Rated 
CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler
Solid construction, excellent cooling property, low noise level.
Heavy weight, bulky dimension, awkward locking mechanism for AMD Socket 754/939/AM2 and Intel Socket LGA775.
Posted Nov 6, 2007 - I have always used the factory-stock heat sink and fan (HSF) cooler, so this is my first "custom" cooler. The first impression is its size. Having used to stock HSF dimensions, it is quite a bit bigger than I had expected, good thing I have a full size ATX case. Its base is pretty small, but then like an inverse pyramid, the top gets bigger. Also it is very tall, I don't think this will fit in a micro ATX case, or any non-tower case that lays on the side. ---------------------- This Hyper TX2 Cooler came in a nice plastic package. It is a solid product, weighs in just over a pound. It has 4 primary components: 1) a wide blade fan made of plastic, 2) a heat sink made of a dozen large aluminum sheet layers, 3) a copper base with 3 heat pipes connected to the heat sink, 4) a plastic shroud that surrounds the heat sink to direct some air movement downward into the motherboard below. There's some type of blue thermal padding already applied to the bottom of the copper base, but I would recommend taking this off. It is pretty thick and typically the thinner the material the better contact between CPU and base where you want the maximum thermal conductivity. Also the base bottom is not mirror smooth. For best performance, you want to lap it against sandpaper (600grit) to make it as smooth as you can. ---------------------- I have a Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64, so this applies only to AMD installation. This cooler says it fits both AMD Socket 754/939/AM2 and Intel Socket LGA775. To install for AMD, you have to take off the metal brackets designed for LGA775. There's no distinction between 754, 939 or AM2. You do not have to take the motherboard out of the case, as long as you have enough space in the case to work. Once again, full ATX case would help. The package supplied steel locking lever and locking piece are pretty basic. It would've been better if this was made just for the AMD or just for the Intel sockets. I applied Arctic Silver on the CPU, and then managed to get the cooler on the AMD Athlon 64 CPU without too much fuss, but it is more hassle compared to factory HSF locking mechanism where things just fell into place. Also because this TX2 is "one size fits all", it does not sit automatically centered over CPU. You have to manually move it around to make sure the base covers the entire CPU. Then you can lock it down with the rotating lever. Even then, in my case, it sits slightly lower than I liked and leaving the "Northern" 10% of CPU uncovered. I then manually nudged it upward until the copper base covers the entire CPU. Because of this, I also felt the locking mechanism did not clamp down as tightly as the factory HSF cooler, as I can still nudge it after it's locked. That said, there's sufficient force applied that the TX2 stays put by itself, I don't think it'll work itself loose but we'll have to see about this. The bulky dimension also position the HSF cooler very close to other computer components. The fan itself is very close to my DDR 400 RAM with about 5mm to spare. May be this is a good thing since it draws the heat away from the RAM. If you already have a cramped motherboard interior such as a micro ATX board inside a small case, this thing may not fit. ---------------------- On the plus side, the Hyper TX2 is very quiet and efficient. The packaging say it's about 22dba. I cannot measure the sound but it is definitely quieter than factory HSF. I think the wide blade fan pushes a lot of air despite rotating at a slower rate. The cooling effect is also superior to factory stock HSF. With the TX2, my Athlon 64 idles around 32C, which is about 5C lower than what I got from factory HSF cooler. Even over-clocked by 200Mhz, my full load temp never exceeded 42C. My stock HSF would be close to 48C on full load. This is probably due to its heat pipe and fan design. Traditionally, the fan blows downward at heatsink which dissipates the CPU heat. The Hyper TX2 fan blows sideways, across the heat sink to dissipate its heat as the heat pipes draw heat from the copper base, and then the fan pushes the hot air toward the back of the case. My rear case exhaust fan then pushes that heat out of the case. So this HSF Cooler works great with a tower designed for rear exhaust fan. ---------------------- All in all, I would definitely recommend this HSF cooler for a tower case where you have the real estate. It is very quiet and also cools better than factory HSF cooler. I've only used it for 5 days, but it has impressed me once I got over the installation stage. The solid construction also suggests good durability over the long term.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
Comment about this review
CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler
