While a minor issue, you would think Cooler Master could have used black wires with the fan getting an upgrade in quality over the previous version. To be blunt, with the number of coolers now available with perfect memory clearance, I am sad to see the Hyper 212X fall short in that regard. The Hyper 212X also looms over a single DIMM slot, which limits users to standard-height memory modules with four sticks. The likes of be quiet!'s Pure Rock with the aluminum top plate and heatpipe caps have a nice premium feel to them, but cost about as much.

Granted, that's better than something flashy that performs abysmally, but still.

It also has extra fan clips included for those who want to squeeze a bit more performance out of the cooler sometime down the road.Ī few issues are apparent, and the biggest is the fact that it is boring to look at. It may not be the best in the charts, but it is easy to find and usually in stock, which makes it an attractive option for those looking for an upgrade over the stock-cooling option. Overall, there is a great deal to like about the Cooler Master Hyper 212X, but the biggest would be its price-to-performance ratio. It may not be the best available, but its universal nature keeps it simple. The mounting system is also pretty easy to work with. Users won't have any issues with expansion-slot clearance when it comes to their graphics card or other add-on cards. Build quality is decent, and while not on par with Noctua, it is still very solid.

In fact, the Hyper 212X had no issues keeping the Intel i7 6700K cool even with the CPU overclocked. This gives the 212X the edge versus its older counterpart. Compared to the Hyper 212 EVO, it offers slightly better overall performance while being a bit quieter. Cooler Master has set out to update the Hyper series of coolers with the Hyper 212X and in many ways they succeeded.

Hyper 212x review