Product CoolerMaster Hyper 212
Web site coolermaster.com

WATER COOLING, Peltier thermoelectrics and even more exotic phase-change freezers are becoming more common. Simple andaffordable, they mostly perform better than the classic fan-based "air cooling" heat sinks. So, is there space any more for air cooling except at the low end?

Zalman, Thermaltake and others have been pushing high-end air coolers for a long time. Here is the recent offering from Coolermaster, the Hyper 212. At just over US$40, this attempts to bring some high-end performance into that mainstream pricing range still ruled by generic air cooling stuff.

The huge box contains an equally boxy grey heat sink / fan combo, not exactly an unique design compared to ThermalTake V1 Chinese Fan, or Zalman CNPS series fingertip-cutting vertical wheel, both of them made of razor-sharp copper fins and matching heat pipes.

This is a biggie - the first CPU heat sink to have one 120mm fan in the base configuration, and another that can be added on the other side. Why two? Well, it is a push-pull configuration for maximum airflow: one fan pushes in the air, while the other pulls it out, accelerating its flow further.

It really is BIG - even touching the chipset heat pipes

They could just rib those aluminum fins a bit to enhance air friction, and we could get a further few degrees C off the CPU temperature - we might try to do that manually over the coming holidays if the time allows. As the heat sink has no less than four copper heat pipes to take care of CPU TDP, the fins could become a bottleneck in the total device heat dissipation.

Mounting portion

Also, the mounting system is a bit too cumbersome. Having a backplate under the mainboard is ok but they could use something better than wrenches mounted at the end of screws - the Zalman 9700CNPS is a better example.

Most other sites review this unit with generic dual core Intel Core 2 CPUs, some then claiming how it holds its own against big watercooled gadgets like the trusty old Corsair Nautilus 500.

We tried it instead on a different setup with far higher heat load: Intel's XeonUP X3230,a souped-up server-grade Kentsfield (a.k.a. ClovertownUP) bumped up from its official 2.66GHz / FSB1066 speed to the 3.33GHz / FSB1333 at 1.35 volts Vcore - easily 130W TDP.

With its generous X10 multiplier and Xeon-grade packaging and binning, this baby easily runs up to 4.3+ GHz / FSB1750 if suitably (read: freeze phase change) cooled and if you got money for its power bill. The test rig was a MSI P35 Platinum Neo board, the one with the "roller coaster" chipset heatpipe and a generous FSB margin too, yet still using old DDR2 memory.

The test was BIOS and Windows load (3DMark CPU) heat measurements vs Corsair Nautilus 500 water cooler as well as Zalman CNPS 9700 all-copper wheel.

In BIOS temperature monitor after five minutes on, the Hyper 212 showed 32C compared to Zalman's 31C and Corsair's 29C - a lead for water cooling, but not by much. In Windows full load, the CoolerMaster reached 59C peak, very close to the 57C peak of the Zalman.

On the other hand, Corsair peaked at just 52C in this case, showing that, for quad-core CPUs, water or better cooling wins hands down over, umm, hot air.

Bear in mind that, with the second fan, all these Coolermaster temperatures would go down by 2 to 3 degrees, beating the Zalman for something like 10 quid lesser total cost including the added fan.

In Short
This is a reasonably well-performing fan, good enough for up to about 3.4GHz quad core Kentsfield and probably 4.2GHz quad core Yorkfields. It is not pretty looking, and aluminum fins don't match the copper chipset heat pipes on modern mobos (see photo).

Also, its over pound and a half weight doesn't benefit either. But it does its job well at a competitive price. Want something really better? Go liquid.

Good Good performance at mainstream price
Bad Being air cooler, still noisy despite claimed silent fan operation
Ugly Change the board mounting system, please!

Bartender's Verdict