Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim CPU Cooler Review

Cooler Master’s Hyper 412 Slim is a very good CPU cooler as it offers competitive performance for its reasonable price. Currently, we are seeing stock availability issues with the Hyper 412 Slim in the UK and North America. European supply is better, we found the Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim stocked at CaseKing for €39.90 ~ £32 which is good value for a dual fan CPU cooler.

Although the aesthetics of the Hyper 412 Slim are relatively plain and a bit boring, the design is fantastic because there is just so much compatibility – especially with high RAM. The mounting system that Cooler Master provides is also brilliant, I can’t recommend it enough. The mounting system allows the backplate to be secured individually without needing to attach the CPU cooler, meaning you don’t have to support the motherboard, the CPU cooler and hold a screwdriver all at the same time.

As I already mentioned I did have a few problems with the Hyper 412 Slim but these were quite minor. First I had a design disagreement with Cooler Master. I believe the Hyper 412 Slim would of benefited from a flat nickel plated copper base instead of the flattened heat pipe design. I had some issues with the easy fan mounting system too  – yes it was incredibly easy to mount but it also rattled quite a bit once the fans started to ramp up a bit under load. Although this could be fixed by remounting the fans.

With a price of about €40/£32/$50 the Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim gives solid performance, impressive acoustics and brilliant compatibility – one of the cooler’s strongest points I believe. So if you’re looking for something that can tame almost any processor with a decent overclock, keep your system running silent and allow you to run your high profile RAM modules, then the Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim is a brilliant option.

We think the Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim is more than deserving of the eTeknix “Bang for Buck” award, don’t you agree?