Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Cooler Master
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PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH (cont'd)
With the fan removed, we can get a look at the fin design. The edges are nicely finished and relieved in the proper areas to promote airflow through the width of the cooler. Fin spacing is relatively generous and should yield good cooling performance with the fan set a lower speed. Again, we'll see.
The fan is a sleeve-bearing unit with a black frame and smoke blades, but no lighting effects are supplied. The wavy blade design promises quiet operation and PWM functionality is provided from the motherboard via the 4-pin connector, but if you have an older mobo, the fan will work with 3-pin headers too, but PWM functionality will be absent. Rubber pads on the fan brackets keep vibration noise in check and the whole fan package is quite nicely done.
The mounting solution is quite elegant in its simplicity, with the above hardware being all that's needed to mount the 212 Evo to any of the supported sockets. I'll reserve comment on its effectiveness until we get it installed, but I like what I see. Lets get to it.
PRODUCT INSTALLATION AND TESTING
Our testbed for the Hyper 212 Evo will consist of the following hardware:
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Intel Q6600 Kentsfield Core2Quad CPU
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Western Digital WD800 hard drive
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Western Digital WD6400 hard drive
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Samsung SH-S203N DVD writer
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Buffalo Firestix DDR2 RAM (2 X 1GB)
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EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB graphics card
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Thermaltake Toughpower 750W PSU
We'll test it in the open case pictured above. Keep in mind that temps inside your case will be different, depending on the chassis and airflow.
The first order of business is to gather all the necessary parts and, following the instruction sheet, and get the backplate installed. This steel plate pulls double duty for both AMD and Intel applications, and the manual is pretty good with respect to assisting the user in getting the Evo installed. Cooler Master also includes a nut driver that, working in conjunction with a Philips screwdriver, makes installation much easier.
