Introduction

I once thought that if you lived in a cool climate, you really didn’t need to have CPU cooling as good as if you lived in a warm climate. As I became more knowledgeable in computers, I learned that climate does not make a difference. If you are looking for aftermarket cooling, climate should not be a factor, how well the CPU cooler works should. There are many factors that can increase CPU temperatures no matter where you may live. Overclocking a CPU, air flow around the cooler (enclosure airflow) and dust are three that automatically pop into my head for starters.

When looking for a CPU cooler, you will need to take all aspects into consideration before making a choice. Will you be keeping the computer case on the floor? Is the floor carpeted? How much airflow do you have coming into the case and how much is being put out? Will you be pulling air through your CPU cooler from front to back or bottom to top or straight down (low profile or flat heatsink)? We all know that heat rises, so many of us choose to keep our computers on the floor. This is good and bad, with the enclosure being on the floor a system is prone to pick up more dust, dust increases heat when it gets on or around your cooler fan and heatsink fins causing the cooler to become less efficient. A carpeted floor, besides dust production, retains heat and doesn’t allow cool air to enter from the bottom of your enclosure. Believe it or not the best place to keep your system is approximately 6 to8 inches off the ground as this will allow proper airflow around your enclosure and minimal dust intake. Next is how will you pull the air? This is a preference or it may be determined on how much room you have in your enclosure.

The Coolermaster Hyper N620 is an aftermarket CPU cooler that offers a push-pull cooling solution. The Cooler Master Hyper N620 is compatible with all the latest CPU sockets including the Intel Core I7. For this review, I will be testing the Coolermaster Hyper N620 with the fans pulling from front to rear. The Hyper N 620 will be benchmarked against some other popular aftermarket CPU coolers to judge how well it performs on the Intel Core I7 and AMD Phenom II. The other CPU coolers range from bottom to top air flow, push-pull, and flat (low profile).