SilentiumPC have made a great and positive impact in our reviews with their excellent Fera 5 CPU cooler. Today we are having a look at an even more promising cooling solution, a 140mm asymmetrical single tower heatsink, called the Fortis 5 ARGB.
As the name implies, this is the ‘eye candy’ variant with an interesting twist, as in the top plate of the heatsink will light up, alongside the fan. They sell the standard non-ARGB version and like we saw with the Fera 5, a dual fan option as well.
SilentiumPC was established in 2007, Warsaw, Poland. They build high-quality silent PC cases, power supplies and cooling solutions that simply get the job done without breaking the bank. They accomplish this by the old-school belief that good products are the key to success. No aggressive marketing, no flashy banners everywhere, no mighty slogans. Instead they’re putting efforts in effective design and smart cost-cutting so the customers get the pure essence of functionality at unbeatable prices.
Prices and Availability
The MSRP for the ARGB variant is £59.99 while the standard Fortis 5 is £49.99 and the dual fan option is £54.99. All of these are available on Scan.co.uk as well.
*11.04.2022 Update – Video review is live as well!*
Presentation and Specifications
*Courtesy of their website.*
The Fortis 5 ARGB is a new SilentiumPC processor cooling system, developed in collaboration with Synergy Cooling, equipped with a two-element addressable-RGB backlight system: top of the heatsink and a fan. The distinguishing features include a completely new 140 mm Fluctus ARGB fan optimized for static pressure, high airflow, and quiet operation with an adjustable backlight, soft synchronized illumination of the asymmetrical top, and an optimized base with six heat pipes. In terms of performance, the Fortis 5 ARGB can easily compete with large twin-tower coolers, at the same time surpassing the best single-tower systems in cooling efficiency and psychoacoustic properties.
The Fortis 5 series is the next step in a revolutionary design developed in collaboration with Synergy Cooling, and another representative of the new generation of SilentiumPC cooling systems. It is equipped with a larger heatsink and a new version of the Fluctus fan. In addition to the Fortis 5 ARGB, the base Fortis 5 and Fortis 5 Dual Fan with two Fluctus fans (140 mm on the front and 120 mm on the back of the heatsink) are also being available. All Fortis 5 series coolers are covered by an extensive 6-year manufacturer’s warranty.
*They did mention that on some of the newer Z690 motherboards for the Intel LGA1700 socket there might be some incompatibility issues. The full list is here.
Visual Inspection
The overall theme and packaging design is nearly identical to the previously seen Fera 5, with a visual depiction of the actual CPU cooler and plenty of detailed specs and branding.
There is some plastic foam at the bottom of the box while the heatsink is secured between the accessory box and the fan box.
Accessory wise, here is the complete list:
1x Intel Multisocket backplate w/ preinstalled rubber pads
1x Universal securing metal plate
1x Branded thermal paste mini-syringe
1x Instruction manual
1x Nano-Reset ARGB controller
1x Mini wrench
4x Fan metal wire clips
4x AMD double threaded sleeved bolts
4x Intel plastic locking sleeves
4x Intel double threaded bolts
4x Locking flat screws for the universal plate
8x Rubber pads for the fan
This is the 140 mm Fluctus ARGB PWM fan that will spin between 300-1400 and it’s rated up to 100,000 hours of continuous operation thanks to its fluid dynamic bearings. Although, there is no mention of the fan’s airflow, static pressure and noise output numbers.
All of the 9 semi transparent blades have a serrated design profile to them.
It takes power though the 4-pin PWM un-sleeved plug while the 5v plug is for the ARGB function. Both plugs have a daisy-connection type in order to connect them in sequence to another fan and the same for the heatsink’s ARGB.
The asymmetrical heatsink stands 159mm tall, 139mm wide and 80mm in depth (without the fan, 107mm with). It has 47 aluminium fins with plenty of spacing inbetween for better airflow.
The top plate of the heatsink is really interesting since it lights up and also has this extra venting channels.
Now the exhaust side of the heatsink has this really aggressive cut out and smack in the middle of it there is a channel for the top plate’s ARGB cable to pass through.
You just need one free 5v ARGB port on your motherboard because you will connect this to the free port on the fan.
The Fortis 5 has 2 more plated heatpipes than the non-plated Fera 5 so this means even more cooling headroom, plus they are more visually pleasant to look at.
Finally the heatpipes make direct contact with the the CPU and the machining is excellent.
Before the next chapter, here is the finalised look with the fan attached.
Installation & ARGB
Installation should be flawless since it’s almost identical to the one we saw for the Fera 5. Thus the first step is to retain the motherboard backplate after you remove the front socket plastic brackets.
Install the custom double threaded sleeved screws into the backplate.
The universal metal plate goes in while making sure it faces the right way up and then just bolt it down.
Apply the thermal paste and then secure the Fortis 5 heatsink.
Next step is to install the custom rubber grommets on both sides of the fan’s frame.
Now is a good time to connect all the plugs before you attach the fan to the heatsink. Besides the fan’s header, plug the 5v ARGB ports from the heatsink to the one from the fan and then into the motherboard.
Even on this ITX board with 49.5mm tall RAM kits, the Fortis 5 fits to the absolute limit without touching.
VRM and the GPU sides are all safe and the Fortis 5 feels right at home even in this mATX case.
Finally here is the ARGB in action. Both the fan and the heatsink plate have a great colour diffusion and both are fully compatible with all of the lighting software from all of the main motherboard vendors.
Even through a perforated panel the Fortis 5 shines.
Testing methodology
- The CPU cooler will be tested in 3 different scenarios as follows: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600x CPU at stock settings, then at 4.0 GHz for 1.05v (as the main baseline to remove any inconsistencies in stock form where the BIOS will pump extra voltage for shorter periods) and finally an overclocked scenario of 4.7 GHz for 1.275v
- As the main torture test, we will employ a 2 minute run in AIDA64
- Room temperature was recorded at ~19°C
- For the noise testing, we used our Pyle PSPL01 placed 30 cm away from the setup – all other fans will will be off or set at minimum RPM and a lav mic was places at the same distance for the audio sample
- Thermal paste used Noctua NH-H2
- All of the side panels will be attached and the Fortis 5’s fan will be left on auto % RPM to simulate real life usage
- Any results over 90°C in any condition are considered a fail
Hardware used:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
– Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B550-i Gaming mITX @ BIOS 2407
– RAM: 64GB Neo Forza MARS RGB 3200 MHz CL16
– Boot SSD: Samung 970 PRO 1TB M.2 Gen3x4 MLC PCIe NVMe 1.3
– Video card: ASUS GTX 1080 STRIX A8G
– PSU: Corsair SF750 SFX Platinum
– Case: SilverStone ALTA G1M Micro-ATX Super Tower
Software:
– OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 21H1
– NVIDIA Drivers – 511.79
– CPU-Z v1.95 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– Core Temp v1.17 – To see the temperatures in real time
– AIDA64 Extreme v6.60 – Memory analysis and Benchmark suite
– MSI Afterburner v4.62 – To record the FPS and load/temperatures
– Cinebench R23 – Great overall CPU benchmark tool
– 3D/Game(s) – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with latest updated, set at 1080p, with everything at Ultra quality Settings, no V-Sync
Testing, Results and Analysis
The first series of tests come from Cinebench R23 which will put a serious load on the CPU while it renders a specific frame. From top to bottom, as mentioned above, the 5600x CPU will be tested in the following sequence: 4.0 GHz @ 1.05v, stock settings and OC’d to 4.7 GHz @ 1.275v.
The 5600x despite its ‘official’ 65W TDP rating, we all know, since the release of 3000 Ryzen series from AMD, that it will not respect that when it boosts. Thus, this is a hot CPU even in stock form. The fact that the Fortis 5 ARGB can tame this CPU in an overclocked scenario as well, where it dumps so much heat, while running barely at 50-60% RPM (as in extremely quiet) it’s highly impressive!
The 2 minute long AIDA64 stress test should impose the maximum workload just for the CPU, therefore we should get the highest stress scenario.
As you see, the Fortis 5 still manages to keep everything under control, once again, while being quiet.
If a CPU cooler manages to survive the torture tests, then a benchmark run in a gaming scenario, should be a walk in the park. Games are not as stressful as a synthetic torture tests but are a great indicator of real life usage.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla averaged around 40-50% total CPU usage in all CPU scenarios and thus the SilentiumPC Fortis 5 ARGB CPU cooler had no problems whatsoever.
Check the video as well for the complete perspective.
The noise output test is an important challenge for any CPU cooler since if you can’t live with the noise, this negates any of the other advantages. Happy to report that the Fortis 5 ARGB even above 80% RPM is extremely quiet! We are talking about Noctua/be quiet! level of performance here! We even had to add +10 on noise gain in Adobe Premier Pro to actually hear something on the recording and all the weird extra noises are coming from outside the building.
Conclusion
Once again SilentiumPC delivers an impressive air cooled product with great value for money. The key selling point here is its remarkable low noise output even in higher RPM % points. Cooling wise, it had no troubles taming an overclocked 4.7 GHz Ryzen 5 5600x for 1.275v. The ARGB eye candy is implemented in a unique way and we really like its 159mm tall footprint because you can install it in so many mATX cases as well, like our SilverStone tower case. Not only that, the Fortis 5 is full ITX friendly with zero clearance issues in any direction, at least on AM4 boards. Hard to fault it besides its low availability outside Europe.
The good:
+ Excellent cooling results
+ Extremely quiet
+ Unique ARGB implementation
+ Under 159mm tall
+ Full ITX friendly
+ Ability to install a second fan
+ Great value for money
+ 6 years warranty
The bad:
– Hard to find outside Europe
– There is no mention of the fan’s official performance & specs
Glob3trotters “Silence is Golden” Award – 5 out of 5
Many thanks to SilentiumPC for supplying us with this great cooler !
