SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HD1425 Malik Customs Edition CPU Cooler Review

Introduction

SilentiumPC is not a household name which it comes to CPU coolers, at least not yet, but the brand has been gaining ground well over the last couple of years and their latest cooler, the Fortis 3 HD1425 Malik Customs Edition, may very well be the big hit the company needs to put them on to people’s radar. The tower air cooler isn’t just any old cooler, it has been designed in collaboration with Malik Customs, helping tune its performance and style to help it fit the requirements of modern system builds.

“Performance meets style with the new Malik Customs Edition of Fortis 3 CPU Cooler – the fruit of collaboration between SilentiumPC and Malik, owner of Malik Customs, world renowned custom system builder and hardware photographer. Based on the regular model it offers unparalleled thermal capabilities coupled with new level of customizability and aesthetics. The heatsink is coated in dark nickel and it’s complimented by interchangeable top plates. Four different color plates are included to match the cooler with most popular high-end components.” – Silentium PC

With all this in mind, we have pretty high expectations of this cooler today. A lot of effort and planning has gone into making it one of their flagship products and we doubt that SilentiumPC or Malik would want to put out an interior product with both their reputations at stake. Equipped with a sizable cooling tower, a powerful 140mm fan and some unique customization options, it certainly sounds promising.

The packaging is stylish, with a cool wrap-around image of the cooler on the exterior of the box.

Around the back, we can see that it has support for all major Intel and AMD sockets, including 2011-3, FM1 and plenty more.

Everything you need is included in the box, including a full colour and photographed installation guide, screws, a universal backplate, Intel and AMD brackets, two sets of fan clips, an Alan key, spanner and a tube of SilentiumPC’s own thermal grease.

The fan is nicely designed, with a matte black finish and a black braided 4-pin PWM cable.

The fan is a Sigma Pro 140mm PWM, offering up 78.6 CFM at 1400RPM and 22dBa.

One of the coolest things (hopefully 2nd to the thermal performance) is the inclusion of four metal top sections. A black one is pre-installed on the cooler, but the extra ones come in blue, white and red, allowing you to tweak the aesthetics to better suit the style of your system build. Their design also means that they’re easy to customise and respray to your liking, so pro and amateur modders should love them equally.