Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler Review

[AkG]

Value

Value

The term “Value” is such an amorphous term that it truly has different meanings for different people. For some a CPU cooler is only as good as it overclocking potential, for others it is how quiet it does its job; for others still it’s how effective it is for its cost. We here at HWC try to provide as many answers as possible for the term “Value”. Hopefully by this point in the review people looking at OC potential or loudness levels will have a fairly good idea of what its Value is. For the “best bang for the buck” crowd we have included a chart below showing how much each 1°C less costs when compared to Intel’s FREE stock cooler. No consideration has been made for noise levels, “looks” or any other extraneous factors; this is just raw performance vs. monetary cost. For any cooler which performs worse than the Intel stock cooler a rating of “FAIL” will be given. For any cooler which has a “Value” of more than $10 per 1°C a rating of “FAIL” will be used in the graph but the chart will list its actual “value”.

All prices are based on either their MSRP (if no e-tailer prices were available at review time) or the online price they sold for at the time of their review. IF a CPU cooler does not include a fan the price of a Scythe F has been included ($12).

To make it as easy as possible for you to modify this ratio we have also included the various coolers temperature difference so if you do come across one of them on sale you can easily modify its “Value” rating. We here at HWC are in no way saying this is the definitive answer to “Value”, rather it should be considered another tool to help you make your final decision. After all something is only as “valuable” as what you consider it to be.

Q6600 Cooling Value

Please Note: This chart has be calculated based upon the differences between Intel stock cooler’s average load at its highest OC on a Q6600 @3.0GHz versus various after market coolers average load temperatures (in their stock configuration with stock TIM) also on a Q6600 @ 3.0GHz.

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At nearly three fifty the V8 is fairly mediocre at best when it comes to value. It's certainly not in the same league an HDT cooler can offer but its not terrible either. If you find this cooler on sale for a very good price…who knows it just might make a good budget unit for you.

i7 920 Cooling Value

Please Note: This chart has be calculated based upon the differences between Intel stock cooler’s average load at its highest OC on a 920 @ 3.42GHz versus various after market coolers average load temperatures (in their stock configuration with stock TIM) also on a 920 @ 3.42GHz.

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Obviously the “V” in the V8 does not stand for VALUE when it comes to cooling an i7 processor. Heck, the entire V line appears to be the antithesis of the word. In the case of the V10, at least that cooler has a good excuse as TECs based coolers are never cheap….but the V8 does not have such luxuries and can thus be considered a pretty poor value when installed into an i7 system.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

After reviewing two of Cooler Master's higher-end heatsinks, one thing is for certain: they are definitely not adverse to taking a risk or two. Sometimes risks pay off (the backplate cut-out in their cases come to mind) and at times they can even help propel your company forward; unfortunately they don’t always work as they are meant to. In the case of the V8 it’s a little bit of both these situations as the idea of the V8 a sound one and under certain conditions it is a very good product. However, the problem with the V8 is not the risk Cooler Master took in designing and bringing said design to market, the problem is the V8 is trying too hard to be too many things to too many market groups. It is almost as if this cooler has a major identity crisis.

We are sure that if the V8 had been paired with a very, very powerful fan we would be singing a very different tune and the overclocking enthusiast market would love it as a cheaper alternative to the V10. Unfortunately at that point, the portion of the enthusiast crowd that craves silence would universally hate it. However, that would also be where the included fan speed controller would come perfectly into play.

The fan selection factor is a big reason this cooler is a less than optimal choice for both silent PC and enthusiast crowd, but it is not the only one. The biggest problem we have with this cooler is the decision to make the lone fan next to impossible to replace. Indeed, we could overlook a lot of the issues with the V8 if only we had been able to mount a secondary and tertiary fan to its outside cooling assemblies. If Cooler Master had thought the idea of the current fin design through to its logical conclusion they would have foreseen the static pressure issue it has caused. They could have then designed the exterior fin arrays to be as large as the interior ones AND had included a mechanism for mounting fans to these arrays. This seemingly small oversight has literally doomed this cooler to a “jack of all trades, master of none” niche market. If the V8 had been able to mount more fans, the potentiometer for the middle fan would make perfect sense as it would be a nod to the silent PC crowd who would not be doing major overclocking (and thus never mount more than one fan to it) and allow them to tune the decent harmonics of this fan to their liking. All we want is some options, is that too much to ask for?

As it stands the V8 is a very high quality piece of kit that will suit many last generation systems nicely. If you fall into this category and you understand the inherent limitations of this cooler you will end up with a very well built product that gives some decent temperatures. If you do not plan on overclocking your i7, but want something which is better and produces less noise you too will like this cooler. For everyone else, there are much better choices to be had for less monetary investment.


Pros
- high quality construction
- fairly quiet fan
- potentiometer included to tweak fan noise
- decent 775 cooler


Cons
- Price
- Lackluster i7 performance
- no ability to mount more fans
- included fan is underpowered
- swapping out the fan is next to impossible
- never lives up to its potential

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