Review: Xigmatek Thor's Hammer

[Kayin]

A new story entry has been added:

[drupal=551]Review: Xigmatek Thor's Hammer[/drupal]

Review By Kayin

Today on the bench is the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer, their top-end heatsink offering. Also on the bench is AMD's top-end chip. When the smoke clears, will Thor triumph, or has he met Ragnarok in Thuban? We'll find out!

[x88x]

Good review of what looks like a quite good product. Those low-30's temps on a 1090T under full load are pretty impressive.

[blueonblack]

Good review! I own this cooler myself, and love it. In the right setup, with the right air flow, it's almost as effective as the massive Noctua NH-D14, without taking up more room than my PSU. And it looks better too.

Nice work, Kayin.

[SXRguyinMA]

nice review! that's one neat looking cooler. shame it doesn't come with fans though

[Oneslowz28]

Hey guys,

I was just informed that during our time with the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer, there have been a few revisions to the mounting hardware. I have placed the following note at the bottom of the review.

Editors note 24 September 2010: During our testing period with the Thor's Hammer, Xigmatek has revised the mounting hardware.They are calling the revision THOR'S HAMMER -W, it now supports LGA 775, 1156, 1366 and you can purchase a new retention kit for all AMD Sockets. With this new mounting kit you can now rotate the cooler to a 90° angle, allowing access for RAM modules to be placed on smaller motherboards.

Xigmatek's new AMD mounting system code named "Crossbow."

I can not speak for Kayin, but I can only assume that this would directly affect his rating of the Thor's Hammer, and would bump the fitment rating to a 4/5 or maybe even a 5/5. I would personally buy this cooler if I were an air cooling man. Blueonblack also owns this cooler and to quote him "I own this cooler myself, and love it. In the right setup, with the right air flow, it's almost as effective as the massive Noctua NH-D14, without taking up more room than my PSU. And it looks better too." So if you are in the market for a serious cpu cooler, check out the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer!

[SXRguyinMA]

nice!

[Yeticorn]

Sweetness, might have to grab one now.

[Kayin]

Speaking as the reviewer, the fact that the Thor's Hammer now fully supports 1156 is enough to boost that 3/5 to a 5/5. I would have preferred a screw mounting for the AMD, but in practice it worked just fine. If it works, there's no need to mess with it.

I can fully, without any reservation say if you have the room in your case, the Thor's Hammer is a great cooler. And you should probably buy one, but don't get in trouble with your wife for doing so.

Thanks again to Xigmatek, and two thumbs way up for fixing the mounting. There are still companies that listen!

[Yeticorn]

Given traditional spacers, mobo tray placement, etc - how wide does a case have to be to fit this inside? I'm thinking 8.5"+ (just wondering if I could squeeze it into my case).

[Kayin]

Sounds about right. Depends on board and case layout, it has issues with some boards and a Lian-Li PC-60.