The unofficial Cooler Master Hyper 212 series bashing (and defense) thread

[Palladium]

I mean, you can get the Gammaxx 400 at $25 USD and it performs 4c better on average. Hyper 212 is almost 2 times the price as of right now, which is crazy given you are getting less.

It's a decent CPU cooler but it's overpriced by a lot. Same price as the Be Quiet Pure Rock 2 and that cooler not only performs better but is far quieter. The hyper 212 looks like a budget product, the Pure rock 2 does not.

I can understand why people say to not get it, I would not touch it at anything above $25 (then again I already have a box of 20+ of them I got for free).

As a Gammaxx 400 user, I'm not sure why are there still defenders of the turd called 212 either.

 

[newtekie1]

uys have used 5GHz Intel CPUs on it.. ugh.. ok.. that still blows my mind because I have to question their testing techniques lol..

I take offense.

As a Gammaxx 400 user, I'm not sure why are there still defenders of the turd called 212 either.

The Gammaxx 400 has the worst mounting system. Push-pins on Intel and a clip on the AMD side. Both suck.

 

[ShiBDiB]

I have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition in my system listed in the specs... Acceptable temps, is basically silent, does everything I need it to do.

 

[claes]

Lots of thoughts here, and I sense a recurring theme: it sucks for 40 USD, and I won't argue that. Also unsurprising: the callout of the Gammaxx 400, which did kind of eat the 212's lunch for less money.

Interesting opinion contrast: @newtekie1 giving props to the mounting system (agreed), while @GerKNG hates it.

Something I was hoping to discover here, thought it wasn't spelled out, was why the mere mention of the 212 has a non-zero chance of starting a flame war. Maybe it's just my non-confrontational nature, but it seems like a dumb thing to get worked up about. Perhaps it's the inevitable backlash against something popular. Personally, I'll take a Pure Rock 2 or M9 every time, but it still feels like the 212 just doesn't deserve all the hate.

I think the controversy is just that it hasn’t seen any significant updates/been replaced in CM’s lineup while it lost its budget crown years ago (and still gets awards from reviewers for being a great budget cooler).

CM’s whole cooler lineup has always been pretty unremarkable — the 212 was great at costing less than thermalright coolers in it’s heyday, but now that there are plenty of ~$30 coolers that offer more it’s a) hard to recommend and b) upsets enthusiasts when it is recommended since it and CM were never great in the first place.

 

[mtcn77]

CM’s whole cooler lineup has always been pretty unremarkable

Yeah, but CM has been the OEM. Thermalright has never been off the top shelf.

 

[NoJuan999]

I don't hate the 212, I did have one years ago.
It's been a while and I don't even remember what CPU I had it cooling.
But I wouldn't buy one today.

I bought an Arctic Freezer 33 eSports Duo for $35 in 2018 for a Ryzen 5 2600 system.
It still works great for that CPU, it was idling at 26c when I was using it yesterday.

I put a Scythe Ninja 5 ($55) in my current 3700x system and I am pretty happy with it (idles around 33c and maxes out around 62-63c when gaming for hours).

 

[mtcn77]

I don't hate the 212, I did have one years ago.
It's been a while and I don't even remember what CPU I had it cooling.
But I wouldn't buy one today.

I bought an Arctic Freezer 33 eSports Duo for $35 in 2018 for a Ryzen 5 2600 system and it still works great for that CPU.
I put a Scythe Ninja 5 ($55) in my current 3700x system and I am very happy with it.

See, you are a knowledgeable fellow. Ninja 5 is the only p/p alternative; however, even then, you need to upgrade the fan in order to have some sound adjusted performance.
Most people miss the nuances like the freezer series is convexed not convex and does not fit AMD all that well.

 

[Space Lynx]

like the freezer series is convexed and does not fit AMD all that well.

This is true. I found it disturbing it didn't cover the entire IHS, also the fans were a pain to install on it initially, but I got the hang of it after awhile.

I agree with you though there are better options. Personally, I don't mind paying a premium for top tier Noctua. In the future I most likely will go with Noctua 100%... mainly because their customer support is insanely good... I needed an extra part and they shipped me one all the way from Austria at no cost to me... and was quick on the communication to boot.

Noctua is love. Noctua is life.

 

[mtcn77]

This is true. I found it disturbing it didn't cover the entire IHS, also the fans were a pain to install on it initially, but I got the hang of it after awhile.

I agree with you though there are better options. Personally, I don't mind paying a premium for top tier Noctua. In the future I most likely will go with Noctua 100%... mainly because their customer support is insanely good... I needed an extra part and they shipped me one all the way from Austria at no cost to me... and was quick on the communication to boot.

Noctua is love. Noctua is life.

It pains me to say this, but yes: Noctua did raise the bar over Nidec. Still, a man has his preferences.
PS: I still need to find the reference title fight between small and big tower coolers. The big towers really gave it to puny old 4-heatpipers. It was a real showstopper, but they had them playing around with the rpm settings(800-1500rpm) which is not true to life.

 

[EzioAs]

There isn't a sub-$40 cooler that comes with a fan I'd trust for longevity.

Idk about that. My Hyper 212+ has been running about 9 years with the stock fan. Don't have any problems with it.

I don't really care for the debate on the Hyper 212 (and it's variants) but I will say this, Cooler Master sent me a free mounting kit for AM4 after I contacted them on where to buy one. They instead asked for my address and just post it to me and I got it about 2 days later. No delivery charge, nada. That's a plus for support based on experience.

 

[Chrispy_]

it's already hotter than the wraith prism.

The wraith prism is a ridiculously good stock cooler for AM4; You can source them on ebay for under $/€/£20 and they will cool 100W loads quietly and can handle the 5950X at reasonable noise levels if you don't care for pushing PBO+

Basically, there's no shortage of people dumping these stock coolers in a brand-new, unopened state onto the used market, and with the obvious limitation of AM4-only compatibility, they are better than pretty much everything else under $35.

 

[mtcn77]

The wraith prism is a ridiculously good stock cooler for AM4;

The wraith is ironically designed by none other than CM.

 

[freeagent]

I take offense.

I take offense.


The Gammaxx 400 has the worst mounting system. Push-pins on Intel and a clip on the AMD side. Both suck.

Sorry you feel that way.. I saw what the cooler can do.. maybe I had a bad one? Show me the numbers

Edit:

Double quoted on my phone.. whoops.

 

[Toothless]

Sorry you feel that way.. I saw what the cooler can do.. maybe I had a bad one? Show me the numbers

Push pins break way too often and don't have the good mounting pressure. No respectable cooler should ever use push pins.

 

[freeagent]

Push pins break way too often and don't have the good mounting pressure. No respectable cooler should ever use push pins.

They made them with pushpins too? What little respect I did have for it has been whittled away that much more

I didn't mind the mount.. it was ok..

 

[neatfeatguy]

If roughly $40 is too much to spend on one, you can usually find them on sale with some kind of regular frequency. Last one I purchased was only $20 on sale. Sadly, it was too tall to use in my case (CM HAF XB Evo) while having the top mounted fan being used. I ended up giving it away because trying to recoup $20 wasn't worth it.

They're decent coolers, but I do think the single fan that comes with it is kind of a middle of the road fan, nothing special, but it works well enough. It would be nice if she shipped with two fans. I think that would make the $40 price tag easier to stomach.

There are better options out there in that price range, but if you don't need something fancy and find one on sale it still a good cooler for most applications.

 

[PaulieG]

I'm really wondering why this thread even exists. It just oozes pure drama with no point to it. Ok, so a 10 year old cooler sucks ass on newer chips and has poor mounting. Feels like that's about all there is to say.

 

[Toothless]

I'm really wondering why this thread even exists. It just oozes pure drama with no point to it. Ok, so a 10 year old cooler sucks ass on newer chips and has poor mounting. Feels like that's about all there is to say.

I mean, the cooler is still capable for most new things. The biggest issue really is the cost.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

I'm really wondering why this thread even exists. It just oozes pure drama with no point to it. Ok, so a 10 year old cooler sucks ass on newer chips and has poor mounting. Feels like that's about all there is to say.

My own curiosity, which was piqued after comparing a 212 EVO (which everyone hates) to a Pure Rock 2 (which lots of people like) and finding that they performed (for me) almost identically. I'll admit to titling the thread badly, but the ultimate intent was to promote understanding, not drama. Close if you feel the need.

 

[mtcn77]

My own curiosity, which was piqued after comparing a 212 EVO (which everyone hates) to a Pure Rock 2 (which lots of people like) and finding that they performed (for me) almost identically. I'll admit to titling the thread badly, but the ultimate intent was to promote understanding, not drama. Close if you feel the need.

Generally all coolers perform up to par. The differences appear in different form factors, TDP and price. I compare them via hardware.info.

 

[freeagent]

If a 212 evo is 40 bucks, you can spend an extra ten and grab a Thermalright TS140P. That will hang along side a D14.. much more value for the money..

 

[londiste]

Ten years ago it was a cheap, widely-available cooler that fit almost every different socket past and present, and its four-heatpipe design had decent cooling for the sub-100W chips prevalent at the time. That's why it was recommended by everyone and incredibly popular.

This. Cooler Master Hyper 212 came out in 2007 which is... 14 years ago. Initially at $35 but fairly quickly went down to $20-25 and stayed there for a long while. This has left its mark in the recommendations all over the place.

What has changed is:
1. Cooler Master releasing variations of it - both technically similar and with name only for marketing - at higher price points.
2. It was intended for ~100W CPUs. At the time Extreme models from both parties consumed maybe ~130W and when buying those you did not try to get by with a $20 cooler.

While 212 specifically has fallen out of favor, there are quite a few alternatives with the same basic idea - basic tower cooler with 120mm fan. Keeping heatpipes to 4 - or more recently 6 - with a crappy fan and not too many fins allows cooler to easily be sold at the $20-25 price point. And that layout is not bad at all in its core for mainstream use where otherwise an inbox cooler would be used.

 

[mtcn77]

It was intended for ~100W CPUs. At the time Extreme models from both parties consumed maybe ~130W and when buying those you did not try to get by with a $20 cooler.

But it comes with experience. Consumers cannot be expected to discriminate each heatpipe is good for merely 25 watts. I can easily choke a marketing fluff heatsink by applying liquid metal, the assumptions would fall flat on the face.

 

[NoJuan999]

See, you are a knowledgeable fellow. Ninja 5 is the only p/p alternative; however, even then, you need to upgrade the fan in order to have some sound adjusted performance.
Most people miss the nuances like the freezer series is convexed and does not fit AMD all that well.

Thanks.
I am happy with my Ninja 5 on the 3700x.
When I eventually upgrade to a Ryzen 5000 series CPU, I will most likely get higher RPM fans for it.
I will test it with the current low rpm fans first though.

And just FYI Arctic made the 33 eSports and 34 eSports coolers direct contact (and flat) so they aren't convex like the older Arctic coolers.

One should also note that the contact surface of this heatsink was dead flat. There was none of that convexity you see in some heatsinks to improve their cooling. All of it makes the choice of direct contact look pretty good.

From here: Arctic Freezer 33 eSports ONE Heatsink Review - Overclockers

 

[mtcn77]

And just FYI Arctic made the 33 eSports and 34 eSports coolers direct contact (and flat) so they aren't convex like the older Arctic coolers.

Okay, they are true, but instead AMD is "concave";

Trying to understand Ryzen 3000 series boost speed variations

You guys could go the graphite pad route instead of LM. I'm still using the Innovation Cooling IC Thermal Pad I posted about over in the thread "show off your tech purchase." https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/the-show-off-your-tech-related-purchase-thread.225885/post-4190859 The only...

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