Twelve CPU Air Cooler Roundup

Cooler Master TPC 612

The Cooler Master TPC 612 uses two different cooling technologies in the heatsink to keep the CPU cool. The Cooler Master TPC features both traditional heat pipes and a vertical vapor chamber.

Specifications

The package for the Cooler Master TPC 612 is a simple affair. The box clearly shows the product on the front and lists out the specifications and details of the product on the rear.

The accessories kit included with the Cooler Master TPC 612 includes all the brackets and mounting pieces to mount the cooler to all of Intel and AMD’s socket types, even LGA 2011 and the FM1 from AMD.

The tower portion of the cooler is 120x120x25 mm and features four 6mm heatpipes and 1 vertical vapor chamber. A vapor chamber is essentially a flattened heat pipe. The advantage of the vapor chamber, the way cooler master has implemented it, is the cross section of the heat pipe that faces the fan is smaller than the heat heat pipes, but has more contact per fin than the heat pipes. Theoretically this should lead to better heat transfer from the vapor chamber to the fins.

At the top of the cooler the difference between the heat pipes and vapor chamber are clearly visible. Cooler Master does a very nice job of the fit and finish at the top of the cooler.

The bottom of the cooler is supposed to be flat and should accurately reflect the image. The base on the Cooler Master TPC 612 does not. There is major distortion in the reflected lines as well as a pit in the center of the cooler.

Another look at the base from a different angle.

There is only one fan included with the Cooler Master TPC 612. The fan is attached to two brackets via screw in each of the four corners. The bracket then snaps into a channel on the tower portion of the CPU cooler.  The fan is rated at 24.9 to 82.9 CFM with a noise rating of 9 to 36 dBA.

The fan blades feature a unique curved design that is supposed to increase the air flow but yet reduce the noise during operation.

Installation of the Cooler Master TPC 612 was very easy and straightforward. The included Intel back plate has positions marked for the various Intel sockets. Slide the bolts to the correct socket type and put it through the motherboard mounting holes. Next attach the four threaded spacers.

Next up install the mounting bracket on the threaded spacers and secure them with the included thumb screws.

Finally, sit the cooler on top of the mount. Since this is a two point attaching system, give the cooler a twist or two to help spread the thermal paste around a bit. Then place the cooler over the threaded part of the mount and secure with thumb screws. One the two point attaching systems you’ll want to make sure and work each side a little at a time to ensure even pressure on the heat spreader of the CPU.

The Cooler Master TPC  612 is installed and ready for testing.

Cooler Master claims the TPC 612 will not block memory slots. This is partially true. In the default push configuration the fan on the cooler does in fact block the 1st memory slot on the motherboard I tested on. However, the fan can be installed on the other side. Typically this would be done in a pull configuration. If the user chooses to install two fans, then the memory slot would be blocked as well.

Let us look at the Phanteks PH-TC14CS next.