Page 3 - Installation and Test Results
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.
Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite Wi-Fi
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 4x8GB
Graphics: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 V2 OC Edition 10GB
Chassis: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB
Storage: Western Digital WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 1TB, Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSD 1TB
Power: Corsair RM850x 850W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Compared hardware:
- Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex
- be quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro
- Cooler Master Hyper 411 Nano
All tests were performed on my custom-built computer to best reflect real-life performance. The computer remained in a room with the temperature controlled to be about 20 degrees Celsius for all tests. The thermal paste was applied according to standard practices for AMD CPUs. The fans attached to the heatsink were all connected to the same CPU 4-pin fan connector on the motherboard. The eight case fans, three GPU fans, and the product's CPU fans in my computer were all set to max speeds to allow maximum airflow through the heatsink for all tests. For the idling tests, the computer was left running for at least an hour before data was collected. To stress the CPU, Prime95 was used to place a high load on all available threads using the Large FFTs torture test setting. The highest core temperature measured by HWiNFO was recorded after waiting at least 10 minutes for the temperature to stabilize. HWiNFO is used to obtain accurate temperature data, since it directly reads the CPU's integrated thermal sensors.
Starting with the idle test, the computer was left idling for a long time before the highest core temperature was taken. In the first graph, the Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex has the lowest temperature alongside the Pure Rock Pro 3, sitting at 25 degrees Celsius. Although it is only 1 to 2 degrees lower than the smaller Hyper 212 Pro and Hyper 411 Nano coolers, I suspect this gap would increase once we perform the load test.
After stressing the CPU for over 20 minutes to generate as much heat as possible, the temperature was stable, and the highest core temperature was recorded at 48 degrees Celsius. As expected, the temperature delta increased compared to the smaller air coolers. However, I did not expect the Hyper 612 Apex to produce the same results as the larger dual tower Pure Rock Pro 3. Perhaps a higher performance CPU that generates more heat would result in a difference between the two, but for the midrange Ryzen 5600X in my computer, they both produced the same results.
In terms of the volume produced by the fans on the Hyper 612 Apex, it was very quiet on idle. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is pure silence and 10 is standing right below fireworks, I would say the cooler is a 1 on idle. Even putting my ears right next to the fans, the sound produced is still rather quiet. When spinning at max speed, Cooler Master claimed the volume to be at 30dBA, which equates to the volume of whispering. I agree with this rating, and would give it a 3.5. The high-pitched spinning noise of the fan can be drowned out by playing audio, but with a little bit of focus, the sound can still be heard.
Overall, the Cooler Master Hyper 612 performed really well for my setup. It was able to compete with the larger and more equipped be quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3. The noise produced is excellent at low speeds and reasonable at max speed.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Installation and Test Results
4. Conclusion
