Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer Review

Introduction

Today we have in our hands; Xigmatek’s latest offering in the CPU air coolers segment, the mighty Thor’s Hammer (S126384). Personally to me the name Thor’s Hammer reminds me of a home theatre SUB that I’ve been drooling over lately, by Wilson Audio with the same name. But anyways that’s another fantasy.

The new offering by Xigmatek boasts Double Layer HDT technology and is set to surpass the performance of the company’s already Reigning giants, The S1283 and S1284 Rifle Coolers. One should note that Xigmatek were the Pioneers of the Direct Heatpipe cooling when they proved its efficiency with their S1283 offering.

Inspired from the German mythical god’s weapon of choice. The Thor’s Hammer defines strength and Performance and that’s exactly what we are hoping to get out of it today.

The Package

The box is cleverly designed like an ancient chest; going with the mythical theme, bearing the mighty weapon that is the Thor’s Hammer. It has a magnificent scheme all over and I think its safe to say that Xigmatek really did their homework on this one. The box is pretty snugly built, ensuring that the cooler reaches the consumer undamaged. Right at the front we see that the cooler bears “Double Layer Heat-Pipe Direct Touch” technology, a Step-up from the standard HDT (Heat-pipe Direct Touch) that xigmatek is already quite famous for; more on this later on.

Inside the cooler is sandwiched between plastic holders which further prevent any possible external damage. Also included is a user instruction manual and a polythene bag containing the accessories such as the brackets needed for installation on various sockets.

Emptying the contents of the accessories bag, we found the following items included.

1. A niversal Intel Platform backplate (supports both LGA 1366 and LGA 775)
2. A mounting kit including two brackets and two screws for the intel platform
3. Four spring-Loaded screws for use with the backplate (a wrench included)
4. A retention kit for the AMD platform
5. 1g stars brand Thermal grease (disposable packing)
6. Eight silicon fan holders

The cooler is Fully compatible with the intel sockets LGA775 as well as the LGA1366 . and also sports full compatibility with the AMD platform including the K8,AM2+ and AM3+.

That is basically the whole package. No fan is included as xigmatek suggests that this is an enthusiast grade cooler and hence a personal choice of fan should be coupled with the Heatsink. A feature of most enthusiast level coolers on the market

Features & Specifications:

Source: Official Xigmatek Website
features.jpg

Design and Build

The Thor’s Hammer weighs in at 800 grams and the size is 120 x 90 x 160mm. So in short its BIG and fulfils its name to the core, Thor’s Hammer at the first glance it may look just like a normal tower cooler, but a more careful observation shows some really unique and nifty features in the design.

Firstly Four 8mm diameter heatpipes are spotted which run through the base where they come in direct contact with the CPU IHS(integrated heat-spreader), this is the famous HDT technology and guarantees Fluent transfer of heat up to the fins for dissipation. But with the Thor’s hammer it doesn’t just end here. Soldered right to the base are Three more 6mm heatpipes again running directly into the fins, hence maximizing efficiency. Talk about Double Layer HDT !

The array of fins through which the heatpipes run is not our usual arrangement as previously seen. The fins are arranged in a geometrical pattern which I cannot exactly define in words, here the pictures will have to do the talking. Such an arrangement ensures maximum surface area when it comes to heat dissipation. The fins are roughly 1-2mm apart ensuring that air can actually flow through the fins from one side to the other.

The whole of the cooler is black nickel plated, giving it a very subtle look which I’m sure the enthusiasts will welcome with open arms.

Installation

The installation of the Thor’s Hammer is pretty easy once you know what you are doing, so I suggest do give the user manual a read up for your socket before proceeding, as I found it a necessity.

In the case of an AMD (939/AM2/AM3) platform, the installation is pretty easy since the included swing clip attaches to the plastic frame on the motherboard. That’s all there is to it and it doesn’t require the motherboard to be removed from the chassis. The Thor’s Hammer can be mounted either way i.e facing the rear or top of the chassis.

For the Intel LGA775/LGA1366 Socket you would require the included universal backplate to be put behind the motherboard. The backplate side can be reversed and used with the respective sockets as desired. Double-sided sticky tape is present on both sides to aid the process. Yes, this means the motherboard has to be removed from the chassis but, a lot of new chassis’s emerging in the market have the feature of a hole in motherboard tray easing the installation process.

Once that is done you can apply the included thermal paste which spreads rather easily, and place the cooler on top. Two of the Spring loaded screws (diagonal corners) can be tightened with a screw driver and the remaining two have to be tightened with the included mini wrench because they are oddly blocked by the fin design of the cooler. Personally I found this a bit of a pain, as there is little to no room around the heatsink for the hands to tighten the screws with, and I ended with aching hands at the end of the install. But, this is because I did the install inside my chassis and you are not likely to encounter this issue if you are removing the motherboard for the install (which most of the users will).

Once all the screws were done I was really happy with the mounting mechanism as it held the 800g heatsink rather well and it wouldn’t budge at all. Next I installed the Silicon fan holders onto the four corners and mounted my Antec Tri-cool 120mm led fan. Kudos to Xigmatek for providing these in the package as they greatly help in reducing vibrations.

Temps with all the heatsinks included in the comparison were taken with the same Antec fan just so as to level the battlefield. The fan pushes 80 cfm at 2000 rpm so should be enough to show the true potential of the coolers. One other thing to note is the cooler was mounted facing towards the rear of the chassis.

Testing and Benchmarking

Testbed:

• Processor: Intel Core2duo e8400 3.0ghz 6mb L2 cache
• Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 Chipset Crossfire Motherboard
• Memory: OCZ Reapers HPC Edition 2 x 2GB kit (4gb) 1066mhz C5 Timing @ 2.1v
• Graphics Card: XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition 512mb (256-bit)
• Power Supply: Hec Zephyr Series 750W
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2
• Fan for the Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer: Antec Tri-cool 120mm Blue Led fan 80cfm @ 2000 rpm

Coolers Tested:

• Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer (TH)
• Thermalright Ultra Extreme (TRUE) (unlapped)
• Cooler Master V8 (V8)

Test Method:

Firstly all three of the coolers were test at stock clocks of the e8400 i.e 3.0ghz @ 1.20 vcore. Next the clocks were bumped up to the 4.1ghz @ 1.35 vcore. And then followed by that, to make things even more interesting the voltage was bumped up to 1.48 vcore to see how these coolers handle the added heat.

OCCT v3.1.0 (overclock checking tool) was used to check the overclock stability and to provide 100% load to the CPU and hence benchmark the temperature handling by each cooler. Realtemp v3.50 was used to Monitor the temperatures throughout the testing. Each cooler was tested for an hour with the respective settings before the final readings were taken. The ambient room temperature remained at 20-21c throughout the testing process. All temperatures were measured in degree Celsius.

Test Results

Temps @ stock 3.0ghz 1.20 vcore (Lower is Better)

Here we see that the TRUE leads the pack but just by a margin of 2c, Lets see how the coolers fare once the vcore and clocks are bumped up a notch.

Temps @ OC 4.1ghz 1.35 vcore (Lower is Better)

With a vcore of 1.35v and clocks at 4.1ghz the Thor’s Hammer shows some nice potential, leading the pack with a load temperature of just 51c ! The TRUE here falls a bit back but still giving impressive results. But TH does it, what more can you ask for from an air cooler.

Temps @ OC 4.1ghz 1.48 vcore ( Lower is Better)

Bumping the vcore up to 1.48v and testing stability with OCCT we see that the TH still beats the TRUE and V8 with a load temp of 59c. Though the difference between the TRUE and TH is just of 1c at load, its still there. A wise man once said “It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning’s winning.” Ok yes I know it’s a Fast and Furious quote but still it does apply here !

Conclusion

I think its safe to say that the Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer surpassed my expectations. It went neck to neck with the top-end coolers and made its mark right there at the top, something that I personally respect. And I most certainly think that once coupled with two 120mm fans, it has the potential to outperform the competition.

The cooler is properly engineered providing the best of both worlds i.e ergonomics and performance. The MSRP of the Thor’s Hammer is US$55 and in my opinion, considering the features we get its worth spending that much. With that said, I would have liked Xigmatek to include a 120mm fan (if not two) with the package so as to offer a complete solution.

To conclude, I would highly recommend the product to everyone. Since it basically supports almost all of the Major Platforms, and completely lives up to its name when it comes to performance.

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