Titan Fenrir and Skalli CPU Coolers Review

A Closer Look at the Titan Fenrir

OK, lets get this out of the way first and then take a fair & balanced look at the Fenrir: we HATE clam shell packaging. To us nothing says “we think our potential customers are criminals” more than heat sealed clamshell packaging. Who in their right mind would try to five finger discount a box this big? Sigh, OK now that our blood pressure is back down under 180 / 105 lets take a closer look at this “box”.

After noticing the heat sealed clamshell packaging, the next thing we noticed was the fact that the thin plastic membrane doesn't do too well at protecting its contents from the more likely suspects: gravity and blunt force trauma.


On the positive side, the box is colourful and contains massive quantities of data about the Fenrir which resides inside. We also liked the fact that the fan is on prominent display in all its chromed goodness. In case you do not know your Norse methodology well enough lets just say “Fenrir” is a giant wolf that is supposed to kill Odin during end of the world battle called Ragnarök.


Opening this “box” is an exercise in patience and dexterity but like many clam shell schemes, box cutters or scissors makes the task fairly easy. That being said, Titan certainly puts a lot of faith in the sturdiness of their design but helping to cushion the Fenrir of blunt force trauma is a layer of cardboard and another pair of internal plastic “boxes” in which the Fenrir and fan reside. It may not be the best protection scheme we have seen, but it is far, far from the worst either; and does elevate this scheme from unworthy to decent.


Moving on to the list of accessories we can say that we were impressed by the bountiful offerings which do go a long way to overcoming our distaste for the Fenrir clamshell packaging. As with most of the big boys in the CPU cooling world, this is a backplate supported cooler which comes with support for Intel 775, 1366 and AMD systems. Recently, Titan released the “Fenrir V2” which basically adds support for Intel 1156 systems so if you do have a newer 1156 system be on the look out for the second version of this cooler. You also get an installation instruction pamphlet and tube of “Royal Grease” TIM. Rounding out the list of accessories is a 4pin to 3pin low noise adaptor which reduces the speed to about 1300rpms (think Noctua Low Noise adaptor…for a MUCH faster fan). While you can just let the extra pin overhang your motherboard if the board doesn't support PWM, this adaptor is a nice touch which will make for a cleaner looking and quieter install.


While the Fenrir may not be as heavy as a log like some of the other big coolers we have looked at in the past, it is certainly no lightweight when it comes to the design and construction of its fin array. One of the biggest issues we have with many HDT coolers is not the fact that they have been paired with an inadequate fin array. You can literally have the most efficient means of sucking heat away from the CPU but but if the heatpipes cannot be in turn effectively cooled, your CPU temperatures are going to be mediocre at best. We are glad to report that the Fenrir has one down right massive fin array which when paired with a good fan should result in some extremely good temperatures.


Getting a bit more specific this cooler weighs about 550 grams (without the fan attached) and is 156mm x 124mm x 107mm in size. All in all it is on the higher end of the weight and size spectrum for HDT coolers, but like we said earlier is isn't in the Super Heavyweight weight category either.


In an interesting twist, the tops of the heatpipes have not been capped or covered and are on display for all to see. We say that this is interesting and noteworthy as it is obvious that Titan has spent a lot of time and effort in the ascetics department but seems to have missed the boat when it came to cleaning up those heatpipes.


Moving onto the fins themselves, and helping to explain the X design of the fin array we can see that much like the OCZ vendetta 2 (we reviewed HERE awhile back) the fins have indentations stamped into them to help funnel the air flow. This should help keep the air from escaping out the sides before cooling the heatpipes. It also looks like the four large heatpipes of this cooler have not been offset and are actually lined up in a straight “front to back” row, much like the Prolimatech coolers use.