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We've seen CPU coolers in all shapes and sizes, materials and costs, and it's always interesting to see the new names of some of these products, showing how marketing is hit and miss just like the coolers themselves. Xigmatek's Thor's Hammer is certainly a name that conveys strength and several other noble qualities, and we did have to fight the urge today to throw out a laundry list of bad puns to get that point across.....probably involving something along the lines of "smashing the competition" and so forth.
The simple fact remains, however, that even Shakespeare questioned the value of a name, and that the substance of something doesn't change simply because you use a different word for it. Similarly, Performance is King as we say around here, and today we're testing the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer S126384, which offers Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) technology, a newer trend in tower-style heatsinks, and promises some efficient cooling numbers. It is Socket 1366-capable and looks stunning in nickel-coated black, so despite its imposing name, what remains to be seen is whether it can cool well or not; that is the question. Let's move along and find out.
Packaging:
 
A Closer Look:
 
 
Application:
 
Performance Test:
To test the heatsink, we boot into Windows and let the system sit idle for 10 minutes, then measure temperatures. We then load the CPU cores to 100% using Prime95 for 20 minutes and then again measure the temperatures. This entire process is done twice and then averaged to avoid any minor discrepancies that might occur. Ambient temperatures are kept at 25°C, and Arctic Cooling MX-2 is used for the thermal interface material. CoreTemp was used to record all temperatures. Temperatures are reported to the nearest whole degree Celcius; anything less than one degree can be attributed to slight testing variances. Frankly, the tolerances at less than one degree are extremely minute for testing such as this. All thottling features in BIOS are disabled.
In this particular setup, since Thor's Hammer does not come with an included fan, we'll use the 120mm fan from Xigamtek's Dark Knight, as we feel it is a good apples-to-apples comparison, and this fan also represents a good balance between noise and performance; it's a 2200 RPM, 30.1 dBA fan that has specifications we feel are adequate to suit most enthusiasts in a "normal" air cooling setup.
Our test setup is as follows:
So how does Thor's Hammer perform? Let's take a look below.
As we can see, Thor's Hammer does a very good job at keeping the hot i7 920 under control when running at stock speed, showing a significant improvement over the stock Intel cooler. It also matches Xigmatek's outstanding Dark Knight exactly in terms of cooling peformance, and is slightly ahead of the other HDT towers, the Akasa Nero and OCZ Gladiator Max. The result isn't surprising, given the very close similarities in design between the HDT coolers. Let's juice up the voltages and BCLK and see what happens when we overclock the i7 monster.
When we crank up the voltage and overclock the CPU by over 1GHz to 3.8GHz, we see that Thor's Hammer struggles a bit to cope with the enormous about of heat generated by the Core i7, but the temperatures level out at 72 degrees Celcius, just silghtly better than the Dark Knight (and using the Dark Knight's fan as well), but does sit atop the HDT cooler pack. By comparison, the stock cooler failed miserably, as we stopped the test after temperatures went beyond 90 degrees Celcius to avoid damaging the processor.
With the 40% larger surface area of the Core i7 over the Core2 chips, the current crop of heatsinks do struggle to keep the chip cool under load when highly overclocked. Idle temps are excellent, but when the cores are juiced up then things start to get interesting. Regardless, a 3.8GHz ultimate overclock on a 2.6GHz chip is nothing short of outstanding, so clearly the Hammer is doing a fine job allowing us to the push the i7 920 very hard.
Regarding noise produced by the fan: it is entirely dependent on which fan you choose, so you do have the option of going with a silent setup with a Noctua fan, for example, or something far more robust and high output, such as a Sanyo Denki if you're lucky enough to get your hands on one.
Conclusion:
Xigmatek's Thor's Hammer S126384 continues in the recent trend in cooling technology, sporting an HDT design that is very effective when used in a tower-style setup. The efficient design is complemented by the gorgeous aesthetics of the black nickel finish. Similar to Xigmatek's Dark Knight, a dark coloured fan, even one similar to the soft white LED one from Xigmatek, would look stunning. Since the Hammer doesn't come with a fan of its own, you do have the choice of whatever suits your needs, from silent to high-output. This is both a pro and a con, as the inconvenience of having to order a separate fan is offset by the inherent flexibility offered here. The lack of a fan in the package, while understandable, is still somewhat disappointing nonetheless. On a related note, without a fan you still need to purchase one, adding to the overall cost. Since Thor's Hammer is available at online retailers for $65 USD, it sits in the upper end of the air cooler market, and is particuarly expensive when you still have yet to purchase a fan for installation.
The backplate installation method for the Hammer is a wise choice by Xigmatek, as it's likely preferred by most people over the antiquated push pin system, and the nimble fan grommets make the entire process straightforward and quick. The only serious drawback here is the clearance issues pose by memory modules that have taller heatspreaders; this is clearly a disappointing problem with the Hammer.
That being said, if you're willing to pay a premium price, Xigmatek's Thor's Hammer is a great product. It does have a couple drawbacks including lack of fan and resulting price, as well as the memory clearance concern, but if those don't bother you then you get a cooler that showcases gorgeous aesthetics and excellent cooling performance.
source: http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=732&page=6
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