A Closer Look

At first glance, the SilentiumPC Fortis 5 appears to be a large single-tower design. But upon closer inspection, it does have a few tricks up its sleeve. First and foremost, the heatsink has an offset design for more clearance around the graphics card, which is nice to see. The tech behind the Fortis 5 was used in the Fera 5, and it has been beefed up to offer more performance. The 47 aluminium fins have a good deal of space between them, which does limit overall surface area. Consequently, this should result in less restricted airflow. Considering the Fera 5 had more fins, I begin to wonder how well the Fortis 5 will perform. Either way, the design as a whole is very similar to its smaller sibling.


Overall, the cooler takes a similar no-nonsense approach to cooling, which seems to be a hallmark of SilentiumPC products. There are no fancy ARGB lighting elements or other gimmicks on the base model Fortis 5 or Fortis 5 Dual Fan. However, if you do want extra bling, an ARGB version is also available.


The heat pipes are hidden via a plastic cover that snaps into the top few fins. While it's nothing special to look at, it is aesthetically more pleasing than a bare tower heatsink. Better yet, since it is simple, one can easily customize it if one wishes. It is also worth noting that the fins are not smooth; instead, they feature a dimpled surface, same as the Fera 5 series, which should further improve cooling performance even if only minimally. As for the heat pipes, they make up the base as they directly touch the CPU's IHS with SilentiumPC opting for six or them compared to the four used in the Fera 5 series. They have also been plated, which is a nice touch for perceived quality. When it comes to flatness, the base on both the Fortis 5 and Fortis 5 Dual Fan is slightly better than what I experienced with the Fera 5 series, so that's a nice change, but it more than likely just comes down to typical manufacturing variance.


SilentiumPC has paired the Fortis 5 and Fortis 5 Dual Fan with their own Fluctus fan series. In this case, both coolers have a single 140 mm PWM fan. Meanwhile, the Dual Fan offering gets a Fluctus 120 mm fan as well. All fans utilize a fluid dynamic bearing and have an RPM range of 300 to 1400 with semi-passive functionality. As such, these will stop spinning at very low PWM levels.