Cooler Master Hyper 212X Review

Performance Analysis

The delta T of 53°C on the LGA1150 test system is nothing special – it only matches the smaller TX3i, and is beaten by a number of other single fan tower coolers like the Argon AR01 and Gelid Antarctica. Admittedly, the 212X is at least pretty quiet, emitting a faint whooshing noise at full speed but nothing obnoxious.

However, the LGA2011 test system, the Hyper 212X is honestly very impressive, managing a delta T of 53°C, which for this scenario is one of the better air cooling results – much better than the Argon AR01 and Cryorig H5, which actually failed this test completely. This goes to show the importance of testing on multiple CPU sockets.

Lastly, there's the AMD test platform, and here we see a delta T of 29°C, this time matching the SilverStone cooler. This is a solid result and pretty much exactly where we'd expect it to be given the price and design.

Conclusion

From the AMD and especially the LGA2011 results, we were expecting better performance on the LGA1150 system, but even after a full remount we didn't see any improvement. We're not sure what's to blame for the discrepancy – perhaps Cooler Master needs to work on its mounting mechanism for this socket – but either way we're not able to recommend the Hyper 212X for LGA115x users as there appear to be better options for a similar price.

For anyone using an AMD or LGA2011 CPU, however, the Hyper 212X is a pretty solid bet. You won't get chart-topping performance, but you do get a cooler that's relatively compact, mostly easy to mount and not that loud that will allow you to do a fair bit of overclocking safely. With the additional fan mounts chucked in, £30 is certainly a fair price for that.

Cooler Master Hyper 212X (AMD AM3+ and Intel LGA2011 sockets ONLY)