Cooler Master Hyper 6+: Universal Heatpipe Tower
by Wesley Fink on February 14, 2007 12:02 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Heatpipe tower coolers have performed very well in our cooler tests, so it is no surprise to have a top tower cooler from Cooler Master for review. Cooler Master is one of the largest case and cooling manufacturers in the world, with a catalog of many well recognized cases and CPU coolers that are very popular with computer enthusiasts.
The Hyper 6+ is a top-line tower cooler that was initially designed to sell for around $50. This is a competitive price with other top-line tower coolers. However, recently the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ could be found at many sites for as little as $30 to $35. This is more a reflection of the popularity of this tower cooler in the marketplace. It is widely available and widely used for CPU cooling.
One of the big reasons for the popularity of the Hyper 6+ is the universal fit of the tower. There are not many coolers that can fit everything from AMD Socket A to Intel Socket T (775), but the Hyper 6+ can do just that.
The Hyper 6+ comes with adapter plates for K7, K8 (but not AM2), P4 (Socket 478) and Intel Socket 775. There is also a universal back plate for spreading the substantial weight of the Hyper 6+ over a larger area. Once a plate is mounted on the 6+ the attachment to the motherboard is very secure. There are many CPU coolers that claim universal installation, but some solutions are very shaky in some of the configurations. The Hyper 6+ is stable with all CPU sockets it supports.
The cooler uses the familiar and effective cooling tower design, with 6 heatpipes moving heat to the serrated fin tower. The Hyper 6+ is a large tower, but it is a bit smaller than the Tuniq Tower 120. The Tuniq is 155mm tall compared to the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ at 143mm. The footprint is also a bit smaller than the Vigor Monsoon II, which means the Hyper 6+ is completely clear of the DIMM slots on the EVGA 680i motherboard. The finned cooler cage is raised high enough that most users should have no issue with the CPU cooler interfering with motherboard components.
The effectiveness of heatpipe tower air-cooling has been clearly demonstrated in the AnandTech review of the Tuniq Tower and the review of two low-cost cooling towers. The Tuniq is a top air cooler designed to sell for about the same as the original retail of the Hyper 6+. The Scythe Katana and Thermalright MST-9775 sell for about $25, which is closer to the current price of the Hyper 6+. The question then is where does the Hyper 6+ compete? Is it a top-line design that competes effectively with the best air cooler tested at AnandTech so far, or does the performance compare with more main-stream tower coolers? Performance testing will provide answers to that question.
The Hyper 6+ is a top-line tower cooler that was initially designed to sell for around $50. This is a competitive price with other top-line tower coolers. However, recently the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ could be found at many sites for as little as $30 to $35. This is more a reflection of the popularity of this tower cooler in the marketplace. It is widely available and widely used for CPU cooling.
One of the big reasons for the popularity of the Hyper 6+ is the universal fit of the tower. There are not many coolers that can fit everything from AMD Socket A to Intel Socket T (775), but the Hyper 6+ can do just that.
The Hyper 6+ comes with adapter plates for K7, K8 (but not AM2), P4 (Socket 478) and Intel Socket 775. There is also a universal back plate for spreading the substantial weight of the Hyper 6+ over a larger area. Once a plate is mounted on the 6+ the attachment to the motherboard is very secure. There are many CPU coolers that claim universal installation, but some solutions are very shaky in some of the configurations. The Hyper 6+ is stable with all CPU sockets it supports.
The cooler uses the familiar and effective cooling tower design, with 6 heatpipes moving heat to the serrated fin tower. The Hyper 6+ is a large tower, but it is a bit smaller than the Tuniq Tower 120. The Tuniq is 155mm tall compared to the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ at 143mm. The footprint is also a bit smaller than the Vigor Monsoon II, which means the Hyper 6+ is completely clear of the DIMM slots on the EVGA 680i motherboard. The finned cooler cage is raised high enough that most users should have no issue with the CPU cooler interfering with motherboard components.
The effectiveness of heatpipe tower air-cooling has been clearly demonstrated in the AnandTech review of the Tuniq Tower and the review of two low-cost cooling towers. The Tuniq is a top air cooler designed to sell for about the same as the original retail of the Hyper 6+. The Scythe Katana and Thermalright MST-9775 sell for about $25, which is closer to the current price of the Hyper 6+. The question then is where does the Hyper 6+ compete? Is it a top-line design that competes effectively with the best air cooler tested at AnandTech so far, or does the performance compare with more main-stream tower coolers? Performance testing will provide answers to that question.
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Samus - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
What a waste of metal, what are the odd's that someone is going to buy this $50 cooler to overclock their AthlonXP. Do people even have AthlonXP's anymore? They've been discontinued for years.LoneWolf15 - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
If you've got an Athlon XP-M, it really might be fun to try this one out. My XP-M 2500+ made 2.4GHz on air (Thermalright cooler) when I had it, which is even now competetive for a lot of apps. The advantage is that an XP owner can buy this cooler, and then continue to use it when they step up to a new CPU/mainboard. It adds a selling point to this cooler that I'm sure some will appreciate.Shinei - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
To be honest, I would. I still run an Athlon XP, and it's cheaper to pay $50 for a new HSF that might buy me a couple extra MHz than $800 on a total refit (CPU, board, RAM, video card). Unless, of course, you're offering to buy me a new computer, in which case, I accept! B)Macuser89 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
I wish you would compare a similar Zalmen cooler. Zalmen are pretty good, and i just wonder how they compare to others.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
We have the top-of-the-line Zalman 9700 in the lab for review.strikeback03 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
Any chance of testing a 9500 as well? I don't think a 9700 will fit beneath my PSU.And I think it might have been mentioned in the Tuniq review, but was all temperature testing done with it at high speed? Would temps be affected if it were slowed down the same way the PWM-controlled fans slow down?
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
The Hyper 6+ has a 4-pin fan connection that can control fan speed. Temperature testing was done at default speed, although we did manually force highest speed to see if it made any difference in OC. It really did not improve OC performance. For noise testing we manually forced highest speed and reported both low speed (1800 RPM) and high speed (3600 RPM) results.Since the kit auto controls fan speed on a 4-pin header we thought this was the fairest way to test performance. For noise we were concerned with the loudest you could possibly encounter with this cooler, which is why we manually forced highest speed.
tuteja1986 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
Can't someone make a much better air cooler than Tuniq Tower 120 for overclocking needs.LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
If you ever buy a Tuniq Tower, I think you'll find that it cools so well, that improving upon it without liquid or a TEC would be extremely difficult.Up until recently I was using a Swiftech MCX-64V that I thought was a pretty darn good cooler, albeit a little older, with a low-noise Delta 80mm fan.
The Tuniq beats it by 8-10C when idle, and by 10-15C under load in my system (Athlon 64 X2 4800+). And it isn't any louder (it may indeed be quieter, but my case fans overshadow the noise it makes anyway). About the only thing that I think Tuniq could try is lapping the contact surface better (on an IHS-based chip with AS5 goop I doubt this will help much) or adding additional heatpipes (i.e. going from six to eight), and I'm not sure that will do that much good either. The Tuniq is already amazing at how cool it can keep a CPU under load, a good indicator of its performance in overclocked situations (provided you have the right CPU/mainboard/ram/power supply to go with, of course). It also has the advantage of taking a 120mm fan, as opposed to the good, but proprietary Zalman, or the 100mm of the Coolermaster, allowing you to select from a wide range of fans to favor hardcore cooling, or near-silent operation.
I'm curious (no disrespect intended) --how do you think someone would go about making a better air cooler than the Tuniq?
flipmode - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
Start with the Tuniq and the make one that's lighter, with an even quieter fan, and not so large, with a better mounting system. That would be better in my book. Better doesn't always have to apply to cooling power - though I think that's probably what you were talking about.