INTRODUCTION

   Cooling efficiency may be the primary goal of every CPU cooler manufacturer out there but in a market filled with countless models one more thing seems to matter almost just as much, cost. After all it's no secret and affordable devices have always driven the market and that applies to everything, CPU coolers included. With that in mind even though over the years several manufacturers have tried to find the sweet spot between cooling efficiency and cost not many have succeeded in doing that and so today almost all the top-end solutions are also the ones that carry the heftiest price tags. The guys over at SilentiumPC are the ones trying their luck this time over with the brand new Fortis 3 EVO ARGB CPU Cooler.

   Since 2007 SilentiumPC brings well-made CPU coolers, cases and power supplies with main focus on exceptional value for money achieved through effective design and smart cost-cutting. No fancy trademark names, just well-thought-out products designed to work, chosen and praised by value-minded enthusiasts and system integrators.

   The Fortis 3 EVO ARGB is a very large CPU cooler with an 220W TDP (thermal design power) which consists by a single heatsink (tower design) and a 140mm Pulsar HP ARGB hydraulic bearing fan (1400RPM). The heatsink features a total of 38 aluminum fins, five 6mm copper nickel plated heatpipes, nickel plated H.D.T (heatpipe direct touch) base and an asymmetric design which means it doesn't interfere with your motherboard components and/or RAM modules. As for the fan even though it lacks the large number of LEDs found in other models thanks to its translucent frame and blades it produces very nice ARGB lighting effects while the bundled Nano reset ARGB controller gives it compatibility with several mainboard sync technologies (more specifically ASUS Aura, ASRock Polychrome Sync, MSI Mystic Light and GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0). So, is this the CPU cooler to get if you're on a tight budget? Time to find out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A partial product picture is located at the front of the large black, white and blue box.

The specifications of the Fortis 3 EVO ARGB are printed on the left side whereas on the right side we find the features list.

Along with the main heatsink of the Fortis 3 HP ARGB and its Pulsar HP ARGB 140mm fan in the box you will also find 4 fan clips (you can use a 2nd fan in push & pull), ARGB extension cable, Nano Reset ARGB controller, PT-2 thermal paste tube, Allen key, backplate and all the necessary bits in pieces required to mount the cooler onto Intel LGA 775/1150/1151/1155/1156/1200/1366/2011/2011-3/2066 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/AM4/FM1 mainboards.

THE FORTIS 3 EVO ARGB

The 673g heavy Fortis 3 EVO ARGB heatsink measures 158mm in height, 125mm in length and 100mm in width.

As you can all see the top fin is painted black and has the SilentiumPC logo engraved on it.

Here you can see the 38 aluminum fins of the heatsink.

Thanks to its asymmetrical design the Fortis 3 EVO ARGB is a zero interference model (at least with most motherboard models).

Even though this gap in the design of the heatsink denies it the total surface area it could have had it should improve airflow levels.

All five 6mm copper heatpipes are nickel plated and pass through all of the fins.

The nickel plated base has a mirror like finish something that we don't see much with H.D.T models.

Using an all-white fan may not look very nice to some but the 140mm Pulsar HP ARGB model promises good performance and ARGB effects.

With the fan attached the Fortis 3 EVO ARGB is now 800g heavy and measures 158mm in height, 140mm in length and 125mm in width.

Above you can see some of the ARGB effects/colors of the Pulsar HP ARGB fan.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   We always take things quite seriously when it comes to work so just like with the previous LGA1366 database we will not be testing each CPU Cooler on its own and with different ambient temperature levels and thus we can actually have yet another valid CPU Cooler database. Testing a CPU Cooler automatically means that you need to know where it stands against the immediate competition and to accomplish that we have spent both money and time through the years, something that we plan to continue to do so in order to get the most accurate results for the end consumers who read these lines. Every CPU cooler in this database is tested with the bundled 140mm/120mm/92mm/80mm fans while working at both idle speed and 100% of their speeds for all the temperature tests. CPU Coolers that do not come bundled with a fan/s are measured using a Noctua fan (size dependent on the model) to test for the temperature tests but due to the lack of a stock fan dBA level tests are obviously skipped. Single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests every cooler in the database was measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. The Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste is used with every CPU Cooler in our latest LGA2011 database (although initially this was not the plan, we had to change things to get the most accurate results). Finally, it's very important to point out that just because a CPU Cooler is better than another when tested with our test rig that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures, we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded, we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure is more time consuming than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the CPU Cooler. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here, we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   It’s somewhat clear from the charts that SilentiumPC had the right idea when they paired a large heatsink with a large 140mm fan. Cooling efficiency is quite good (a high-RPM fan would further improve this), noise levels are low and as for the ARGB effects well they look surprisingly better than expected. Of course, the Pulsar HP ARGB fan is far from the highest quality fan I’ve seen to date and the amount of RGB LEDs is limited but since this is an affordable CPU cooler it’s understandable that SilentiumPC had to cut some corners.

   So just how affordable is the Fortis 3 EVO ARGB CPU cooler by SilentiumPC? Well even though availability is far from great it currently retails for around 45Euros inside the EU. Yes, there are obviously more affordable models in the market currently but I truly think that the Fortis 3 EVO ARGB offers a very good price/performance ratio (even more so if you also take into account its RGB features) and that’s why it comes highly recommended by us.

PROS

- Good Performance
- ARGB Lighting (Mainboard & Manually Adjusted)
- Zero Clearance Issues with Most Motherboards (Assymetric Design)
- Noise Levels
- Easy Installation

CONS

- Size (For Some)
- Current Availability