Introduction
On the bench today is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black (RR-S4KK-25SN-R1). It is part of Cooler Master’s legendary Hyper 212 series of coolers that have been enthusiasts’ go-to on a budget. We previously reviewed the Hyper 212 EVO which also sports 4 heat pipes and a single 120mm fan.
From a differences perspective, the Hyper 212 Black is NOT the same cooler as the Hyper 212 Black Edition, nor is it the same as the Hyper 212 Black Edition with LGA1700. The Hyper 212 Black is newer, sports a metal plate across the top with Cooler Master’s logo, a different fan, and has different socket compatibility. Quite frankly the product names are confusing, so double and triple-check the version that you’re looking at.
We’ll strap it to our air cooling test platform that is built around a Ryzen 7 2700X processor with a manufacturer-claimed TDP of 105W. This should provide a reasonable usage case that we are likely to see with some of today’s most demanding air-cooled CPU coolers.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Overview
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black cooler is an air cooler that is designed to work on current sockets, including, including Intel’s LGA1700/115x/1200 and AMD’s AM4/AM5. Notably absent are the older Intel HEDT sockets, the TR4 and AM3 and below.
Heatsink
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black sports four heat pipes which allow direct contact with the CPU through a flattened heat pipe on the cold plate. The pipes extend up into an aluminum tower that sports a single 120mm fan. Cooler Master includes an additional fan mounting wire which will allow you to set up a push-pull configuration should you want some additional cooling power. The entire assembly is black and does not have any LED bling attached to it, which allows it to remain stealthy even under power (Ed: Maybe they should have called this the Hyper 212 Stealth?).
Cooler Master emphasizes the use of the black aluminum cover as a way to show a premium finish on the unit. The cooler has a Cooler Master logo’ed aesthetic aluminum plate along the top and the rails to attach to the CPU socket are exchangeable.
Fan
Cooler Master includes a single Sickleflow 120 Edge Fan. Â The fan is clipped to the heatsink using the provided fan clips. The Sickleflow 120mm Edge fan is designed and manufactured in-house at Cooler Master and features dual edge improvements to the fan blades to increase performance.
The 120mm Sickleflow Edge fan supports a fan speed of 690 to 2500 RPM (+/- 10%) at a reported noise level of up to 32.8 dB(A). The stated airflow maximum is 70.7 CFM 2.4W of power. The claimed MTTF is greater than 160,000 hours (Ed: Let’s not test that claim as we’ll never get to publish the review). Lastly, this fan uses a 4-pin PWM connector and sport LDB bearings.
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black presents itself as a slim black tower that would fit well with a dark case motif. It looks quite similar to just about every Hyper 212 that came before it
Let’s move on now to our test setup and installation of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black.