Cooler Master Hyper 212: Looking for a Winner
by Wesley Fink on October 31, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
CPU Cooling Test Configuration
Cooling tests are run using our new cooling test bed. This consists of a Rosewill R604-P-SL case sold by Newegg without a power supply. The Rosewill is typical of a moderately priced mid-tower case our readers might own. It was chosen because it is a Newegg top seller and includes a variable front intake louver and a quiet 120mm exhaust fan at the rear of the case. The case is also screw-less with components held in place by plastic holders instead of metal to metal connections. This appears to reduce case vibration and noise.
The power supply is a Corsair HX620W, which has proven in benchmarks to be an exceptionally quiet unit. The HX620W features a variable speed exhaust fan and a down-facing intake fan mounted just above the CPU space in the case. To eliminate the video card as a source of noise we have moved to a fanless card. Since the move will be made to Vista and DX10 in the very near future, the test bed runs an MSI NX8600GTS which supports DX10 and cools with heatsinks and heatpipes. The reduced noise power supply and fanless video card have the potential to dramatically lower system noise in the test bed.
The motherboard is the ASUS P5K Deluxe. This P35 chipset motherboard has exhibited outstanding overclocking capabilities in our testing. It can also mount the newest 1333 FSB Intel Core processors and can handle our existing high-speed DDR2 memory. The P5K3 uses heatsinks and heatpipes to cool board components so all motherboard cooling is passive. There are no active cooling fans to generate unwanted noise during testing.
The 120mm exhaust fan mounted to the rear of the case is below the system noise floor. We run that fan during performance and overclocking tests. However, system noise can be cumulative, so the exhaust fan is turned off during noise testing.
All cooling tests are run with the components mounted in the standard mid-tower case. The idle and stress temperature tests are run with the case closed and standing as it would in most home setups. Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68F to 72F) range for all testing.
For consistency of test results we use a standard premium silver-colored thermal compound. In our experience the thermal compound used makes little to no difference in cooling test results. This is particularly true now that processors ship with a large manufacturer-installed heatspreader. Our current test procedure uses this standard high-quality silver-colored thermal paste for all cooler reviews.
For comparison, we first tested the stock Intel air cooler at standard X6800 speeds and measured the CPU temperature at idle. The CPU was then stressed by running continuous loops of the Far Cry River demo. The same tests were repeated at the highest stable overclock we could achieve with the stock cooler. "Stable" in this case is the ability to handle our Far Cry looping for at least 30 minutes without crashing.
The same benchmarks are then run on the review cooler(s) at stock speed, 3.33GHz (10x333) at stock voltage, highest stock cooler OC speed (3.73GHz), and the highest OC that could be achieved in the same setup with the cooler being tested. This allows measurement of the cooling efficiency of the test unit compared to stock and the improvement in overclocking capabilities, if any, from using the test cooler.
The cooling test results are compared to a representative sample of air and water cooling results that were measured with CoreTemp. TAT provides a similar core measurement, but test results with CoreTemp were more consistent over a wide range of test conditions than the results reported by TAT. Coolers previously reviewed were retested with CoreTemp under idle and load conditions.
In benchmarks where the new test bed makes no apparent difference, like maximum overclock, results are reported for all coolers tested this year.
Noise Levels
In addition to cooling efficiency and overclocking abilities, users shopping for CPU cooling solutions may also be interested in the noise levels of the cooling devices they are considering. Noise levels are measured with the case on its side using a C.E.M. DT-8850 Sound Level meter. This meter allows accurate sound level measurements from 35b dB to 130 dB with a resolution of 0.1 dB and an accuracy of 1.5 dB. This is sufficient for our needs in these tests, as measurement starts at the level of a relatively quiet room. Our own test room, with all computers and fans turned off, has a room noise level that has been reduced slightly to 35.0 dB(A) compared to the previous 36.4 dB(A). With the new test bed, the system noise at idle is 36.5 dB(A) at 24" and 37.8 dB(A) at 6". This is better than our previous system noise floor of 38.3 dB(A) at 24". The noise reduction at the 6" distance is dramatically lower than the previous test bed floor of 47 dB(A).
Cooling tests are run using our new cooling test bed. This consists of a Rosewill R604-P-SL case sold by Newegg without a power supply. The Rosewill is typical of a moderately priced mid-tower case our readers might own. It was chosen because it is a Newegg top seller and includes a variable front intake louver and a quiet 120mm exhaust fan at the rear of the case. The case is also screw-less with components held in place by plastic holders instead of metal to metal connections. This appears to reduce case vibration and noise.
The power supply is a Corsair HX620W, which has proven in benchmarks to be an exceptionally quiet unit. The HX620W features a variable speed exhaust fan and a down-facing intake fan mounted just above the CPU space in the case. To eliminate the video card as a source of noise we have moved to a fanless card. Since the move will be made to Vista and DX10 in the very near future, the test bed runs an MSI NX8600GTS which supports DX10 and cools with heatsinks and heatpipes. The reduced noise power supply and fanless video card have the potential to dramatically lower system noise in the test bed.
The motherboard is the ASUS P5K Deluxe. This P35 chipset motherboard has exhibited outstanding overclocking capabilities in our testing. It can also mount the newest 1333 FSB Intel Core processors and can handle our existing high-speed DDR2 memory. The P5K3 uses heatsinks and heatpipes to cool board components so all motherboard cooling is passive. There are no active cooling fans to generate unwanted noise during testing.
The 120mm exhaust fan mounted to the rear of the case is below the system noise floor. We run that fan during performance and overclocking tests. However, system noise can be cumulative, so the exhaust fan is turned off during noise testing.
| Cooling Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 (x2, 2.93GHz, 4MB Unified Cache) |
| RAM | 2x1GB Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 (DDR2-1111) |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi 250GB SATA2 enabled, 16MB Buffer |
| Video Card | MSI NX8600GTS (fanless) - All Standard Tests |
| Intel TAT | Version 2.05.2006.0427 |
| CoreTemp | Version 0.95 |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 163.71 |
| CPU Cooling | Cooler Master Hyper 212 OCZ Vendetta Scythe Kama Cross Swiftech H2O-120 Compact Corsair Nautilus 500 Thermalright Ultima-90 Zerotherm BTF90 Xigmatek AIO (AIO-S800P) Evercool Silver Knight Enzotech Ultra-X 3RSystem iCEAGE Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX Thermaltake MaxOrb Scythe Andy Samurai Master Cooler Master Gemini II Noctua NH-U12F ASUS Silent Square Pro Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B OCZ Vindicator Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Thermalright Ultra 120 Scythe Infinity Zalman CNS9700 Zalman CNS9500 Cooler Master Hyper 6+ Vigor Monsoon II Lite Thermalright MST-9775 Scythe Katana Tuniq Tower 120 Intel Stock HSF for X6800 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX620W |
| Motherboard | ASUS P5K Deluxe (Intel P35) |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| BIOS | ASUS AMI 0501 (06/26/2007) |
All cooling tests are run with the components mounted in the standard mid-tower case. The idle and stress temperature tests are run with the case closed and standing as it would in most home setups. Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68F to 72F) range for all testing.
For consistency of test results we use a standard premium silver-colored thermal compound. In our experience the thermal compound used makes little to no difference in cooling test results. This is particularly true now that processors ship with a large manufacturer-installed heatspreader. Our current test procedure uses this standard high-quality silver-colored thermal paste for all cooler reviews.
For comparison, we first tested the stock Intel air cooler at standard X6800 speeds and measured the CPU temperature at idle. The CPU was then stressed by running continuous loops of the Far Cry River demo. The same tests were repeated at the highest stable overclock we could achieve with the stock cooler. "Stable" in this case is the ability to handle our Far Cry looping for at least 30 minutes without crashing.
The same benchmarks are then run on the review cooler(s) at stock speed, 3.33GHz (10x333) at stock voltage, highest stock cooler OC speed (3.73GHz), and the highest OC that could be achieved in the same setup with the cooler being tested. This allows measurement of the cooling efficiency of the test unit compared to stock and the improvement in overclocking capabilities, if any, from using the test cooler.
The cooling test results are compared to a representative sample of air and water cooling results that were measured with CoreTemp. TAT provides a similar core measurement, but test results with CoreTemp were more consistent over a wide range of test conditions than the results reported by TAT. Coolers previously reviewed were retested with CoreTemp under idle and load conditions.
In benchmarks where the new test bed makes no apparent difference, like maximum overclock, results are reported for all coolers tested this year.
Noise Levels
In addition to cooling efficiency and overclocking abilities, users shopping for CPU cooling solutions may also be interested in the noise levels of the cooling devices they are considering. Noise levels are measured with the case on its side using a C.E.M. DT-8850 Sound Level meter. This meter allows accurate sound level measurements from 35b dB to 130 dB with a resolution of 0.1 dB and an accuracy of 1.5 dB. This is sufficient for our needs in these tests, as measurement starts at the level of a relatively quiet room. Our own test room, with all computers and fans turned off, has a room noise level that has been reduced slightly to 35.0 dB(A) compared to the previous 36.4 dB(A). With the new test bed, the system noise at idle is 36.5 dB(A) at 24" and 37.8 dB(A) at 6". This is better than our previous system noise floor of 38.3 dB(A) at 24". The noise reduction at the 6" distance is dramatically lower than the previous test bed floor of 47 dB(A).
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21 Comments
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pc007 - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
This is only slightly related, but why do all the cooling solutions i've seen blow air into a heat sink?When blowing air it is compressed slightly and raises the temperature. When sucking the air off a heatsink the air is expanded slightly creating more cooling effect. It is possible to drop the temperature of a heatsink to below freezing when in an ambient temperature of 20degrees C, just buy reversing the fan.
Is there a reason this isn't done with computer cooling solutions?
gmchenry - Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - link
The ability to remove heat is impacted by the density of the air moving across the heat source. Less dense air is less effective at removing heat. Living more than a mile above sea level, the cooling effectiveness in our systems is reduced by a factor of about .90 (1.0 is sea level). We have to cope with this loss in heat convection by increasing air speed to reach an equivalent heat transfer ratio.Having a fan that pulled air across a heatsink will have a similar effect by reducing the air density. This would deteriorate performance.
ObiWanCeleri - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
I think there's also another, very practical reason for this.Since the air inside a PC is very often charged with static electricity, it also carries dust, which easily collects on fins. I might be wrong but it's more efficient to blow air into the fins to disloge dust than it is to pull air.
Howard - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
Below freezing? Can you show me the math?pc007 - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
nope, not much of a mathmatician. But I can show you a device that does it. If you buy a portable can cooler such as this [url]http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/47292b...d/Product/View/M4500[/url] and pull it apart, you will find this is how it operates.
I have on eand if I put water in it and run it for a few minutes, the water starts to freeze.
oopyseohs - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
I believe the device you link to is in effect a mini-refrigerator. It uses a very small condenser and compressor system that changes the phase (gas -> liquid, liquid -> gas) of a refrigerant to exploit latent heat and provide cooling. This effect is used in computers via rather expensive systems that product sub-freezing conditions and cool processors very well. It is not used very extensively because there is an inherent condensation risk, an enemy to the delicate electrical components. I am no expert, but I would assume the unit you linked to there is not powerful enough to cool a processor, which produces an absurd amount of heat continuously. The one you've got there is good at cooling hot stuff down, or even freezing other stuff, but it's probably not the greatest and continuously cooling something that is very hot. I don't know if this is even right or if it makes sense, but there is a possible explanation for you.oopyseohs - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
ahh yes I am an idiot.. I see it says right there that it is a TEC. TECs are used in CPU cooling applications, but not extensively and because they are very inefficient. Actually one of the better coolers in Anandtech's CPU testing charts, the Monsoon II from Vigor Gaming, uses controlled TEC technology.Schmide - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
That's a TEC Thermoelectric Cooler. Sometimes referred to as a Peltier. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltier-Seebeck_effec...">Link) They work well in extreme cooling but are horribly inefficient. To cool 100w of heat it often takes like 200w of energy, and thusly they produce 200w of heat. To run that cooler you need a 12v 5amp powersource.pc007 - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Right you are, my mistake. I pulled one of these things apart years ago and didn't look close enough obviously... at least I won't continue to think this is how they work now :)Sorry for writing useless rubbish up here.
Chuckles - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
At a pressure rise of 2mm of water, the temperature rise due to PdV work is negligible.The more important design reason for mounting the fan on the blowing side is that it produces a better flow across the heat sink. If you want, start a fan in your room, then see how far away you can feel the airflow across your hand. It's much further on the output side than the intake side. The same principle applies in a fan on a heat sink. With the fan pushing air onto the cooler, you get the majority of the air covering the middle section of the cooler, whereas in a pulling configuration, a high fraction of the air flow would be coming from the edges near the fan, relatively cool portions of the heat sink.