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Cooler Master Hyper 212+ vs Thermalright Silver Arrow

jhatfie

jhatfie

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Messages
1,642
So for Christmas I got a Thermalright Silver Arrow. I had been cooling my i5-750 @ 4.0Ghz with my Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and was happy with my investment, but wanted better cooling while still being quiet without the hassle of going back to water cooling.

I just installed my Silver Arrow today and I am very impressed. You certainly get what you pay for.

CPU: i5-750 4.0Ghz @ 1.3v
Thermal Compound: Shin-Etsu X23
Test: OCCT 1hour CPU test
Max/Min Temp readings provided by: OCCT/Core Temp (hottest core reported) in Celsius
Room Temp: 20.5C/69F

CM Hyper 212+ idle: 38/36
CM Hyper 212+ load: 64/66

Silver Arrow idle: 32/30
Silver Arrow load: 48/50

Now this is with a stock hyper 212+ using just the included fan. Adding a second fan will drops temps another 2-3 upon average based on my prior testing. I pulled the second fan a while back because I did not like the acoustics of two of them and do not feel like retesting. Silver Arrow was using two included fans in a push/pull fashion.
 
Yeah but that arrow is also a dual heat sink type. Not dissing the results or anything. But theoretically wouldn't that be better cooling anways? I mean wouldn't quite a bit more volume of air be transferred away because of that?

I am liking the results. Was this heat sink reviewed by [H]? At all?
 
That my friend is a nice trade off. So like I said before the dual design should in all cases provide better cooling? Must resist urge to drop 90 dollars.... GAH!!!! Darn you! Cost includes shipping. Damn it is soooooooooooo worth it.
 
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jhatfie, did the included cooler master fan have a somewhat annoying sound profile to it? I've read of it a few times in user reviews, but it's apparent that mine has the same annoying sound. It just seems untypical of a 120mm fan. I've heard plenty of bad and dying fans, but this one isn't that bad. It just seems like a "trait" of the fan itself. Any thoughts?
 
Not sure, the sound profile did not seem to bother me much when there was just one fan, but with two together, it was not what I would call that loud, just a hum that I found more annoying.
 
jhatfie said:
Not sure, the sound profile did not seem to bother me much when there was just one fan, but with two together, it was not what I would call that loud, just a hum that I found more annoying.
Click to expand...

When you installed the second fan, did you use the sound dampening material that was provided with the 212+? It was included with the accessories, you're supposed to put them behind all four screws.
 
ampdude said:
When you installed the second fan, did you use the sound dampening material that was provided with the 212+? It was included with the accessories, you're supposed to put them behind all four screws.
Click to expand...

If he was using the included plastic brackets that came with the 212+, he has no choice but to add the rubber dampers, otherwise the fan won't have enough thickness to be held to the heatsink.

I was really disappointed with the 212+'s performance on my Q6600 @ 3.5 GHz. With the volts I need (~1.4 V), the CPU was getting past the 70's with prime95. My Ven-X doesn't even get past 60. I'm pretty sure I had contact issues because the paste never spread very well, even after filling the gaps.
 
I never liked the fan. That said I got the CM212+ for $19.99, so my expectations for sink+fan weren't particularly high.

zaxour - did you apply it as described here:
Link isn't working for some reason - go to Page 5 of the Benchmarkreview "Best Thermal Paste Application Methods" from 2008; It's the last picture - using thin lines.
 
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Mav451 said:
I never liked the fan. That said I got the CM212+ for $19.99, so my expectations for sink+fan weren't particularly high.

zaxour - did you apply it as described here:
Link isn't working for some reason - go to Page 5 of the Benchmarkreview "Best Thermal Paste Application Methods" from 2008; It's the last picture - using thin lines.
Click to expand...

Yep, believe me....I searched for every damn application method possible. I tried putting it on the separators, putting it on the pipes, doing rice grains, doing thin lines. Nothing proved very effective. The contact was just awful.
 
did the included cooler master fan have a somewhat annoying sound profile to it? I've read of it a few times in user reviews, but it's apparent that mine has the same annoying sound. It just seems untypical of a 120mm fan.
Click to expand...
The CM212 comes with a rifle bearing fan. Those make a clicking noise as they spin instead of a whirring/whining sound. If the clicking is loud, intermittent, or varies significantly with the fan orientation, you might have gotten a bad one that needs to be oiled.

I like rifle bearings better than the "musical note" effect that comes from hydro bearing fans. Soft clicking seems easier to filter out as random noise/non-information than a bassoon playing in my computer.
 
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That's a nice temp decrease you got there. I've actually got a CM 212+ AND a Noctua NH-U12P SE2 sitting in my room and only one of them is going into my new Sandy build.

I bought the 212+ first thinking I wouldn't need more than that (and I probably don't) but I'm really not enamored with it and I don't like the push pin mounting style as opposed to the nicer screw in type and I've heard tell of some build quality issues with them. You get what you pay for and at $25 (+8 for the Arctic Silver) it's only about half of what I paid for the Noctua.

The Noctua of course comes with it's own high quality mounting hardware, thermal compound and 2 quiet fans all ready to go out of the box. As long as I have the space for it on a UD4 then I'll probably end up sending the 212+ back to Amazon.
 
thefreeaccount said:
The CM212 comes with a rifle bearing fan. Those make a clicking noise as they spin instead of a whirring/whining sound. If the clicking is loud, intermittent, or varies significantly with the fan orientation, you might have gotten a bad one that needs to be oiled.

I like rifle bearings better than the "musical note" effect that comes from hydro bearing fans. Soft clicking seems easier to filter out as random noise/non-information than a bassoon playing in my computer.
Click to expand...

I'll be picking some fans up online in the next few weeks, and being that I'm in the middle of a new build process, I've got plenty of 120mm that have been doing just fine. Yate Loons have done surprisingly well for me thus far.
 
Yah I have been htting the same temps if not higher on the 212+, maybe I should get the silver arrow. Not totally sold on watercooling yet.
 
I wish my Hyper 212+ and i5-740 @ 4GHz ran at 66 degrees under load. When I run OCCT, the temp shoots up fairly quickly and then stops after about 5 minutes because it's reached 80 degrees :(. The stock fan got quite loud at max speed, using a Gentle Typhoon was much quieter.
 
The trick is to install two ball bearing fans on the 212+ of slightly different flow rates. The suction/(sucking) fan MUST be moving more air than the pressure/(blowing) fan...else you get stall and very little cooling. I run that setup on an I7-920 and it is super quiet, effective and yes...cheap.
 
Ah, I was only running one fan, blowing over the HS. I might be able to give your suggestion a try, failing that I'll put my H50 back on.
 
digitaldave said:
Ah, I was only running one fan, blowing over the HS. I might be able to give your suggestion a try, failing that I'll put my H50 back on.
Click to expand...

Let us know how that works out. I just got a 212+ and will be looking for some fans for it.
 
ya i got a sa too, but waiting on my lan gear da box ( gets here 2morrow :) already lapped my SA to 1000 grit, not gonna do my cpu lazy lol
 
flexcore said:
Let us know how that works out. I just got a 212+ and will be looking for some fans for it.
Click to expand...

I had another go with a 4GHz oc yeasterday, using the stock Coolermaster fan pushing over the HS, and a Gentle Typhoon pulling, and got the same results as before, i.e. decent enough idle temps, but on load it shot up quickly to about 80 degrees at which point I shut the run down. No idea what's going on here :confused:.
 
The hyper 212 is more of a Budget cooler that really isnt made for extreme over clocking anyways. Its only really good for a Mild OC. Ive owned a couple of different coolers that worked but they just worked you know.

Hyper 212
A50

Now I have an A70 wich keeps temps Stupid low. The A50 & the 212 did a good job but nothing like my A70
 
I use the CM Hyper 212 and I got it becuse of the price/performance. Many great reviews, and a reasonable price. I don't see why people spend so much more for such little performance gain
 
if you look at his Results its not a little Gain Idle temps dont mean squat its the Load temps you need to watch

CM Hyper 212+ load: 64/66
Silver Arrow load: 48/50

By switching coolers it shows a 16c Drop that is really nice. especially 2 full load.
 
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