There are many ways to design a good air powered CPU cooler, but just as many ways to affect the performance. Does the size of the fan matter as much as the size of the cooler? Does the flowing copper fins of something like a Thermaltake V1 CPU cooler ensure it’ll cool better? Though Cooler Master’s new Hyper N620 CPU cooler doesn’t look like a great big copper flower, it does have a lot of fins and a couple of big fans.
Can the Hyper N620 cool off this rather warm processor known as the INTEL Core i7 975 Extreme Edition? Let’s put the two together and find out!
Features and Specifications
The Cooler Master Hyper N620 offers some notable features mainly in the design of the heatsink and method of cooling. The heatsink is constructed of a fine array of aluminum fins and is attached to six heatpipes that terminate into a mirror finish copper plate that is compressed by an aluminum top plate.
There are two 120mm blue LED fans strapped to the front and back of the heatsink that move roughly 83.6 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) of air, which is a fair amount considering the fans top out at around 2000 RPMs. As for noise, the fans themselves emit a claimed 16 – 28 dB of noise. and uses your system’s PWM to regulate the fan speed.
The N620 supports an array of CPU options that include including socket LGA 1366 (Core i7), LGA 775 (Core 2/Core Quad), LGA 771 (Skulltrail only), and all of AMD’s offerings from AM2, AM2+, AM3 to the older Socket 939 and 754.
The only socket missing from this party is the upcoming Socket LGA1156 which supports the upcoming Core i5 processors from INTEL. Cooler Master does say that they will be prepared with the necessary upgrade parts for the arrival of this new processor line once they launch on September 8, 2009.
Checking Inside the Box
The packaging for the Hyper N620 Cooler is the standard for Cooler Master CPU Coolers. This includes a wide selection of hardware to accommodate the aforementioned sockets. Like previous Cooler Master CPU Coolers that we’ve reviewed, there doesn’t appear to be any cheap materials used in the construction of said mounting hardware. Any visible components are chrome plated or nicely polished. Nicely detailed mounting hardware is a nice touch when considering its an overall presentation.
Instead of including some cheap, single use white thermal paste, you’ll find a little tube of gray paste that appears to be similar to the GELID Solutions GC1 compound. Most of the thermal paste solutions in tubes these days are pretty decent to begin with, but, don’t expect that to drop temps alone.
While, it’s a nice touch, we still tend to use Artic Silver 5 or Ceramique for best results and for consistent testing across the board.
The Hyper N620 Walks the Runway
One of the first things I noticed when pulling the Hyper N620 out of the box was the fact that the 120mm fans were already premounted. That should save you some installation time, though it’s never hard mounting a fan in first place. After plugging in the fan header, I realized that these are low (MCD) LEDs which means they won’t be too bright. The fan blades are designed to help reflect the LED light which makes the cooler that much more noticeable.
The aluminum fins are quite clean and also sport a nice finish. You’ll find them to be perfectly spaced on both sides as well. Attention to this kind of detail shows the capable level of quality you can expect from Cooler Master.
The cooling performance comes from the copper base and heat pipes that run the length of the CPU cooler. It’s the connection between the cooling plate and pipes inside the base that will ultimately affect performance. The copper based is polished to a mirror finish and is the best way to ensure that there is optimal heat transference occurring between CPU and heatsink. Again, Cooler Master has given us the tube and has asked us to apply it. This is not such a bad thing as typically, manufacturers put WAY too much past on which not only creates a mess, but isn’t ideal for the best possible transfer. As we all know, a little bit goes a long way.
Our Test System Setup
In order to allow you to reproduce and compare your results to ours, we’ve listed out our test system components. These components represent a fairly high end system that is capable of producing enough heat to stress the Hyper N620 CPU Cooler.
Parts include:
- Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition Processor
- ASRock X58 Extreme Motherboard
- 12GB Kingston HyperX 1600 MHz Triple Channel
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 Video Card
- Kingwin 1000 Watt Mach-I Power Supply
Our operating system of choice was Windows Vista 64 bit to support the massive amount of RAM in our test system.
Installation Notes
With the instructions in hand, most any novice can figure out how to install this cooler. It also helps that Cooler Master creates their documentation in several dialects and uses many pictures to tell the story. The mounting hardware is pretty well marked as to the application for which it’s intended. Four bracket screws, four mounting screws, a motherboard back plate, and four bolts are all it takes for LGA 1366 installations.
Once installed, you can see that the Hyper N620 isn’t any bigger than any other tower cooler available. The two fans increase its thickness which you’ll want to make a mental note of as you observe your motherboard. If you take off one of the fans, it’s even thinner. Realistically, you’d probably lose 1 to 2 degrees cooling performance max. The second fan’s purpose seems to just ensure air gets pulled through the cooler.
The only real concern to watch out for is the placement of your motherboard’s memory sockets. Some boards, like the EVGA X58 Classified, have memory sockets that are a bit too close to the CPU socket for really large CPU coolers. Otherwise, it worked just fine for the test board even with its large chipset heat pipe cooling.
Cooler Master Hyper N620 Test Results
All testing was performed with all CPU throttling features turned off so we could produce consistent temperatures. Temperature readings were taken at idle, standard load, and maximum load. Idle temp was taken after 15 minutes after Vista boot up, standard load was taken after another 15 minutes of general web surfing and other light activity. Load temperatures were achieved using the default CPU torture test in OCCT.
As you can see, the Hyper N620 is naturally the coolest of the three. The reason that the N620 and V1 offer similar results during idle and normal operations is that only one CPU core is idling or active which any heat pipe cooler can handle. When all four cores are go to work, temps skyrocket in every case. However, this is where the N620’s extra pipes make the biggest difference.
Attempting a minor 3.8 GHz overclock pushed the retail cooler over the top and V1 to its limits. The N620 maxed out at 71 C revealing just how much better the extra pipes can deal with increasing heat. We don’t recommend overclocking any Core i7 965 or 975 to extreme without a more formidable cooling solution.
What About Noise Levels?
Since most CPU coolers have ONE fan, we were very curious about whether or not the Hyper N620 would have tendencies to sound like it was preparing for take off. Thankfully, things were quite a bit quieter.
When the fan speed is system automated, the noise levels range from 21 dB up to 31 dB at full speed. The only way to quiet the cooler any further was to remove a fan or manually set the system to its lowest RPM setting. Overall the fan seemed to emit an average of 25 dB in this mode. Even at the highest 31 dB though, it really isn’t noticeable when jockeying for the noisiest component inside the case. The system was more than enough to drown out anything it contributed.
Final Thoughts
Picking a new CPU cooler involves more than just fancy lights and polished metals. A perfectly smooth base is the optimal way to transfer heat and heat pipes are a really great conduit for carrying heat away from the base. Plenty of surface area for dissipating heat also helps and it is when these things are compromised that cooler performance comes up short.
The Hyper N620 definitely has the bases covered with a polished base, many heat pipes, and lot’s of cooling surfaces. Plus, there is as much as 83.6 CFM flowing through the cooler at max. Most importantly, it is a nicely constructed CPU cooler offering great performance at very acceptable noise levels. It’s designed more to combat extreme heat rather than turn your computer case in to a massive “bling” box which many people will appreciate.
The design is very simple and uses the right amount of LED lighting to add a little extra something without over doing the modified effect. If this is your goal, I have no reservations recommending the Hyper N620. If you want a more exotic design and similar performance, consider the Cooler Master V8.
The Cooler Master Hyper N620 currently retails for around $59.99 US.
Pros
- Quality materials and fabrication
- Dual 120mm LED fans
- Effective use of heatpipes
- Size is manageable for a performance cooler
- Overall low fan noise
Cons
- Fan controller would have been nice vs just PWM
Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10.0
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Cooler Master Hyper N620 CPU Cooler Photo Gallery
