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Product:
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Cooler Master Hyper 6+ Heatsink |
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Price:
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$56 (CAN) / $47 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Cooler Master
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Author:
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Mars
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Date:
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July 14th, 2005
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Rating:
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The next step is to mount the adapter plate to the base of the Hyper 6+. The plate can be installed
in one of two ways, allowing the heatsink to be installed on the motherboard either vertically, or
horizontally. This provides maximum flexibility to clear any motherboard components around the CPU area,
or to direct airflow to the closest case fan, or vent port. After securing the adapter plate by way of
four more screws, with a #1 Philips head screwdriver, it’s on to the next step.
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Install the four rubber washers over the adapter plate studs, insuring the adhesive side of the rubber washer
is placed towards the plate. The adhesive helps to keep the rubber washers in place when mounting the assembly
to the motherboard. Next install the fan on either side of the shroud depending on clearances and airflow needs
in your case, the fan can be configured to push or a pull air through the heatsink by simply flipping it over.
The fans’ wiring harness is equipped with a PWM 4-pin/standard 3-pin connector, to utilize the two different
fan headers that motherboards use today. If your motherboard supports PWM fan function, the Hyper 6+ will control
the fan speed (up to 3600 RPM) through PWM function of the motherboard. If your motherboard supports general
3-pin connector, the Hyper 6+ will run at the lowest fan speed of 1800 RPM. Cooler Master offers an optional
high-speed 100mm fan, that they indicate will provide greater cooling performance. Unfortunately I did not have
the optional fan in time for this review.
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The next step is to apply, either the supplied thermal grease or a product of your liking, usually I use Artic
Silver 5 for all my installations. Artic Silver 5 does take time to properly cure; therefore I chose to use
the supplied thermal grease for this install. Now turn the motherboard over and guide the four threaded studs
through the holes on your motherboard and install the plastic washers and nuts and tighten down in a cris-cross
pattern. Cooler Master has provided an adapter you can use with a Philips or flat screwdriver to tighten down
the nuts with.
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Click image for larger view
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I had no problems installing this cooler in the full or mid-tower case, there was plenty of clearance on all sides,
even with a Panaflo rear case fan, which are thicker than the standard fans in the market today. Cooler Master has
done a great job of designing this product to fit a variety of installation possibilities.
Testing:
As stated previously, our test platform will be an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe with an Athlon XP 2600+ (Barton Core) that is
mildly overclocked to 2.1GHZ. I will not get into specific temperature readings, as readers know there many factors
such as room air temp, number and type of case fans, and the type of case, can produce variable results from one
machine to another. Instead I will focus on the quietness and cooling effectiveness of this cooler for those looking
to upgrade. Comparing this against a stock AMD cooler, I found an 8-10 degree difference in temp as well as an overall
reduction in noise, not surprising as the stock cooler spins at 2900 RPM, while the Hyper 6+ rotates at 1800 RPM.
Smaller fans need to spin faster in order to move as much air as larger fans. I found the fan noise level on the
Cooler Master Hyper 6+ at par with my Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu LED. The noise on the Hyper 6+ was generated from the fan
bearings, and not the air coming off the blades, unlike the Zalman which did produce a bit a wind noise. Both of
these observations were the result of having the coolers on the bench and closely listening, once they were installed
into a case the noise was barely audible. The temperatures between the Zalman and Cooler Master were with in 1 degree
of each other, at idle and under load.
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Conclusion:
The quality of the Hyper 6+ is what we come to expect from Cooler Master, they have done a good job of
producing a quiet CPU cooler, but at the expense of size. The size of this product concerns me, even
though I had no issues with fitment in a mid and full tower case. I found that unless the motherboard
was supported properly, the motherboard would bend when installing it back into the case. On the bench
the noise generated by the included fan was minimal, in fact I had to turn the fan off on my Ti4400’s
upgraded GPU cooler to notice it once installed into my case. Compared to a stock AMD cooler, cooling
effectiveness was very good, dropping CPU temps as much as 8-10 degrees, as well as lowering overall fan
noise.
In closing Cooler Master has produced a well made product, but due to its size, I feel this product should
not be installed into a computer system that gets transported often to LAN events. The 100mm fan size does
not currently allow for fan upgrades, unless you get the optional high-speed fan from Cooler Master. I am
a little disappointed by the Hyper 6+ and feel there are other smaller CPU coolers on the market that cool
just as well, produced the same level of fan noise, and cost less than the Hyper 6+. For its size I
anticipated better cooling. Overall, I am rating this product a final rating of final rating of
8 out of 10. If you have any questions regarding
this review be sure to visit the Cooler Master
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Top quality
- All copper base
- Well constructed aluminum shroud and cooling fins
- PWM enabled fan
- Supports a wide variety of processor platforms
- All parts needed for installation are included in package
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Cons:
- Instruction manual could be better
- Cooling effectiveness to size and weight ratio
- Currently limited fan options
- Not recommended for computers that get transported often
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