Introduction

Almost all of North America is experiencing very uncharacteristic weather. Temperatures are down everywhere, and even Florida is experiencing frost. Experts say that we are currently experiencing the coldest winter in 25 years, which is making quite a few of us more than a bit uncomfortable. Of course, one man’s discomfort is a CPU’s heaven. CPUs like the cold, and the colder the better.

There are many factors that directly affect a CPU’s temperature, and can take it from its chilly comfort zone into dangerously high temps: overclocking, poor case airflow, and, of course, a poor CPU cooler. Once you have solved your airflow issues, choosing the right cooler can be a challenge. Will it fit comfortably in the case? Can it cool effectively and still remain quiet enough not to be a distraction? Will it mount easily with your current case and motherboard setup?

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus is an aftermarket tower cooler that offers quite a bit of versatility. The Hyper 212 Plus comes equipped with one 120mm fan, but is set up to take a second fan if you would like to take it to a push/pull configuration, and all the hardware is provided to do it. The provided mounting hardware allows for mounting in any direction in order to take care of your particular airflow needs. It is compatible with all the latest sockets including Core I7 and AM3.  I will be mounting this with bottom to top airflow and benchmarking along with two other tower coolers mounted in the same manner.