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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Casper42 - Friday, April 6, 2007 - link
I bought 2 of these for a Dual Opteron setup back in September of 2005!!!What the hell took you guys so long to review them?
PS: For the haters that keep harping on the 100mm fan, you could make a 100 to 120 adapter out of a peice of sheet metal and a few power tools. If your so l334 that you have to have the super special $25 uber quiet 120mm fan, show your skills and make your own adapter.
Hell that gives me an idea. My father in law has a Digital Plasma Cutter, he could probably work out plans for such an adapter in a matter of a few hours and then crank them out from sheet alumn.
schlumpfi106 - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
Why is that a small complaint? It makes this cooler absolutely useless in my eyes. Not worth testing.
Missing Ghost - Saturday, February 17, 2007 - link
It's still better than integrated fans as found on many Zalman coolers.Macuser89 - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Why is an integrated or abnormal fan size bad. unless you want to change the fan for some reason, I can't think of anything.flipmode - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
FWIW, I would really like to see you guys test the Scythe Ninja. It should nip at the heels of the Tuniq, has a decent mounting system, a quiet fan, a good price, and wide availability.flipmode - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
That's silly, plain silly. Take you eyeball and point it at those serrations. Now, do you see a significant increase of surface area there? No - The "teeth" are a few millimeters square at best. A more plausible explanation is that they are there to reduce static pressure. The method has been used on other heatsinks - The Thermalright Ultra-120 and the Tuniq Tower for instance, but the serrated profile of this Coolermaster departs significantly from the profiles of the other two - so I wonder if my theory is correct or if the serrations exist for a completely different reason. But I'm quite comfortable asserting that they're not intended to increase surface area.stelleg151 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
my vote is to start using the QX6700 for OC testing, more heatMacuser89 - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
too much work... they have more data to compare with x6800.Gigahertz19 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
Jarred, WesleyYou guys should included the Thermaltake Typhoon VX in a future HSF review. It hasn't been out that long but is suppose to be one of the quietest coolers with awesome cooling. I remember reading its performance is very similar to the Zalman 9700 but the Typhoon VX can produce the same results yet remain much quieter.
Macuser89 - Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - link
Which is better, Copper or Aluminum for a heat sync? I would think Copper, but some say otherwise. And if Copper is better then wouldn't the Tuniq be better yet if they used copper fins as well.