Cooler Master Hyper 212: Looking for a Winner
by Wesley Fink on October 31, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Scaling of Cooling Performance
With excellent performance at stock speed, the Hyper 212 was pushed in our performance scaling tests to see if this mid-priced air cooler delivered similarly impressive performance when overclocking. In our last review we changed our method of displaying results with a reversed scale. That generated an avalanche of emails asking that we go back to the normal method of displaying scaling results. Therefore charts for the Hyper 212 return to a scale with zero on the bottom and 75C on the top. Keep in mind that the lower line is the best performance in this presentation of the data - lower temperatures represent better performance.
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 at idle is one of the best performing coolers we have tested. Performance is generally on par with the excellent group of coolers that fall just below the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme in performance, like the Tuniq Tower, Scythe Infinity, and Thermalright Ultra-120 and Thermalright Ultima-90 with 120mm fan. Performance is generally better than competing mid-priced coolers, which means the Hyper 212 is a good value.
The performance boost at the 3.90 GHz setting in the chart is because two fans were used to reach a top speed of 3.88 GHz; the single installed fan topped out at 3.83 GHz, which is typical of midrange coolers. The top coolers tested have generally continued on to around 3.90 GHz, though most of the square towers require two fans to reach this performance level.
Cooling efficiency of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 was compared under load conditions to the retail HSF and other recently retested CPU coolers. Load testing can be very revealing of a cooler's efficiency. A basically flat line, particularly form 3.73GHz upward, indicates the cooler is still in its best cooling range. A line that is falling rapidly indicates a cooler nearing the end of its ability to cool efficiently. Lines which parallel the best coolers over a range of values are showing similar efficiency slopes.
Under stress test conditions the performance of the Hyper 212 is more like other mid-priced coolers than the top of tested coolers. It is still the best midrange result we have tested so far, which reinforces the value of the Hyper 212 at a price of around $40. As should be clear in the chart the Hyper 212 significantly outperforms the midrange OCZ Vendetta and Scythe Kama Cross in cooling performance.
The Hyper 212 will not challenge the top coolers like the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. However, it does outperform almost any other $40 cooler you may be considering which means it is a very good value at that price. With the relatively easy addition of a second fan it even reaches 3.88 GHz, which is close to the performance of the best we have tested.
With excellent performance at stock speed, the Hyper 212 was pushed in our performance scaling tests to see if this mid-priced air cooler delivered similarly impressive performance when overclocking. In our last review we changed our method of displaying results with a reversed scale. That generated an avalanche of emails asking that we go back to the normal method of displaying scaling results. Therefore charts for the Hyper 212 return to a scale with zero on the bottom and 75C on the top. Keep in mind that the lower line is the best performance in this presentation of the data - lower temperatures represent better performance.
 |
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 at idle is one of the best performing coolers we have tested. Performance is generally on par with the excellent group of coolers that fall just below the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme in performance, like the Tuniq Tower, Scythe Infinity, and Thermalright Ultra-120 and Thermalright Ultima-90 with 120mm fan. Performance is generally better than competing mid-priced coolers, which means the Hyper 212 is a good value.
The performance boost at the 3.90 GHz setting in the chart is because two fans were used to reach a top speed of 3.88 GHz; the single installed fan topped out at 3.83 GHz, which is typical of midrange coolers. The top coolers tested have generally continued on to around 3.90 GHz, though most of the square towers require two fans to reach this performance level.
Cooling efficiency of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 was compared under load conditions to the retail HSF and other recently retested CPU coolers. Load testing can be very revealing of a cooler's efficiency. A basically flat line, particularly form 3.73GHz upward, indicates the cooler is still in its best cooling range. A line that is falling rapidly indicates a cooler nearing the end of its ability to cool efficiently. Lines which parallel the best coolers over a range of values are showing similar efficiency slopes.
 |
Under stress test conditions the performance of the Hyper 212 is more like other mid-priced coolers than the top of tested coolers. It is still the best midrange result we have tested so far, which reinforces the value of the Hyper 212 at a price of around $40. As should be clear in the chart the Hyper 212 significantly outperforms the midrange OCZ Vendetta and Scythe Kama Cross in cooling performance.
The Hyper 212 will not challenge the top coolers like the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. However, it does outperform almost any other $40 cooler you may be considering which means it is a very good value at that price. With the relatively easy addition of a second fan it even reaches 3.88 GHz, which is close to the performance of the best we have tested.
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thoth@cheerful.com - Saturday, September 25, 2010 - link
choppergirl;There is one fatal flaw in your example above. In your suction building you are venting the heat outside the building. and in the blower building you are not. otherwise your examples are correct. In theory the amount of heat transfer is the same for blowing or sucking the air across a heat source with all variables being equal. As one of the previous posters stated to get the variables equal IE the exact amount of air flow.It cost more on the suction set up. Needing a shroud to focus the air flow. This added cost is why manufactures blow the air instead of sucking the air. After all if cost was not one of the driving factors in your system build we would all have decked out Intel hexacore overclocked beast with liquid nitrogen cooling.