Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware, Installation
The Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex we have is black in color, but there is also the option for a white color version. Most low-end to midrange coolers take one of the manufacturer's already designed case fans and attach it to a heatsink using wire clips. While I cannot deny the cost-effectiveness of this solution, it does feel a bit cheap, since the two components may look forcefully put together. However, the Hyper 612 Apex design is very coherent like many high-end CPU air coolers. The heatsink is designed with grooves for the fans to slide in and rest on a protruding base at the bottom. Only the front side has this protruding base. At the top of the heatsink, there is a frame for protecting the fins underneath. The frame has four bolts, which not only hold the frame to the fins, but also create the contact points for the four magnets embedded in a cover lid that goes on top. The cover is a plastic board that has the Cooler Master logo on the outside and the four magnets on the underside.
Considering the dimensions of the Hyper 612 Apex, it falls into the common category of 120mm coolers, which should fit in most mid-tower ATX cases. It measures 127mm in length, 114mm in width, and 159mm in height including the fans. After a few attempts, I counted there to be 56 aluminum fins. They are mostly separated by 2mm from each other with some slight deviations. I calculated the total surface area of the fins to be about 0.65m2 with some rough measurements, ignoring the thickness. Looking between the fins, there are 12 heat pipes passing through all of them. There are actually only 6 pipes, but its U-shape effectively makes it 12 pipes. The total weight of the Hyper 612 Apex I measured to be about 1128g, which is nearing the heavier side of CPU air coolers.
As for the fans used, the Hyper 612 Apex utilizes two Cooler Master Mobius 120P Black Edition case fans. Both fans are equipped with some armor for both aesthetic and functional purposes. The fan on the front of the heatsink has a silver front cover and two screws on the backside near the top. The fan on the back of the heatsink has a cover on the front and casing on the back to enclose the entire fan. The same silver cover is used, while the casing contains two spring clips to attach it to the heatsink. Examining the way these covers and casings are attached to the fans, I would assume they can be removed and placed onto a base version of the Movius 120P Black Edition if the fans stop working. After a few attempts, I was unable to remove the silver covers, as they were held very tightly by the clip mechanism built into them. My disassembly skills are a bit lacking in this regard, but luckily, Cooler Master has a 5-year warranty I could rely on in case the fans do fail.
The fans are rated to have a maximum airflow of 75.2CFM and maximum pressure of 3.63 mmH2O. The fans can spin up to 2400RPM, and have a mean time to failure of over 200,000 hours. At maximum speed, the noise level is rated to be at 30dBA, which equates to about the noise level of whispering. The fans also utilize Cooler Master's Loop Dynamic Bearing and Oil Reflow System to reduce friction, vibration, and sound.
Examining the contact plate of the Hyper 612 Apex, it is a solid metal base with the heat pipes passing through it. Cooler Master did not specify what the material of the metal base is, but I would assume it is copper, since that is what is commonly used. The surface is a silver color, which likely means it is electroplated with a thin layer of nickel to prevent corrosion. Although pure nickel has a much lower thermal conductivity than pure copper of about 91W/mK compared to 401W/mK, it is only a thin layer, so it should reduce the negative effect it has on the performance.
Interestingly enough, the solid metal base made of copper could potentially have a larger impact on the performance than the nickel plating. While copper has a high thermal conductivity, the effective thermal conductivity for heat pipes is significantly higher. It is difficult to give an exact number, since there are many factors to take into consideration, with length being the most important one. The value can range from the thousands to hundreds of thousands. This means direct contact with the heatpipes exposed to the CPU can be considered more effective for heat dissipation. One downside of this design is the heat is not evenly transferred to all the heatpipes, which is a weakness the solid metal base design overcomes. A solution that can evenly distribute the heat without bottlenecking the thermal conductivity of the heat pipes is to use a vapor chamber as the contact plate. The challenge with this design is the increase in cost could cause the air cooler to compete with top-end AIO coolers, which is a rough competition.
The installation process of the Hyper 612 Apex is very simple, and the manual is easy to follow. For AMD, the mounting brackets are screwed onto the AMD stock backplate. The mounting brackets are placed onto the screws. Lastly, with some proper application of the included Cooler Master CryoFuze thermal paste, the heatsink can be screwed onto the CPU.
After securing the heatsink, the fans can be installed. Since the fans are designed to slide into the correct position, it further simplifies the installation process. There is no need to install clips and try to properly line up the fan with the heatsink. The last step is to place the lid on the top once the fans are in place. This part was oddly tricky, since the magnets tend to engage before the lid is aligned properly. As for RAM clearance, I experienced no issues.
The way all the components of the Hyper 612 Apex are designed to work together resulted in a premium feel fitting for a high-end product. The installation of the heatsink and fans was straightforward, and in terms of appearance, it is sleek and clean, as Cooler Master advertises. A choice for ARGB LED fans would be nice, even though it would not affect the performance. I do find joy in colorful LED RGB lights even though my computer setup does not reflect it. Overall, the Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex is a very solid product to add to Cooler Master's Hyper series of air cooling solutions.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware, Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
