Xigmatek S126384 “Thor’s Hammer” CPU Cooler Review

Installation Con't

To show you exactly how much room this cooler requires we have taken photos and notes of it installed in both a North/South and then East/West orientations. Here is what we found out.

North / South Cooler Orientation

In the alternate North South orientation, the fans are pointing up and down. This orientation does have some major benefits IF you have a case which is side and top fan heavy (such as the HAF 932). One fan sucking the heat out the back versus three working in tandem….sounds like a no brainer right? Unfortunately, complications can arise and in the instance of the S126384 this is what we found.

Please note:
The motherboard heatsink closest to the PCI-E slots stands about 32mm tall, the heatsink closest to the I/O panel stands about 34mm tall and the small silver one stands about 28mm tall.


While the cooling fan will overhang heatsink closest to the I/O ports, we had no issues as there was literally over a finger's width of gap between it and the metal of the heatsink. If your motherboard’s secondary heatsink is larger you may run into problems but only if it is more than approximately 49mm in height. As for the ram side of things, the fan was not even close and as along as your RAM is not overly wide (and we can not imagine why it would be) you should have no issues.


As with the other two sides, we ran into zero problems here either. The only caveat we have is the same one we mentioned with the secondary heatsink: if your main Northbridge heatsink is overly tall you MAY run into issues as this cooler does over hang it.

East / West Orientation

The East/West orientation (AKA front to back) is the typical orientation found in most setups. This is because while not all cases have two exhaust fans, darn near every one we have heard of (i.e. except for the occasionally exotic passive case) has a rear exhaust port and it makes perfect sense to have the hot air pushed towards this fan so it can be quickly and efficiently sucked out of the case. As with the N/S orientation, we install this cooler with both fans attached.


As with the N/S orientation we ran into no issues what so ever. With that being said you still have to be careful of the height of your Northbridge heatsink as taller ones may cause you to be unable to install this cooler in ANY direction.


In this orientation ram height does become an issue (or at least it does with dual fans) as the fan does overhang the first stick of our memory. If your ram is overly tall you may run into compatibility problems. In this orientation the height of your secondary heatsink (one closest to IO ports) is also important as this may trip you up if that heatsink is more than the approximate 49mm of clearance afforded by this cooler.

All in all, we ran into no issues worth mentioning in either the N/s or E/W orientation, but some people with overly large heatsinks may not be as lucky as we were. To further help you understand the sheer size of this unit we can say the Thor's Hammer when fully rigged with dual fans is 120mm wide and a whopping 140mm deep. The fin array starts nice and high up at about 49-50mm above its base but that isn't a lot when you think of some of the oddball motherboard heat sinks we have seen over the years.