Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus is awesome

[BonzaiDuck]

My personal experience with the 212 Evo is that it supported a nice OC, it just gets annoyingly loud at full load. I've replaced its fan with an NF-A15 that keeps the CPU cooler, and runs very noticeably quieter under full load.

Your style of ducting might help with the Evo fan, though, BonzaiDuck, if you felt compelled to give it a try, I'd be interested in how it went down for you.

You read my mind. I have a spare AP-30, lots of foam-art-board and plenty of Spire foam-rubber pad. It will be easier with the Hyper 212, and it actually might even be a little more effective.

And just as quiet.

There's more clearance between the rear-exhaust and AP-30 and easier to fit the duct-box to the cooler, with more space between so no dead spot and bigger air draw.

Tell ya what. It could be sooner or later before I get to it, but more likely before Xmas. I'll run some ductless stress tests at stock settings, then try it with the box. I'll try and remember to report back here, without leaving the conversation of the moment.

 

[Charlie98]

I'll run some ductless stress tests at stock settings, then try it with the box. I'll try and remember to report back here, without leaving the conversation of the moment.

Please do! Knowledge is power, bro! :biggrin:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Please do! Knowledge is power, bro! :biggrin:

It's also a burden, especially if your friends or colleagues think your "knowledge" is "fiction," or otherwise have a blurred idea of the difference between knowing, theorizing with "refutable implications," logically inferring with a fair degree of certainty, simply suspecting -- and just "believing."

But those troubles I have with current friends and colleagues probably belongs in "Politics and News." Not meaning to tease, these lemming misconceptions of my otherwise obscure retired colleagues are common to the Secretary of State saying a year ago (this month) that he thinks "The Russians did it."

Here's the plan, though.

I have a lot of "stuff" on my plate -- including a 90-year-old lady given to worries, panic-attacks and an inadvertent psychological game I have to call "argue-with-me" or AWM. I think she's got AAD or acute anxiety disorder. But -- generally -- there are distractions.

Sometime in the next couple weeks -- after my fellow board members on a condo-association board 3,000 miles from here meet to finalize our annual budget, I'm going to decommission the computer I use for that "real-estate" business. I've already moved my files to a lap-top.

The case -- another of my HAF 922's -- will receive an AsRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard, CPU and RAM. Right away, instead of diddling with the Intel cooler, I'll re-deploy the CM Hyper 212+ that's in that case now. And I'm going to set up the system (except for the D14) exactly as I'd done with my sig-rig.

That will give us a baseline, even if only at stock idle and load speed and temperatures. Since I don't like to hurry too much when something involves a bit of tedium, I'll give myself a couple days or so to CUSTOM design a foam-art-board and acoustic foam-rubber duct for the spare Gentle Typhoon AP-30 I still have in its plastic retail box. The AP-30 will be installed in the box right away -- for the baselines. Cutting the foam-board panels and Spire, gluing it together and testing it for "fit" -- I'd budget another two days, even if it takes less for the experience I now have with those things.

It's gonna be several weeks, though -- Bro'!!

I suppose I should initially limit the top speed of the AP-30 to around 2,300 RPM -- typical at the high-end of most case exhaust fans, the RPM matching that of the Panaflo 120x38mm fan I'd originally used for the sig-rig before replacing with the AP-30.

The duct is more effective with higher airflow, so the AP-30 is part of the equation.

Just remember there may be unanticipated hurdles. I've never had problems setting up a new mobo with known compatible RAM and CPU. But there's Moore's Law as one thing -- MURPHY'S Law is another. "Whatever can go wrong -- will go wrong." KNow what I mean? Jelly-bean?

 

[Ryanrenesis]

I also cool my CPU, an i5-760 @ 4059Mhz, with the Hyper 212+.

My max temps on Prime95 all-core-average is 68.5C

While gaming, max temps all-core-average is 55C

It is truly a terrific cooler for its price.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, if folks are interested in a ducting project and benchmark, I just pulled the old machine off the LAN in the case that I'm planning to use. [They're all HAF 922s -- for my own machines and the server. The fam-damn-ily doesn't need 922s.]

this is still going to take me some time, but once I get going, things may accelerate with enthusiast momentum. Depends on my other chores. . .

 

[papapapapapapapababy]

yep the hyper is awesome, no loudness here using a good fan + fan controler, my i3- 4160 stops at 44c blend that with the crappiest tim in the world, btw below a 750 ti + accelero s1 plus ( 21c idle 40 load with a 200+ core oc!)

https://imgur.com/a/f4QVm

 

[BonzaiDuck]

yep the hyper is awesome, no loudness here using a good fan + fan controler, my i3- 4160 stops at 44c blend that with the crappiest tim in the world, btw below a 750 ti + accelero s1 plus ( 21c idle 40 load with a 200+ core oc!)

https://imgur.com/a/f4QVm

Not "dissing" your i3 here . . . The proof of the pudding lies in how it cools an unlocked quad-core. And my Sandy Bridge is mild compared to the Haswells on temperature.

44C is almost 30C below the TCASE spec on a regular Haswell.

At least you're keepin' it cool, though!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Here's a Frosty Tech review that rank-orders the NH-D14, CM 212 EVO, NH-U14S and other heatpipe coolers and AiO's:


http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2734&page=5

Thinking of my D14, I might have chosen a different cooler originally if such coolers had been available, because they're smaller yet "almost" as good. For instance, in the ranking with a 150W test, the D14 is less than 2C better in performance than the CM 212 EVO.

I often look to these reviews to choose coolers, but I know that the tests might be taken with "a grain of salt:" the test-bed, TIM and other factors fall short of my own refinements. But since the tests are supposed to be consistent across coolers, the relative performance should prove out in regular use -- even with the "refinements" I might make (better fans, better TIM, lapping, ducting, etc.)

I'm about ready to remove the 212 EVO from my old system -- an LGA-775 unit. The replacement is a socket-1155 board and processor. It's been a while and I wonder if the same mounting hardware applies to both sockets. I suppose I can find out be visiting the CM website, but if anyone knows for sure, I'd appreciate hearing. I vaguely remember that the same bracket had threaded holes for a range of sockets that included 1155.

 

[ocer9999]

I'm pretty sure the mounting is different and you can usually buy the mounting kit separately online or ask their customer support.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm pretty sure the mounting is different and you can usually buy the mounting kit separately online or ask their customer support.

Usually the critical piece of equipment is the bracket for the underside of the motherboard. There is usually a bracket for Intel and a bracket for AMD. I looked at the schematic online, and it refreshed my memory: there are three sets of holes at the corners of the bracket, indicating different arrays of motherboard holes.

You may be correct, but I'll make my announcement here to the disappointment of some. I was planning a ducted solution to the 212 cooler, but I began looking at more cooler comparisons for 95W, 125W and 150W tests. My own interest focuses on the differences between the NH-D14 and the Hyper 212+/Evo:

1) D14 is larger than you'd want.
2) D14 outperforms the 212, (but not by as much as I would have suspected.)

I stumbled onto another single-tower cooler similar in shape to the 212, not as wide as the NH-U14S (a single tower version of the D15):

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/EVGA-Superclock-CPU-Cooler-Review/1336/6

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835288001

This "model" is no longer available but for an outfit called "govgroup," which apparently does business with GSA. I was stunned at the Hardware Secrets review, which had been linked at Frosty Tech. Consider -- the NH-D15 bests the D14 by maybe 4C in some tests. Somewhere in the mix is the NH-U14S, a single-tower version of the D15 with the same number of heatpipes. This somewhat dated review puts the EVGA cooler at a 6C improvement over the D14 under the same test-bed and control conditions.

EVGA apparently reissued the cooler under a new model-code or name:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-004-_-Product

There is a high probability that EVGA wouldn't reissue a cooler of similar design which is less effective. By some reports, it's identical, except for the fan, which pushes higher CFMs. And I compared the specs of size and other factors; I can't see where it is any different than the "MO" model.

I'm older and don't want to be swapping coolers in and out. If I'm going to build this system, it will be a "second" to my sig-rig -- using an i7-2700K which I obtained at "a price," and an AsRock Extreme4 Z77 mobo which cost me recently roughly $100 less than my Z68 board. The "second" will replace my own LGA_775 "business" system which I'm de-commissioning, and will eventually replace my brother's LGA-775 upstairs. It may seem frivolous for the older SNB technology, but it's chump-change compared to the build I'll make next year (probably i7-5820K with custom-water).

What puzzles me about the EVGA is this. I don't ever remember seeing this cooler touted here at the forums. I don't ever remember seeing it, but it may have been released after I acquired my D14 and built my sig-rig.

It seems a mystery. The point of it, though, is that it barely falls short of an Antec Kuhler AiO cooler (about 2C), and my convictions and experience about the effectiveness of ducting with the infamous AP-30 fan -- acoustically deadened -- suggests that this should top an H110 AiO cooler by as much as 5C. If it beats the D14 by 6C in THEIR tests, and my D14 matches the H110 in MY tests and refinements, then it should best the H110 by a few degrees.

When I'm finished with it, the implications would also be clear for the Coolermaster 212 -- which performs a few C worse than the D14. In other words, the similar size and shape might suggest that you could wring another 5C +/- out of the 212.

Sorry for the change of plans, though.

UPDATE: I did a search on "EVGA Superclock Cooler" here in the forums, and any specifics are sparse, but I did find this thread further down the list of results.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2208435&highlight=evga+superclock+cooler

It does nothing more to confirm the Hardware Secrets review, but depends on it for the same conclusion. Only way to know is to try. It's a $52 item with free shipping, so . . . call it an "experiment" with last-gen processor on heatpipes. Looking forward, I'm not all that hot-to-trot for the Haswells, even for planning an E build next year. Conventional air-cooling only goes so far, and the E-cores really need water -- lots of it.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Does this work with 1150 chipsets? I use it for a 2500k. So if I upgrade can I use it?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Does this work with 1150 chipsets? I use it for a 2500k. So if I upgrade can I use it?

You're referring to the EVGA cooler? I just checked the specs at Newegg on the "ACX" reissue of the original cooler, and 1150 is included. One of the customer reviews notes use of an i5-4670K -- so . . . . Yea-ahh!!

Just looking at customer reviews again, half the folks who post them don't know what they're talking about. I'm COUNTING on the Hardware Secrets review. 6C improvement over a clunky D14? Definitely worth investigating.

And frankly -- again if that's what your talkin' about -- if you install such coolers as most do without the tedium and nitpicky attentions I pay to improving it, you might be good for another 5C improvement for becoming a tedious nitpicker like me.

Nobody has "dissed" my air-cooling "formula" -- I just don't know how many others were enthused about it. I pressurize a HAF 922 with 2x 200mm intakes. I break all the rules about noise by using an Gentle Typhoon AP-30 for the 120mm exhaust fan, mounted with rubber fan-mounts. I built a precision-cut foam-art-board duct to the rear of the heatpipe tower, spec'd to accommodate one layer of Spire acoustic foam on the inside and up to four layers on the outside. The AP-30 also gets a "collar" of Spire. Any foam-board plates I use to block off unused fan vents get a layer of Spire, avoiding the usual mess of applying the pads directly to the case (making a mess of trying to remove them.) I even add a four-layer cylinder of Spire cut to match the fan hub on the outside of the case fan vent. I thermally control all the fans from the CPU temperature. Even when you spin up the AP-30 to 3,600 RPM (top is 4,200), it is difficult to be annoyed by the remaining motor noise, and the rest is just air-turbulence.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just a few thoughts about ducting and such:

Depending on your case airflow situation, it may be useful to have "sloppy" airflow, such as air leaving the HSF surface before traversing the full length of the fin stack. There are all kinds of surfaces on a motherboard that need cooling, such as VRM sinks and even the socket itself. Tight ducting has the same basic effect as watercooling: the cooling solution stops cooling everything around the CPU socket and just works on the CPU.

Furthermore, multiple fans can help mitigate the effect of escaping air. If your push fan is losing %x of its airflow out of the gate, your pull fan is going to make up for that. Sure, it's inefficient, but it works. Throw a pair of high static pressure 100cfm fans on a tower HSF, and you will probably get fairly close to 100 cfm of actual airflow through the fin stack (maybe more, but I wouldn't count on it). With a duct, you have to select your fans very carefully to prevent the pull fan from suffering motor burnout. It's been a long time since I looked into ducted push-pull setups, but I think the pull fan has to be a wee bit stronger.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just a few thoughts about ducting and such:

Depending on your case airflow situation, it may be useful to have "sloppy" airflow, such as air leaving the HSF surface before traversing the full length of the fin stack. There are all kinds of surfaces on a motherboard that need cooling, such as VRM sinks and even the socket itself. Tight ducting has the same basic effect as watercooling: the cooling solution stops cooling everything around the CPU socket and just works on the CPU.

Furthermore, multiple fans can help mitigate the effect of escaping air. If your push fan is losing %x of its airflow out of the gate, your pull fan is going to make up for that. Sure, it's inefficient, but it works. Throw a pair of high static pressure 100cfm fans on a tower HSF, and you will probably get fairly close to 100 cfm of actual airflow through the fin stack (maybe more, but I wouldn't count on it). With a duct, you have to select your fans very carefully to prevent the pull fan from suffering motor burnout. It's been a long time since I looked into ducted push-pull setups, ; [1] but I think the pull fan has to be a wee bit stronger.

[1] Exactly. Absolutely. Such was my strategy using a thermally-controlled AP-30 as an exhaust port and ducted "puller."

With "large-fan" intake, one can avoid the tedium of elaborate ducting solutions that push/pull air through narrow spaces over heat-generating motherboard components. Otherwise, the solution is still pretty simple: you design a duct-plate like the ASUS Sabertooth boards have, and stick a couple Sunon 40mm mag-lev fans over holes at either end. Then you only want to use mobo thermal fan-control features or equivalent for those low-amperage fans, because they can spin up above 10,000 RPM. They're still not very noisy, but this approach -- which I know for sure works and had done in other ways -- I've yet to try with those fans.

Again, the foam art-board method should not be all that difficult. You'd get a schematic of the motherboard at 1:1 scale; cut holes for PCI/-e slots and other features; drop the plate over the board with the fans secured. Of course a tower cooler would add a complication, but then you'd have a two-part duct-plate that just slides and locks together.

Like I said, though, no need for something like that with two large intake fans blowing air all over the place -- which then can only go through the CPU cooler and out the exhaust.

 

[Tattoedsailor]

My personal experience with the 212 Evo is that it supported a nice OC, it just gets annoyingly loud at full load. I've replaced its fan with an NF-A15 that keeps the CPU cooler, and runs very noticeably quieter under full load.

Your style of ducting might help with the Evo fan, though, BonzaiDuck, if you felt compelled to give it a try, I'd be interested in how it went down for you.

This! My water cooler pump just crapped out. I had evo in storage so I busted it out. Upgraded the fan NF F12 2000 rpm. Nice and quite.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This! My water cooler pump just crapped out. I had evo in storage so I busted it out. Upgraded the fan NF F12 2000 rpm. Nice and quite.

Well, the EVGA ACX is approximately the same design as the 212 EVO, and I don't know the weight of the EVO. But it is something like 550gm and I'm guessing that spec did not include the fan. That's not really a lot of weight on even a low-end motherboard. The delta between outer and inner diameter is bigger -- heavier, thicker pipes. The fins are substantial pieces of metal compared to the EVO.

I have not installed WinSnap or Corel Capture yet on the 2700K-with-ACX-Z77-A. So no screenies yet. Has there been introduced any Windows feature to make screen captures without shareware or pay-ware? Gimme an idea and I can get it done.

HEre are the conditions and results. There was no other voltage but vOffset to adjust. Attempts to just let default "auto" settings alone first ended in failure at 4,300 Mhz. Average temperature was about 55+C under OCCT:CPU load with maximum data size.

I set Offset to "+" and ran it up to 10mV, and it stabilized at 4,400 Mhz with (minimum) low voltage of 1.30V with a vDroop that only seems like 20mV-worth. LLC is set to the level above "None" or indicated by "25%." The average-of-maximums had now increased to 59.5C. The AP-30 seemed most frequently at 3,200 RPM, and quieter than my other -- noise-deadened AP-30. Not because of the ducting, but more quiet at that speed than the acoustic AP-30 stripped of its padding.

The TCASE for this processor is ~73C. Maybe 73.5C. Average-of-maximums for that spec might come from data with one core hitting over 80C; there is a range quoted of 5+/-C around the mean, crudely shown by just the minimum or maximum. The processors' thermal sensors seem a bit out of calibration with each other as a shortcoming over generations of processors. Some have argued an uneven distribution of silicon on the die. I'd seen discussion of "dark silicon" in which IdontCare or someone had explained thermal areas and unused graphics processor in consumer versions.

But that certainly keeps to the most logical thermal limit. Therefore, keep the high-load voltage to about 1.35V. I'd hope for 400Mhz more, but this isn't the same motherboard.

I'll post back to this post as "edit." If there's any interest.

 

[Xpage]

I will neither agree nor disagree about your assertion there, but offer this.

The only thing case-makers and their various case models have in common is the motherboard tray, which must fit ATX and mATX motherboards, and offer a common mounting for a standard PSU. The rear exhaust ports and fans are never lined up with the processor area in the same way. And mobo makers locate the processor on the motherboard in a general "processor area:" I don't think you can take an ASUS socket-1150 ATX board, hold it above a Gigabyte, MSI or eVGA ATX 1150 board with the corners and ATX screws all aligned, and expect the CPU socket and HSF mounting holes to line up.

So I doubt that HSF makers like Noctua would find it feasible to offer "ducting-kits" with their products.

With air-cooling, ducting the cooler in an airflow strategy is just a large "grain-of-rice" adding on to the smaller improvements of TIM choices, lapping and de-lidding -- with fans, CFM and noise trade-offs.

Essential factors in the cooling effectiveness are the number of heatpipes, the number of fins and the areal size of fins. Maybe the choice of some different heatpipe "coolant" can change the equation: someone suggested to me that use of a different coolant in a water-cooling loop might do the same thing, but the pump-innards, hoses and radiators are designed for water. Again, you might not be able to do "custom" water-cooling unless some different coolant gains universal acceptance in that industry. And what is more universal than distilled water?

I am still "on-track" to execute my Haswell-E building project next year, despite the surprise of my dentist's bill at the end of this month. Before he discovered all my cavities last week, there had never been an urgency to build an E system right away because DDR4 is new, BIOS and X99 are new, and my sig-rig is anything but obsolete -- keeping up with an overclocked i7-4770K (4.4Ghz) in some benchmarks (not all). I think there was one other factor: planning to get my feet wet with custom water-cooling, I also wanted to see what the heatpipe and AiO makers offer as new designs into next spring.

I just doubt that there will be any earthshattering surprises. It is more likely that I'll be ordering two radiators, a dual-pump reservoir and fittings no later than March.

I have custom water cooling in my current PC, i5 2500k and for my old video card 6950, though now using a Ti 5 something i forgot, until next gen cards come out. It's fun but can be expensive.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have custom water cooling in my current PC, i5 2500k and for my old video card 6950, though now using a Ti 5 something i forgot, until next gen cards come out. It's fun but can be expensive.

I may go "slow" on picking WC parts, but not so much on the purchase of them. I can wait until late next year to get a 2011 board and processor. I'm leaning toward fitting everything into a HAF-922 (triple-200mm vent model), which currently houses this "test" 2700K system. so I can build the water-cooling configuration early, with parts that could anticipate the 140W+ TDP of those Haswell E's. It wouldn't make so much difference if I chose a 4790K, either. No indium solder? A delidding temptation. Whatever you could do for a 5820K, you'd want to do for a 4790K and possibly with a delidded direct-die usage. Either way, the cooling capacity needs to be somewhere between top-end AiO and an MO-RA3 without using a floor-standing external rad.

And then again . . . . I could even consider that, . . . too . . .

Meanwhile, this "old" Superclock -- "new" ACX EVGA cooler -- seems to be proving itself. Right now I'm testing with 4.6Ghz on the 2700K with 8-threaded OCCT:Linpack and a simple TRUE blue rubber-ductie (hah!) -- the "accordion" accessory. It even has minor acoustic-deadening, but needs more for this AP-30 exhaust fan. And the overall point of interest there: Linpack @ 4.6 Ghz, 1.34V severe load with droop, should show between 70 and 73C on a ducted D14 cooler -- over an ambient range between 75 and 80F. Last time I looked at the OCCT (HW)monitoring, == wait -- hold on a minute -- Yeah!! Yea-ahh, Baby!! -- 66.5C degrees, room-ambient of . . . Yea-ahh!! 76F!!

So the 6C difference reported in reviews based on average TIM and no ducting applies to a similarly ducted comparison using the same fan model, case, intake fans and thermal-control profile.

I still have to convince myself, but everyone who bought a D14 before July, 2011 missed out. It is LIKELY at this point of my tinkering and testing that the EVGA (Superclock) ACX is the better of the two. And anything better by 5C is nothing to sneeze at, either.

A single 550gm heatpipe tower beats out a D14. I may eventually try the 212+ once I have the stable clock settings -- with the same duct. I doubt it will be better than the D14, though -- and more likely worse.

UPDATE AND AFTERTHOUGHT

When I first saw the Frosty-Tech/Hardware Secrets ACX review comparison, I did not take note that the dual Noctua fans on the D14 were running at maybe 1,300 RPM each, while the ACX fan was shown at 2,200+. This may erode slightly the posted ACX gain of 6C. Instead, my own fan application -- still using the ACX fan as "pusher" -- is more like a 4 to 4.5C improvement. But I need to get better data with more tests.

And now, some advice for noobs and ASUS enthusiasts (noob or otherwise). DO NOT leave AI Suite active in the system tray while running OCCT. There will be what I want to call "collisions" in polling the thermal sensors. Either of two things will happen after an hour or two: OCCT will post an obscenely high temperature for a core, causing it to terminate because of default limits in "settings," OR . . . it will show a sensor at just above freezing. I had experienced these conflicts between AI Suite and other monitoring software before. In some rare cases, it would precipitate a BSOD. With this system and 2700K, the anomaly is more robust -- more certain. But it doesn't show up if AI Suite is completely terminated. This is the second time it happened with AI Suite active in the system tray. It just doesn't happen with OCCT running alone. Not yet. If it does, I could start to worry about "other stuff."

AND . . . ANOTHER . . .

Testing coolers for chump-change differences in load temperatures may go out of fashion, or seem less useful with custom-water. But we've never had a set of conventions for member comparisons. Some people report their highest core temperature registered in the "maximum" column of monitoring software. But the sensors are either typically out of calibration or there is some unevenness in the distribution of heat on the heat spreader. I think it is "sensor error" which is typically +/- 5C around a mean. So I believe it is both simpler and better to report a single value -- the "average of maximums." And fact is, the prevailing temperatures from captured data-tables over an entire test-run will show a lower average than that. This then begs the question as to what the REVIEWERS are using for a data reporting convention. If I WERE doing a REVIEW, I'd take all the sample data over an hour's time, load it into a spreadsheet, get the average load temperature for each core, and then average those averages.

That's the way I'D do it . . .

AND . . . YET ANOTHER . . .

Room ambient has actually increased to 77F. The retest -- after "AI SUITE" termination, assuring AVX is checked and so on for OCCT: Linpack -- is now showing a 65C Average-of-maximums after a full hour running. Should I rub my eyes? Does this actually MEAN that delta I wanted to measure is GREATER than 6C? Well -- best estimation based on experience with the sig-rig -- it IS 6C degrees with this test run.

There are reasons to love AI SUITE. And there are reasons you'd almost hate it. Nothing that can't be managed, though.

 

[Rhezuss]

I have the 212 EVO and I love it. It's efficient, silent and awesome...but damn it's big!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have the 212 EVO and I love it. It's efficient, silent and awesome...but damn it's big!

No-no-no-no-no . . . As far as heatpipe coolers go, the 212 + or EVO are light-middleweight in the size department. You got-chur D14, ur D15; ya got-chur NH-U14S, ur Megahalems. On the smaller end of "middle", ya got-chur 212 EVO. And anything the size of an EVGA ACX Supercluck down to below the EVO is a welcome replacement for a D14 or a D15.

But I just validated a Hardware Secrets comparison review between the ACX, the D14 and about 80 other coolers. If similar reviews show the EVO cooking at so many degrees above the D14, the differences will carry into equally prepared models-- either ducted or non-ducted but not both in a comparison.

Anybody remember what a similar Frosty-Tech review said about the 212 compared to either the D14 or the ACX or both? A 212-to-D14 comparison will do nicely if its consistent with any other model in a known comparison with any of these.

 

[soccerballtux]

Air rushes in anywhere the pressure is lowest. And if you have three sides of the cooler with only a net inflow, the cooling would be more effective. It would be less effective if air going in the front is partially thrust out the sides before being exhausted from the case. I think this latter possibility is what you're describing.

or it's more effective because the lower pressure lets the fan move more air

 

[ClockHound]

Anybody remember what a similar Frosty-Tech review said about the 212 compared to either the D14 or the ACX or both? A 212-to-D14 comparison will do nicely if its consistent with any other model in a known comparison with any of these.

You mean these tests:

Coolermaster Hyper 212
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 19.0C
Rise above ambient 85W: 11.8C
Noise Level: 45.9dB

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 16.9C
Rise above ambient 85W: 10.9C
Noise Level: 50.1dB

Coolermaster 212 EVO
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 15.9C
Rise above ambient 85W: 9.3C
Noise Level: 47.1dB

Noctura NH-D14
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 14.5C
Rise above ambient 85W: 8.7C
Noise Level: 48.1dB

Hyper 212 review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2206&page=5

212 EVO review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2655&page=5

Noctura D-14 review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2525&page=5

Interesting to note that the D-14 is only #7 on Frosty's top ten air coolers.
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Can't find any Frosty test of the possibly legendary EVGA ACX. ;-)

 

[AgentUnknown]

I have a regular 212. What is the difference BTW the Evo and it?

 

[ClockHound]

Believe it was mainly just a fan change and some packaging.

Edit: And the grooves between the pipes. Original 212 has a flat base. 212+ has direct contact pipes with grooves between. EVO doesn't have the grooves between the direct contact pipes. EVO is a few grams lighter too. More differences than I recalled. Performance is very similar when equipped with the same fans.

Wasn't fond of the type and quantity of noise from either of the Plus or EVO fans that I've used.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You mean these tests:

Coolermaster Hyper 212
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 19.0C
Rise above ambient 85W: 11.8C
Noise Level: 45.9dB

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 16.9C
Rise above ambient 85W: 10.9C
Noise Level: 50.1dB

Coolermaster 212 EVO
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 15.9C
Rise above ambient 85W: 9.3C
Noise Level: 47.1dB

Noctura NH-D14
Fan Speed: High
Rise above ambient 150W: 14.5C
Rise above ambient 85W: 8.7C
Noise Level: 48.1dB

Hyper 212 review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2206&page=5

212 EVO review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2655&page=5

Noctura D-14 review: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2525&page=5

Interesting to note that the D-14 is only #7 on Frosty's top ten air coolers.
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Can't find any Frosty test of the possibly legendary EVGA ACX. ;-)

Frosty had linked to a Hardware Secrets review. Maybe I posted it here, but I can look for it. The graphical summary shows a 6C better performance than the NH-D14. I believe I have validated to the extent that my tests show 5.25C improvement. This was a comparison of a ducted (with AP-30 exhaust) NH-D14 versus a ducted EVGA ACX -- same fan, essentially everything the same.

Test system #1 is my sig-rig at 4.6, 1.35V drooped load, vOffset + Extra Turbo Voltage = 25mV; #2 is a Z77-A motherboard, i7-2700K @ 4.6, 1.35V drooped load, vOffset = 25mV. All other parameters including LLC were the same. The sig-rig with D14 shows an average-of-maximums temperature with affinitized LinX or OCCT:Linpack of ~73.5C. The Z77-A/2700K system with the ACX with the same stress-tests shows 68.25C average-of-maximums.

Room ambient is identical for these comparisons; the computers sit about four feet apart on my floor here. Both systems were showing power consumption around 140W.

So if the D14 is only besting the 212 EVO by a couple degrees, the ACX lives up to the review I mentioned. Wait a minute . . here it is . . .

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/EVGA-Superclock-CPU-Cooler-Review/1336/6

This EVGA cooler was released as "Superclock" three years ago. ACX is just a new name for the old cooler. What does this mean -- despite "NH-U14S" or "NH-D15" or several other heatpipe contraptions? And what does it mean for comparison to AiO's?

You MAY be able to make a heatpipe tower perform as well as somebody else's AiO: just don't teach them how to do it to theirs. The AiO coolers need market share, so they'll only produce coolers that fit in more cases rather than fewer cases.

This could be my last flirtation with a heatpipe cooler, but it's fine for these processors. It makes you feel much better to see the prevailing four-core average (or an average of averages from a log-file loaded to spreadsheet) that is about 5C lower than these average-of-maximums observations. And it makes you feel better when only one of the cores ever exceeds 70C so infrequently that it only shows up in the "Maximum" column of the monitoring software.

The ACX is only a little bigger than the 212 EVO, a little more compact than a Megahalems. It makes a big, big difference if you need to fiddle with wires or attend in any way to the motherboard, and you can build a nice duct for it because there's more . . . freakin' . . . room.

By the way. The TRUE accessory I call the "blue-rubber-ductie-accordion" works just fine with either the ACX or the 212 coolers. it actually has minor positive acoustic-deadening properties, and can be "acoustically enhanced" the way my foam-board duct is acoustically enhanced.

With the right motherboard and the hopes that I got a decent ticket in the chip lottery, it would be pretty good to see 68C as average of maximums with the chip at 4.8 Ghz. I can say it still shows about 69C AoM temperature with voltage at 1.41V, LLC at "Ultra High" and clock speed at 4.7. I just don't like the settings, but they were stable for an hour before I manually terminated the test.

The Asus Z77-A motherboard overclocks well enough for a budget board that it's "got to be good for something." I just think it's hampered by a 4+1 phase power design and a lack of key settings in the BIOS. You cannot REDUCE PLL Voltage: it's either going to be "Auto" or +10% over 1.8V. You can't leave offset at a minimum and adjust an "Extra Voltage for TurbO" because the latter just isn't there.

So I'm not finished with the 2700K, nor ready to decide where it's going permanently. I'll know better if I can have a socket-pin repaired in a Sabertooth Z77 board and get it back here to do what it's supposed to do better than a Z77-A.