Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler Review

Conclusion

It’s been one heck of a ride, but like all good things it has now come to its end. We hope you too walk away from this review as impressed as we are with the Cooler Master Hyper 212+. It's performance is among the best of the best while having everything anyone could possibly want; from an easy installation process, to a wide range of compatibility options to a size that won't leave you bumping into everything in sight. Add this the fact that the more expensive V8 and V10 products were usually left in the dust by a cooler that costs significantly less and you suddenly realize that Cooler Master has an interesting situation on their hands.

As we saw in the performance evaluation sections, the Hyper 212 PLUS has exceptional cooling potential. However, we really do wish Cooler Master had gone with four 8mm heatpipes instead of the smaller ones found on this cooler. As good as the numbers were, we did see that it may have maxed out at the top end of the i7 overclocking tests. This is why the Prolimatech was able to overtake it while sporting a much slower fan. Don’t get us wrong as this cooler has awesome potential and will satisfy most of the enthusiast community. Even at 3.8GHZ the average temperature of the fire-breathing i7 920 CPU was relatively cool and the Hyper's performance was only inferior to the best of the best of the best.

In the 212 PLUS' stock configuration you get not only a great high speed fan but one which is also has very good static pressure and an acceptable noise envelope. As an added bonus you may also get a Rifle Bearing fan and not the Sleeve Bearing which is advertised. To us a fan which does as good a job as this one does AND has a longer life expectancy is a nice bonus and not something worth beating up the manufacturer over. With that being said we do have a hunch that many enthusiasts will be swapping out this lone fan for a pair of quieter ones since the performance increase is significant enough to make most overclockers sit up and take notice. In our books, the very fact that the 212 PLUS can accept a second fan straight out of the box is what pushes it past the venerable Xigmatek 1283 and OCZ Vendetta 2.

The other thing which really pleased us is the backplate which comes standard with this Cooler Master heatsink. Pushpin mounting really is a less than optimal solution especially when you are talking about a cooler like this one.

In the end it what sealed this cooler's fate -and left the crown firmly seated on the Prolimatech- was the fact it required a 2000RPM fan to get as good a results as it did. Most coolers have a more balanced approach to performance versus fan speed than this little powerhouse and this did to a certain extent skew things in its favor. While not overly noisy, the fan this cooler comes equipped with can't exactly be called quiet either. We firmly believe in testing coolers with their stock fan (assuming they come with one) as this gives you a more clear and precise picture of its "out of the box" potential, BUT it does casue the occasional zinnger.

It many ways this review ended up being a good old fashioned slugging match and was a lot like watching a rematch of Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvellous Marvin Hagler. However, the heavyweight fighter did walk away the winner in this main event, albeit sporting a pair of black eyes and a chipped tooth.

Most will never ever reach the ceiling of this relatively lightweight air cooling solution’s thermal envelope but those who do would be better served by going for the big boy Prolimatech Megagalems. On the other hand, many an overclocker may prefer the svelte 212 PLUS to the others since it cools as good as if not better than most of the big boys…who also cost a lot more.

While we could go on and on, we think the best way to sum up this cooler is to say it’s a DAM GOOD VALUE. It performs wonderfully yet is very reasonably priced and (for the majority of consumers) if you pull the trigger and purchase one you will not be disappointed in it.



Pros:

- Price
- Excellent Cooling Performance
- Dual fan capable out of the box
- Very powerful stock fan
- Backplate comes standard
- Improved installation process (compared to other CM coolers)


Cons:

- Heatpipes are the smaller style
- Relies on a 2000RPM fan for optimal performance
- Questions over Fan specs
- Single pressure point mount does allow twisting to happen
- "Only" second best at high loads