As far as accessible coolers of decent performance go, we’ve been enjoying the company of Cooler Master’s Hyper 212 and Hyper TX3 models for a while now. The first mild redesign of both these models happened two years ago, with Cooler Master opting for the same, well-balanced cooling bodies, but this time, with heatpipes lying directly on the CPU.
It seemed as if Cooler Master had done all they could about the models at hand, perfecting them as much as possible, but the most recent additions to the family, with the EVO suffix, are there to prove us wrong.
Differences?
Other than the mentioned CDC, fans are the really major change on these models, as well as their mounting system. But before that, let’s briefly recollect what the bundle contains.
First and foremost, there’s the detailed and streamlined localised manual. In the case of Hyper 212 EVO, there’s still the universal upper clip, as well as the universal back one, which we already proclaimed a true masterpiece of design, as it fits seamlessly to both AMD’s and Intel’s CPUs. Hyper TX3 EVO still uses the clip-based system similar to that seen on Intel’s box coolers.
Of course, this only applies to Intel’s systems, while an AMD CPU would require the familiar lever-based approach. In short, doing something wrong while mounting these coolers is an exceptionally difficult task. The cooling bodies have remained unchanged. Hyper 212 EVO still has 47 aluminium fins surrounding four heatpipes with a diameter of 6 mm.
Just like the case with its predecessor, the fins stick firmly to the heatpipes in order to ensure maximum performance. Hyper TX3 EVO also reminds of its predecessor for the most part, which means that Cooler Master has kept 42 aluminium fins around three 6 mm-thick heatpipes. The base hasn’t been polished to the point of having a mirror effect on either cooler, but it’s very flat nevertheless, mostly because of the CDC technology being implemented.
The new fan introduced by EVO models is of noticeably higher quality than the previous one, and similar to the one already seen on Cooler Master’s Hyper 612S. Hyper 212 EVO comes with a 120 mm fan, while Hyper TX3 EVO has a 92 mm one. The larger fan has an RPM range of 600-1600, while the smaller one works at 800-2200.
The 120 mm-model literally can’t be heard from a distance of one meter when working at 700 RPM, but remains almost unnoticeable even at 1200 RPM. The noise generated from minimum to maximum RPM falls in the 9-13 dBA range. The 92 mm-fan generates somewhat more, between 17 and 30 dBA. The cable length of both is 30 cm.
As already stated, other than the CDC and a redesigned DC, the only difference is the mounting system already seen on Hyper 612S. Fans are now mounted to the cooling body via plastic holders that need to be screwed into the fans, and then simply placed on the cooling body, gently press against it, and wait for the click to sound. Simple and efficient. Besides that, these plastic holders have clearly defined spots for the supplied rubber bumpers to be installed at if needed.
You’ve guessed it, this reduces or completely eliminates any vibrations created by the fan that would end up transferred to the cooling body, and all this in order to ensure quiet operation of both Hyper TX3 EVO and Hyper 212 EVO.
Specs & Results
| Specifications | ||
| Model | Hyper 212 EVO | Hyper TX3 EVO |
| Supported Socket AMD | FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 | |
| Supported Socket Intel | LGA 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775 | |
| Dimensions [mm] | 120 x 80 x 159 | 90 x 79 x 136 |
| Weight [g] | 465 | 306 |
| Material [base / body] | copper / aluminium | |
| No. of heatpipes | 4 | 3 |
| Bearing type | Long Life Sleeve Bearing | |
| Fan dimensions [mm] | 120 x 120 x 25 | 92 x 92 x 25 |
| Heatpipe diameter[mm] | 6 | |
| Fan speed [rpm] | 600 - 1600 | 800 - 2200 |
| CFM | 24.9 – 66.3 | 15.7 – 43.1 |
| Noise [dBA] | 9- 31 | 17 - 30 |
| Price [€] | around 25 | around 18 |
And now onto the most interesting bit of this test, which is the performance of Hyper 212 EVO and Hyper TX3. The testing process was fairly simple. The choice of CPUs ended on Core i7 2600K overclocked to 4.5 GHz with a full load voltage of 1.39 V. The CPU was kept hot by the best software for this purpose, LinX. Hyper 212 EVO was countered by its predecessor, Hyper 212+. Three different speed settings were used on the fans, in order to determine the exact scaling of performance and noise, i.e. the benefit of having a noisier cooler on the temperature.
| Cooler Master Hyper 212+ | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO | Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO | |
| Temps / Fan speed | Idle / Load (°C) | Idle / Load (°C) | Idle / Load (°C) |
| 700 / 1200 RPM | 34 / 84 | 32 / 80 | 35 / 89 |
| 1200 / 1600 RPM | 31 / 68 | 33 / 66 | 34 / 80 |
| 1500 / 2300 RPM | 31 / 66 | 30 / 65 | 30 / 68 |
| Test configuration: Core i7 2600K@4,5GHz (1,39 V), Sapphire P67 Pure Black, 2x2GB Kingston1600 MHz CL9 | |||
The results say the following – at minimum speed, Hyper 212 EVO gets an excellent grade, while being very quiet, almost completely silent. As you can see from the charts, speed increases do impact performance in a positive and tangible way, which was to be expected with such a dense fin layout. On the other hand, Hyper TX3 EVO couldn’t manage to keep our CPU in check at these settings on the lowest speed setting, as this caused significant throttling, i.e. clock decreases in the CPU. The chart shows the difference between the “+” and “EVO” revisions of this cooler as well, which isn’t negligible, although both coolers are perfectly able to do their job aptly.
Conclusion
There’s no big mathematics to do this time around – if you’re looking for a new CPU to buy, especially one based on Sandy Bridge technology, Hyper 212 EVO is a cooler to look for, as it’s definitely the best buy of its class. Less demanding consumers (i.e. the less overclocking-savvy) will be perfectly happy with Hyper TX3 EVO.
