X-bit labs

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Processor Cooler Review (page 7)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 12/17/2007 | 04:10 PM ]

Conclusion

I believe that even though Cooler Master Hyper 212 may not impress the users spoilt by the remarkable efficiency of the supercoolers, this solution still turned out a success. And it is not only its very decent efficiency, universal design or moderate level of produced noise, but the price-to-efficiency ratio of this cooling solution. We compared the Cooler Master product against pretty much the best air cooler out there, but I didn’t mention the 70% higher price of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme on purpose. Moreover, the latter is shipped even without the fan. Of course, if you are looking for an unbeatable cooling solution and have unlimited budget, the choice is evident. However, far not everyone and not always need cooling systems like the Thermalright one, which is also pretty hard to find these days. This is when Cooler Master Hyper 212 comes in handy.

In conclusion I also cannot help pointing out a few drawbacks of the new Cooler Master Hyper 212 solution. It is evident that they failed to really utilize the cooler potential to the full extent. Of course, a solid heatsink array instead of the currently used two-halved design will undoubtedly increase the heat dissipating surface and improve the cooler efficiency even more. Since it allows using two fans simultaneously, why not reduce the gap between the heatsink plates and include a second fan in the standard cooler bundle? If they covered the heatsink sides by simply bending the plate edges, they could have used the airflow more efficiently right away. They could also throw in a backplate for LGA774 systems, equip their fans with the rotation speed management option or at least ensure PWM support. However, despite all these suggestions that could add to the cooler efficiency we have to state that there is one good CPU cooling solution more in the market these days thanks to Cooler Master Hyper 212. As for the uneven base of the cooler foot, I tend to believe that it is the defect of our particular sample, so we will check out what other users say to determine is this supposition is correct.