Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black CPU Air Cooler

…but was initially skeptical that this thing could cool a 16 core 3950x. Admittedly, I only purchased this as I wanted air cooling and the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4, and the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black were both backordered when I was ready to order.

So far temperatures seem very reasonable, 30s with no load, 40-60s under medium working load, though I have yet to run any benchmarks to really put heavy load on the Ryzen and generate extra heat.

Pros:
– Working well so far on an AMD 3950x (Note: I am using a Phantek Enthoo Pro full size case with 6 PWM controlled fans which no doubt helps airflow)
– Looks GREAT! – the LEDs add some visual interest but overall effect is still understated.
– Heat sink fins sit high leaving plenty of space for tall RAM (RAM clearance is an issue with some other air coolers)
– Quiet – I have yet to hear it

Cons:
– Mounting bracket has too much plastic – I hope a future revision makes a mount at least as sturdy as standard (metal) mounts with NO plastic!
– Mounting bracket sits very loose on an AMD until top CPU cooler portion is added. I almost returned the cooler thinking I received a defect, especially as no mention of the loose fit in the manual, but Cooler Master confirmed the loose fit is by design via email so I kept it. I still shimmed the mount with plastic washers to tighten the fit before completing install. (The loose plastic mount is why I removed a star.)
– Check the CPU cooler depth on your case as this thing is quite tall. The Phantek Enthoo Pro is a nice match as there is space between the CPU cooler and the panel glass after install.

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Update after 6 months
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This cooler has been problem free for 6 months including keeping temps under control through long gaming and rendering sessions. Moving review to 5 stars.

Es facil de armar con instructivo, no molesta para nada el ruido y enfria muy bien el procesador.

L’ ho reso solo perché incompatibile con la mia scheda madre ma il dissipatore è assolutamente fantastico mi è davvero dispiaciuto renderlo

Excellent product! Does what it’s supposed to do! Runs quiet and keeps my 7800X3D well cooled!

I suspect that like most people looking at the MA620M, I was using the Wraith Prism to cool my Ryzen, and while it’s a great stock cooler, it’s definitely not the best air cooling solution out there. And it’s rather noisy. As someone who prefers using air, I started looking at the best alternatives, and this one checked a lot of the boxes I had. I wanted a quiet, solidly-performing air solution that looked good, or at least wouldn’t look bad. That is precisely what this cooler is.

As for the looks, I personally think that this is the best-looking air cooler out there. It just looks… awesome. And it looks as good in person as you hope it will. It is a 10/10 on looks. hands down. The RGB has sleek lines, and isn’t in-your-face like so many others. I have been backing off from RGB in my builds lately and this is just the right amount, I think.

Size… It’s big. Cooler height is listed as 165mm, and that appears to be correct. My Lian Li Lancool II case has a cooler clearance of 175mm, and the cooler comes about 1 cm from the glass. Check your case’s clearance before ordering this, as clearance can be an issue with big coolers like this. As tall as it is, though, it doesn’t seem overly bulky, and all RAM and nearby headers are accessible. So it’s tall, but not particularly bulky otherwise.

Noise… what noise? In all of my testing, this thing has been very, very quiet. At idle, I can’t hear it. While doing a stress test, I can barely hear it if I put my head up to the case. While gaming I can’t hear it at all over the GPU fan noise. I am 100% happy on the noise levels relative to the Prism.

Performance… It’s good. I’d say it isn’t the best out there, but it is good and definitely an improvement over the Prism.

I am running a stock Ryzen 7 3700X on a MSI X570 Gaming Plus Wifi. At idle it’s running around 40 C. While running CPU-Z stress test for 20 minutes, it’s topping out at 70.5 C. While gaming (Borderlands 3 for 30 minutes) it’s capped at 60 C. These temps are all 5-10 degrees C lower than i was getting with the Prism. All while running silently and looking good while doing it.

Pretty good, not quite great, but good enough for what I want to do. I would feel 100% confident overclocking with this cooler, which I’ll likely do in the future. Although to be honest, with PBO enabled on these Ryzen chips, that’s probably not necessary or even really worth it… But I think that if you choose to do so, this cooler will give you some headroom.

As for installation, I don’t get why anyone would have a problem with this. The instructions are very clear, although I didn’t even need to use them. Took me 15 minutes and I didn’t have to remove my motherboard, although if you can’t access the back of your board inside the case you will have to remove it. The baseplate is loose as other reviewers have mentioned, but it tightens up when you actually mount the tower, so that’s normal. All in all, installation was a breeze – possibly the easiest I’ve ever installed.

I did not use the included RGB controller but I can say that I can control and sync through MSI Dragon Center (Mystic Light), so it should work through whatever software your board uses.

So to conclude, I am 100% satisfied with this cooler. It may not be the best performer in this class, but it performs well with zero noise and looks very good doing it. Is it worth $100? Well that’s up to the buyer, for to me it’s worth it. I don;t regret getting this over some of the others in this class I was looking at. If you’re only after the best performance per dollar, look elsewhere. But if you want a good balance in performance, noise, and appearance, this one does the trick.