Since the beginning of personal computing, companies have been striving to design and produce the best possible air cooling solutions for processors. Within the last few years we here at HWC have come across many examples of broad marketing brush strokes but few of these coolers have lived up to expectations. Conversely, we have found some real diamonds in the rough which were unassuming but still exceeded all our expectations; be they value or performance leaders. That is why when a company like Xigmatek talks, we listen.
As a brand name, Xigmatek is much better known in the enthusiast community it is not exactly one which you would call a “house hold name”. Xigmatek has only been in business since 2005, but in this short period of time they have become well known for producing great value coolers and essentially bringing the HDT style cooler to the enthusiast community in North America. Their corporate goal of I.C.E or Impressive, Creative & Essential does nicely sum up why they have made such a good reputation for themselves in so few years.
Today we are going to be looking at a cooler which has a lot of expectations riding on it: the Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer S126384 (yes, it's a mouthful). Why the high expectations? It's younger brother, the HDT-S1283 is still one of the best price / performance heatsinks out there and Xigmatek is known for constantly on-upping their own designs. The Thor's Hammer has been out for a while now and while we have been busy looking at other manufacturers' products, this one has quickly gained a awfully respectable reputation for itself. Even though it has been on the market for a while, it is not widely available but if you can find it, it goes for a hefty $75CAD. This of course does not include the price of fan as unlike the Xigmatek HDT 1283, this newer model does not include an OEM fan and leaves that crucial decision up to YOU the consumer.
In the recent past we looked at HDT cooler which used 4 heatpipes to form is base and we walked away very impressed by that product. We have also looked at a few coolers which use three large heatpipes and they too were award winning but this is the first time we have looked at a heatsink which has both FOUR heatpipes and THREE heatpipes all integrated into one package. Needless to say, on paper the S126384 has a heck of a lot of cooling potential. Will all this added cooling potential be useful in real world situations or is this a classic case of adding more just for mores sake. We have all seen “upgraded” kit where all the additional potential is wasted or worse still actually hinders the product resulting in a net loss.
I for one am looking forward to seeing exactly how good (or bad) the impressively-named Thor's Hammer really is. Let's get on to it, shall we?
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