The Hyper 212 Halo Black is Cooler Master's latest take on a mid-range air cooler for today's modern CPUs, and represents an evolution for the brand's longstanding Hyper 212 product line-up that has served DIY PC enthusiasts for more than a decade and counting. The very top of the cooler got a face lift which features a brushed aluminum surface finish for a more premium look and feel. Considering the fact that both coolers were shipped and arrived in perfect shape, I believe the packaging to be more than adequate. With the RGB fan installed, the cooler does loose a little bit of that super stealthy vibe we were getting from the previous one.

With the four spring-loaded mounting screws tightened down the Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition feels very secure – no twisting possible unlike the 212 EVO, which never felt fully secured to me. From a looks perspective, the fan looks like it would do a good job moving a large amount of air, so we’ll see how it does during our tests later on in the review. For the uninformed, the AMD AM4 and AM5 platforms share the same mounting mechanism for CPU coolers - you can install most AM4 coolers on AM5 CPUs, and vice versa. The most recent addition, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition, as the name suggests features an updated clean black aesthetic, as well as a new included fan the Silencio FP120. The Hyper 212 lineup has roots going back to the original cooler’s release in 2009 (which did an awesome job cooling my Q6600 back in the day).Aside from the black edition having a different design with the black brushed metal, the fan on the black edition has better performance and is quieter than the evo's. Apply thermal paste (a little goes a long way), and torque down the heatsink to the backplate, each screw a little at a time. I did manage to increase the fan rpm all the way up to 2,800 which did result in lower temps, but the acoustic performance was not that great.

Overclocked temperatures at 100% load were down 19 degrees Celsius for the standard Black Edition cooler, and the RGB Black Edition dropped temps down 21 degrees. I know a lot of you guys may be wondering why I decided to go with a 2600X versus a 2600 and the simple answer to that is that the 2600X has a 95 watt TDP rating compared to the 65 watt TDP rating on the 2600 so it actually pushes the limits on these coolers when it comes to performance. With that, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo Black comes across as a pretty decent CPU air cooler that would work well with mid-range CPUs such as AMD’s Ryzen 5 offerings, or Intel’s Core i5 line-up. Motherboard removal shenanigans aside, the rest of the installation process was a cinch - the thermal paste used for this install was Cooler Master's MasterGel Pro that came included with the Hyper 212 Halo Black.The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition is a welcomed and a modern redesign to the original Hyper 212 CPU cooler. I mean, even with the fan speed set to its Max setting, I was barely able to hear the system, which was awesome.

Also, make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them. Every time after I run Prime95 for around six minutes, the system just crashed and just wasn’t able to keep up. This particular RGB connector is meant for use with either the provided LED control module, or a 12V analog RGB connector on the motherboard.Stacked fin array ensures the least airflow resistance, which allows cooler air to flow into the heatsink. So a lot of factors to consider, especially when you’re planning on building your system within a certain budget. For today's article, we'll be taking a look at a new Hyper 212 variant for the year 2023 - the Hyper 212 Halo Black. The aluminum top cover and nickel plated jet black fins give the Hyper 212 Black Edition a more premium exterior appeal . On to the fan frame, we get RGB diffuser rings on both sides, as well as rubber dampeners on all four corners of the fan frame to help reduce unwanted vibrations.