a heatsink cooling, then you should submit your own review for consideration. I'm sure we would all be thoroughly educated... if we ever finish it.

 

[beachbowi]

If AMD wanted to be more consumer friendly, they would sell their chips at a discount without the coolers.

Another bag of hot wind suggesting they know better how to market a product than a buzillion dollar corporation with some extremely smart, well paid peeps and reams of sales data at their disposal. Ugh.

 

[Badelhas]

Its an odd article. No noise tests on a cooler review? And the only stress test is Blender and Overwatch? I mean its like you purposefully didnt put a load on the CPU! I get it you want to represent real world use but we all live in different climates anyway. Also the games most people play are actually probably more CPU intensive than Overwatch. Why not an OCCT stress test instead of blender, itl get the chips hotter than blender will. Other tech sites have reported quite bad ticking noise from the AMD wraith coolers, did you find this? And the only aftermarket cooler you compare these to is a Deepcool Gamma 200T? Why not Amazons best selling Hyper 212? Or even maybe something a bit more expensive, or worth $40 like the Be Quiet BK008? I personally would like to know how well these coolers perform compared to something I might actually buy. The only reason I would buy a Gamma 200T is if my cooler broke and I was strapped for cash and I needed something to get to the end of the month before I could buy a decent cooler.

Personally I would definitely prefer it if AMD sold the chips without the coolers and knocked a few dollars off the price. These coolers seem a bit rubbish to me, I mean, they perform worse than a $15 Gamma 200T for crying out loud!

Also you have to be quite savagely naive if you take AMDs word that these things are worth $40. If they sold for $40 literally no one would buy one.

Must say, all I have learnt from this article is that the $40 cooler performs around the same as a $15 cooler and that Techspot chose not to fully stress a CPU in the test nor tell its readers anything about how loud or not loud these things are.

Totally agree. Noise is a very important part of a review like this.

 

[Charles Olson]

It's pretty sad when the Intel fan boys have to come onto an AMD article just to **** on stuff when they have no interest in an AMD system let alone a cpu cooler and then claim how bad the AMD fan boys are because they would be satisfied by using the stock AMD cooler mentioned in this article ! Article was well written and researched so let's leave it at that !

 

[Shadowboxer]

Your points are all valid. But. your criticism is completely unwarranted. This article was not meant to be the definitive, end-all review on the best cooler for Ryzen processors. It is a simple, concise and general review of how the stock AMD offerings compare with one another and with a second, somewhat familiar cooler, to give a general idea of what direction a new Ryzen owner might want to take for cooling options. Sensible readers can read between the lines. If you have so much time on your hands, and you enjoy writing 40 page reviews of something as basic as a heatsink cooling, then you should submit your own review for consideration. I'm sure we would all be thoroughly educated... if we ever finish it.

Let me guess you feel that if you don’t have anything positive to say then don’t say it at all? As you said, all my points are valid. And you can’t pick up things like how well these things perform on a serious load or how loud they are from “reading between the lines”. And you don’t need a 40 page review to add that information.

Yeah I’m not sorry. I feel your criticism of my post is more “unwarranted”.

 

[elites2012]

The prism gives the similar cooling close to my zalman 9900 led. with that being said, their is no need for my to upgrade from my zalman cooler.

 

[condelio]

Hey Steve! Great Review! Just a question.. maybe you can help me... I've got a Silverstone sugo sg13 with mesh grill... And I've been thinking about selling my h110 itx Mobo + g4560 and replacing it with a 2600x + ab350 itx (the only am4 itx Mobo available in my country)... Do you know the height of these AMD coolers? ..as you may know/remember the sg13 shoebox has the atx PSU above the Mobo that allows a maximum of 61mm for cpu coolers (according to manual)..I have a good ATX PSU already so I'd prefer to avoid going the sfx PSU nor the AIO route...thanks in Advance!

 

[MoeJoe]

Julio arguing with the readership.

Giving emphasis on an article is not arguing. Nothing wrong in trying to steer someone in a specific direction. No wonder staff has little to do with a forum after articles have been posted.

You need fresh air bruh. Too dank down there in the basement ...

 

[cliffordcooley]

You need fresh air bruh. Too dank down there in the basement ...

If I'm happy to be away from the likes of you, you should be happy for me. Have a nice day. Just letting you know, I did see your insult. But frankly I'm not taking it as an insult.

 

[MoeJoe]

If I'm happy to be away from the likes of you, you should be happy for me. Have a nice day. Just letting you know, I did see your insult. But frankly I'm not taking it as an insult.

Truth should never be construed as insult.