Page 3 - Test Results
Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB Pro DDR4-3600 4x8GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB
Chassis: Fractal Design North
Power: FSP Hydro PTM+ 850W
Storage: Patriot Viper VPN100 512GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro x64
Compared hardware:
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black
- EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux White
All tests were run on my custom-built computer to best reflect real-life performance. The computer remained in the same place and room for all tests. The ambient temperature of the room was roughly 20 degrees Celsius. The thermal paste applied to each cooler was stock respective to their manufacturers to rate its performance. Sufficient time between testing was ensured for the paste to settle. The fans on all heatsinks were connected to the same motherboard's 4-pin connector. The test computer was turned on and idled for at least one hour for the idling tests. High CPU load results were obtained using the Prime95 in-place large FFTs test with sixteen worker threads for a minimum of 30 minutes and recorded when the temperature was deemed stable. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black was tested using the stock fan sent from the factory in a standard push configuration. The temperature results for each cooler were measured with Core Temp, which records the CPU’s integrated thermal sensor for maximum accuracy. Each temperature result was calculated by taking the maximum value of the cores inside of the CPU.
At first glance, you may wonder why there were no comparative results against the Hyper 212 EVO V2 and Hyper 212 Halo White, given I have reviewed both models in the past. The reason is because we are already familiar with the Hyper 212 series, so there are going to be very minor differences between them. As such, comparative results between them will not tell you much. To see how the Hyper 212 Black stacks up against something totally different and with significantly better expected performance, its results were compared with the EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux White AIO water cooler. The purpose of this comparison is to find the relative performance between products, but do keep in mind there are different types and performance classes of coolers here.
In the idle test, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black the Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux White's difference in performance was smaller than anticipated, as the Hyper 212 Black is an air cooler, while the Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux White is an AIO water cooler. That being said, the cooler’s performance was more than satisfactory. Idle test aside, let us look at the test that really matters: Load.
After enough time of stressing the CPU, I was able to push these two coolers to their limits to see what they could do. After running Prime95 for about 45 minutes, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black was able to stabilize the CPU's temperature at 73 degrees Celsius. The difference in temperature was much larger than the idle test, which was expected. The difference between the Hyper 212 Black and Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux White was 5 degrees Celsius. The Hyper 212 Black performance was admirable in keeping the CPU reasonably cool under heavy workloads. Of course, the gap will widen with hotter CPUs, but these results were still good enough for a budget air cooler.
Taking noise into consideration, the sound produced from the cooler is very important for many users. In my setup, I was running the cooler and its single fan with an additional three fans as intake in the chassis. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is absolute silence and 10 is an explosion, I would rate the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black at 1.0 when idle and 3.5 when under heavy loads. The fan was close to silent when idle. During heavier loads, when the fan was spinning at a higher RPM. The difference in noise was apparent, but was not unbearable. In my day-to-day use, my computer usually never undergoes workloads heavy enough to push these fans to their maximum RPM. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black delivered excellent cooling performance while remaining mostly silent under menial tasks.
Taking all of this into account, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black is an excellent budget cooler, having great cooling performance that produces a minuscule amount of noise under smaller loads and remaining reasonable under heavy loads.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware, Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
