Introduction

One of my personal favorite “As Seen On TV” products is the trusty “Ove Glove”. At first glance, it seems like a really silly, “yeah, whatever” type of product. Oven gloves with five fingers, what could the big deal be? Well, there is a lot to be said for little things like dexterity, and not just in the kitchen. Have you ever tried to change a light bulb in an oven mitt? Before the popularity of the Ove Glove, we were stuck using potholders or the dreaded oven mitt to try to get around the kitchen. Face it, if you cook, you know well how many times you have taken off the oven mitt and attempted to do something on a hot surface that required more dexterity than the mitt could offer. You tried to do it as quickly as possible, and at all costs tried to avoid direct contact with the hot surface. Direct contact is not a good thing in these circumstances, you want a buffer, like the mitt, between you and the heat because the highest possible heat transfer comes by way of direct contact. This kind of makes you wonder why so many manufacturers are putting “oven mitts” on their CPU coolers…..

So, we have established that a cushion slows and decreases heat transfer. Obviously, this protection is a great thing when you are pulling cookies out of the oven or welding. When you are actively trying to transfer heat a cushion is the last thing you want. You want the heat source to make direct contact with whatever is being used to dissipate this heat. In the case of a CPU cooler, this is going to be heat pipes for most air coolers, or the pump’s cooling block on liquid coolers. Thermal Interface Material will be applied to facilitate the most possible contact between the points. However, many air coolers run their heat pipes through a cooling block. This is somewhat like putting an oven mitt on the cooler. Think about it, you would never dream of putting a piece of metal between your CPU and cooler, it would make the cooler less effective. It stands to reason that running the pipes through a block effectively does the same thing.

The Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM takes the idea of direct contact a step further by using what they term “C.D.C.” Heat Pipes. “C.D.C.” in the Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM stands for “Continuous Direct Contact”, and refers to four reshaped heat pipes which allow them to be placed with no gaps between. The heat pipes transform to a half circle in the contact area, and laid side by side allow for a smooth, even coverage on the CPU’s hot spots, all with direct heat pipe contact. In addition, the Hyper 412 PWM offers airflow refinements using a 120mm fan with variable speeds from 600-2000rpm controlled by PWM, and is dual fan capable with hardware for the second fan included. Larger heat fin gaps allow for better airflow over the fins and around the heat pipes, where it matters most. The Hyper 412 PWM uses a flexible and easy to install mounting system that is compatible with Intel Socket 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM-1/AM3/AM2.