CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler Review

A Closer Look

Enough about the packaging, let’s find out what is underneath that purple corrugated exterior in the hope that we don’t find a blister pack.

Well, most obviously, there is the large aluminium heatsink with copper heatpipe design, safely wrapped in a plastic shaped packaging along with a 120x25mm 4 pin PWM fan.

You also receive the backplate for mounting and fastening the cooler down. With the cooler weighing more than 1/2 a kilo, unless your motherboard came with a backplate that looks like Katie Price’s bra-clip, you’re going to need to swap it out for one of these, resulting in a reasonably painless 10 minute job.

The plate itself is a tough metal affair, much more sturdier than the standard plastic ones supplied with most motherboards.

The fastening bracket used for all sockets on Intel and AMD motherboards rotates slightly to accommodate the different sockets.

You also get four fan bracket clips for mounting the fan onto the heatsink. Four are included encase you decide to go for a second fan resulting in a push/pull scenario for an all in one mounting solution.

Along with the backplate are the screws needed to attach it to the rotating clamp, as well as a nifty little tool to tighten the screws up when installing the plate to your motherboard. You also get a nice little touch; a complimentary jar of thermal compound, allowing you to use the whole system straight out of the box, without a rushed Ebuyer Next Day order.

The heatsink itself is simple enough in the design department, with 4 u-shaped copper heat-pipes looping from side to side, surrounded by plenty of the aluminium fins. This tried and tested design saves on both weight and cost, as copper is almost 3x as dense as aluminium, and around double the price.

At the bottom, there is a heatplate made from an aluminium block with the pipes running directly through it, and flattened until absolutely flush. This works well, as it allows the aluminium in the spaces to absorb the heat, transferring it to the heat-pipes, carrying it to the pipes, and finally cooling the pipes via the fins.

These fins are then cooled by the ample 120mm fan, bringing in cool air of which the fan itself is PWM controllable from 600 to 2000 rpm, with plenty of variation space to ramp up and down on load. It is held in place with the supplied metal clips, to simplify assembly and removal.

A second fan can be attached if needed in a push/Pull configuration to increase cooling power. An extra set of clips are included in the box for this purpose.

The 4pin PWM feature of the fan means that it can be dynamically and precisely adjusted by the motherboard to maximise cooling and minimise noise dependant on load, as well as allowing a precise readout of the actual speed, and control through programs such as Speedfan.