Cooler Master Hydra 8800 Hybrid GPU Cooler Review

Installation & Instructions

Now that we're done picking apart every fine detail of the Hydra 8800, it's time to install it on our test video card; an eVGA 8800 GTX Superclocked. We've pre-removed the stock heatsink and we won't show you that process since there are already many guides available on the internet that include the removal of the stock 8800 heatsink.


Cooler Master's instructions made this very simple, but the process was also fairly easy to do because once you've removed the reference heatsink, you know how to install the new one. As discussed before, that is exactly what the Hydra is: a stock heatsink with a few bits added on.


First we applied the included thermal compound (which appears to be the same compound present on the reference design) in the middle of the GPU. Then, being sure not to miss any of them we applied thermal transfer pads to all 4 VRM banks, and all 12 memory modules.




Cooler Master recommends using little black isolators to ensure that no electricity is conducted between the PCB of the card, and the screws. We put each screw in a little bit, then went around and tightened them all individually. Overall, installation went by without a hitch.

And here is the finished result: