Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler Review

The tool-less fan connection method is very convenient for attaching the supplied fan to the heatsink. If you decide to use a different fan on the heatsink, be prepared for a time consuming procedure of detaching the Cooler Master fan and attaching your new fan.

Screwing the Intel retention plates to the cooler’s base is simple and painless, just position them in the pre-cut channel, line up the holes and screw away.

You are required to position the cooler on the CPU with the mounting screws which are connected to the retention plates poking through the motherboard’s CPU cooler mounting holes.

The next step was to flip our motherboard while still holding the cooler in place, before lining up the universal back-plate. Once the back-plate is lined up, you can fully attach the cooler by tightening the 4 nuts to the cooler’s mounting screws which pass through the motherboard mounting holes and universal back-plate.

Physically attaching the Hyper 612S to our motherboard was a painful process which had us longing for a third hand, but thankfully, the mount was very secure.

RAM and VRM heatsink clearance is very accommodating due to the location of the cooler’s bottom fin. The flexible fan mounting method means that if you own tall RAM modules such as Corsair’s Dominator sticks, you can simply attach the fan to the heatsink at a higher location, leaving plenty of clearance for the tall RAM fins.

The Hyper 612S does look rather sleek when installed in our test system. The cooler has a distinctive presence due to its large dimensions. The uniquely designed top fin creates an attractive look with the symmetrical cut-outs, embossed Cooler Master logo and barely visible protruding copper heatpipes.

Overall, installation was quite awkward and at times, frustrating. Connecting the cooler to the back-plate had us craving a third hand so that we could actually hold the cooler in place while attaching each nut to the back-plate and installation screws. Even though the installation procedure itself was annoying at times, there was no messing about with the sturdiness of the mount which is exactly what you want to observe when attaching such a hefty cooler to your motherboard.