Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Air Cooler Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Air Cooler Review

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO heatsink and fan cooler combo has been around for about seven years and is incredibly affordable. This HSF is a go-to for many folks on a budget and others that just need cooling that is better than stock. What happens when we put it on our highly overclocked Ryzen 7 CPU?

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I've used the Hyper 212 Evo in several non-OC builds. It is a solid performer at a great price.
 
The dollars per degree chart makes my H150i Pro purchase sad.
 
Nice writeup guys!

I've been using the 212 series exclusively for 4 or 5 years now. They are always around $20 (sometimes less) after MIR.

$14 for the AM4 scissor bracket? I paid $7, but maybe you guys chose a faster shipping method.

For AM4 I would suggest skipping the standard Hyper 212 Evo model, and go for the Hyper 212 LED Turbo. It comes with 2 fans for push pull, and ditches the scissor bracket entirely so it can do AM4 out of the box.
$25 after MIR from Newegg. Skip the Hyper 212 Evo for AM4 and go for one of these.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103242

For those that have an older Hyper 212 + or Evo, and want to use AM4... yes you'll need the updated AM4 scissor kit. Also, I used some rubber washers under the cpu bracket to tighten up the mount... I don't want any wobbling or twisting. I did this on my Ryzen 1700 with an old Hyper 212+. $1.97 at home depot for a 10 pack (in the plumbing supply section)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DANCO-3-4-in-O-D-Flat-Faucet-Washers-10-Pack-88577/203193520

edit - Almost forgot... regarding RAM clearance... the fans can be adjusted slightly higher to handle bigger heatsinks. It's a plastic clip mechanism, so it's not in a fixed position. I had to do this with some sticks with heatsinks on them. Not a big deal, but I did have to put the fan on last. It just snaps in.
 
I've always considered the Hyper to be the best cooler on the market dollar for dollar. I even ran one with my old FX-8150 and it handled it all the way up to 4.3 GHz which was insane for a $29 cooler. I don't understand why they can't include an AM4 bracket with the cooler tho especially if it's, ya know, "AM4 compatible". It's not like AM4 is a novelty socket or something.

Side note, no graphs or pictures show up on the mobile version of the article (Chrome, Android 8.0).
 
MacLeod said:
Side note, no graphs or pictures show up on the mobile version of the article (Chrome, Android 8.0).
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Yep, broken right now. We moved 100% of our infrastructure last week. Fixing some bugs.

You can turn on the desktop site in the settings menu.
 
Nice write up. I picked up one of these on sale for $24 with a $10 MIR and actually got said rebate in a timely fashion.
 
something really wrong with the Reeven Justice and TRUE 140 Direct numbers, there's no way in the world they will perform so badly in comparison to a hyper212 and other air coolers as the noctua NH-U12. I have made extensive test, I have all of those air coolers, and the hyper212 it's an entire class of performance below those coolers, in all my systems reeven justice tend to perform equal or better most of the time than a noctua NH-U14S however numbers here show a considerable difference between those. definitively something it's wrong with those numbers.
 
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hesho said:
wow...

i did not expect to see a review of the hyper here. I'm actually more surprised at how well it does too!! Kudos to [H] for the review!

btw, am i the only one that laughed that it broke the $ per degree chart?? ;)
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Given that it did break my formula, which is based on the cost and cooling of the Thermalright, I probably need to go back in and base it on the Hyper.
 
Practically identical temps to the U12S??

You just saved a ton of people a boatload of cash sir!

*still using my Hyper 212 Plus with the original Blademaster 120 single late 2009. Damn resilient fan if you ask me....
 
Burticus said:
edit - Almost forgot... regarding RAM clearance... the fans can be adjusted slightly higher to handle bigger heatsinks. It's a plastic clip mechanism, so it's not in a fixed position. I had to do this with some sticks with heatsinks on them. Not a big deal, but I did have to put the fan on last. It just snaps in.
Click to expand...

when I was using mine with tall corsair vegence ddr3 I swapped the fan to the otherside in "pull" config and it only dropped 1C
 
horrorshow said:
*still using my Hyper 212 Plus with the original Blademaster 120 single late 2009. Damn resilient fan if you ask me....
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one of the best fans ever used.. it have a high amount of static pressure and performance at a very acceptable noise given the 2500RPM speed. I use two of those fans as Intake in one of the secondary machines.
 
Nice review! Had the 212 on one of my old rigs. Where can one get that kickass [H] wallpaper, though? :D
 
Welsper said:
Where can one get that kickass [H] wallpaper, though? :D
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On that note, bring back the [H] polos!

(I think those existed at some point... with the lil [H] logo instead of polo/izod etc)

Anyways, back on topic....

So if this was tested at 1.475ish volts, theoretically hitting 4.2 on a 2600 at 1.425 should be easy-peasy?

Cuz.... that was kinda my plan....
 
1_rick said:
Also, as someone above mentioned, the led version is am4 ready out of the box.
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My friend had the 212 LED and his was AM4 compatible out of the box, but it mounted the cooler in the "wrong to me" direction on the socket using the plastic heatsink clip mounts. He ordered a different bracket/backplate kit from CoolerMaster that would mount it correctly and make it more secure using the through board installation. Also the 212 LED and some of the others have a completely different base plate. Heatpipes are spaced out and don't touch each other, bottom is not nearly as smooth.

The 212 evo and 212 LED might perform the same, but they are not the exact same heatsink design.

Honestly, unless the RGB would bother you, I would get the MA410P instead as it should have the proper mounting hardware straight out of the box and is only $35 currently
 
Highly affordable cooler and fan combination plus it's worth noting it would be extremely easy to convert it into a push/pull configuration with a few zip ties and another fan. I'm sure that would help aid in it's cooling a little as well and/or bring down the noise if you use them both on fan controllers.
 
knowom said:
Highly affordable cooler and fan combination plus it's worth noting it would be extremely easy to convert it into a push/pull configuration with a few zip ties and another fan. I'm sure that would help aid in it's cooling a little as well and/or bring down the noise if you use them both on fan controllers.
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I just purchased a Hyier 212 LED on sale a few weeks back as a spare.. already used it to cool my 8086k while I was building and testing my latest upgrade outside my case. . It comes with mounts for an additional fan. The 212 line might be long in the tooth... but it's longevity says it's a damn fine cooler.
 
there is also Deepcool Gammaxx 400 which is out of the box compatible with AM4 it hooks on the socket bracket)

supposedly just as good if not better performer than hyper 212 line at +/- the same cost (likely a matter of proper attention to installation and/or TIM used) they do however rate it for a proper TDP that it can effectively cool unlike the hyper 212 ones (130w not 180+, or like cryorig H7 150w)

I just do not trust a cooler rated for something it cannot keep at reasonable temps when "barely" above TDP stock numbers on the cpu installed to, but then again TDP is such a stupid number for AMD and Intel to continue to use.

they and cooler makers do not seem to quite "jive" in the same fashion, either you massively overkill this number and sometimes even if especially with the more "modern" chips they still get smoking hot, must be all that toothpaste solder or because the chips inside are so tiny space occupied (or some other odd stuff)

with how fancy the chips are (cpu) am surprised there does not seem to be any that you can set an upper wattage limit or something to "keep it cool" there does seem to be some rare occurrences but also they are usually bought as configurable TDP or in a lower wattage model (which seem to be the APU only models but not the standalone cpu)

I suppose if one wants to dick around they can downclock or voltage tune, but that is not the point ^.^.

anyways, that Gammaxx 400 at least for AMD socket supposedly works quite well, though the hyper ones (because of metal backplate not pushpin) "better" pick for Intel based (though them pushpins confuse the crap out of many people from the user reviews I have seen LOL)

might be worth getting one to test out and directly compare the findings to have a "new" contender to dethrone that TR cooler ^.^
-----------------------------

thanks for the review Sir Kyle o7
 
A customer asked me to install one of these a few months ago. I've installed all sorts of HSFs over the past 20 years and all sorts of AIO setups but this was a total bitch to install. Hated it.

Worse fixing system than stock Intel coolers. Just use the latch like most other AMD HSFs!!
 
The CM Hyper 212 series has been my go to cooler for budget builds that I do for people for many, many years. Just does not get any better for cheap, yet solid and reliable performance. Running one in my son's rig cooling a moderately OC'd 8600k right now actually.
 
The H212 is decent but the plastic parts are flimsy. The bracket for the fan cracked after a few years of sitting in the case for no reason why.
 
JoseJones said:
Nice review, thanks for that. I'd love to see a comparison between the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo vs Hyper 212X Turbo (dual fan)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=13C-000X-00037
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I had one with sp120s(free so why not) and the difference between push and push/pull was 3-5c. i assume it would be about the same for whatever set of fan you use. these are really good bang-for-buck though and really surprised [H] hadn't looked at them before!
 
Thanks for the review guys.

I've used this same cooler in both my builds. Combined with all the fans in my cases they keep both OC'd CPU's ~60c or less for most gaming sessions. Love 'em for the money.

Seeing those numbers for the Dark Pro 4 got me curious. Seriously close to some AIO's so I went and checked NewEgg and they had it for basically $90. That thing is huge. If/when I build a new rig I might give it a shot next.
 
dexvx said:
The dollars per degree chart makes my H150i Pro purchase sad.
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If there was a decibel per degree chart it would be on top for sure lol

Burticus said:
edit - Almost forgot... regarding RAM clearance... the fans can be adjusted slightly higher to handle bigger heatsinks. It's a plastic clip mechanism, so it's not in a fixed position. I had to do this with some sticks with heatsinks on them. Not a big deal, but I did have to put the fan on last. It just snaps in.
Click to expand...

I should have mentioned that. When reviewing I like to mount the fan as close to center as I can to get peak performance, in that position, it does block the first slot when using our Dominator Platinum memory.

horrorshow said:
Practically identical temps to the U12S??

You just saved a ton of people a boatload of cash sir!.
Click to expand...

(y)

horrorshow said:
Microcenter sells them for literally a dollar.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/475708/amd_am4_cpu_cooler_upgrade_kit
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and a 930 mile round trip drive to the closest one to me lol.

lostin3d said:
Seeing those numbers for the Dark Pro 4 got me curious. Seriously close to some AIO's so I went and checked NewEgg and they had it for basically $90. That thing is huge. If/when I build a new rig I might give it a shot next.
Click to expand...

Make sure you have enough case, that thing is a frigging monster
 
I am really surprised how well the 212evo worked on Ryzen 7 CPU, I myself have been using it for many yrs on a 3570k@4.5, it can handle OC as long as you keep the voltage below 1.25v (I can run 4.5@1.22v) which runs 70c in 80Fdeg summer days.

Kyle do you happen to have any Corsair ML fans, I doubt it would improve much but I am curious how much if at all these 2400rpm can do help.
Been wondering in general if they're worth the price point.
 
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I had one of these for a 7600k build I did recently with an ASUS ROG Strix Z270E. I did the ASUS automatic 5gHz OC in BIOS. It hit the 5gHz fine, but under load I couldn't believe the high temps. Scared me into a Reeven Ouranos and the temps were WAY lower.
 
daglesj said:
A customer asked me to install one of these a few months ago. I've installed all sorts of HSFs over the past 20 years and all sorts of AIO setups but this was a total bitch to install. Hated it.

Worse fixing system than stock Intel coolers. Just use the latch like most other AMD HSFs!!
Click to expand...
AYE!
 
Tac0 said:
I had one of these for a 7600k build I did recently with an ASUS ROG Strix Z270E. I did the ASUS automatic 5gHz OC in BIOS. It hit the 5gHz fine, but under load I couldn't believe the high temps. Scared me into a Reeven Ouranos and the temps were WAY lower.
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Wow, the Reeven Ouranos looks amazing for a hsf unit.
It scores great in the Value chart and is at the top in the CPU & GPU combined temp chart (for hsf's).
 
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Jim Kim said:
Wow, the Reeven Ouranos looks amazing for a hsf unit.
It scores great in the Value chart and is at the top in the CPU & GPU combined temp chart (for hsf's).
Click to expand...
It was much easier to install than the CM Hyper 212. That was a pain in the ass (I've been building my own pc's for 20 years...definitely not my first rodeo).
 
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