Cooler Master Hyper N520 CPU Cooler

Conclusion:

At the start of the review I was anxious to see how well the Cooler Master Hyper N520 CPU cooler would perform. The offset 92mm fans on a more compact heatpipe tower seemed like an interesting concept that could bring high end cooling into tighter spaces.

The review got off to a rough start due to a lack of packaging, documentation, and Intel LGA1366 mounting hardware, but all of that was forgotten when it came time to test the Hyper N520. Unfortunately, as installed on an Intel LGA775 system it just couldn't compete in terms of ease of installation, cooling performance, or noise level when compared to a handful of other modern coolers.

Checking out Newegg.com finds that the Cooler Master Hyper N520 can be purchased for $49.99, which seems like too much for what you get. Many higher end coolers can be had for about that much money, and many that might be better than this in terms of performance and noise can be had for much less.

Reading other reviews online and customer comments at Newegg.com reveals that not many people agree with my assessment of this cooler. After seeing that so many people thought the Hyper N520 was much better than I did, I re-installed it with some new thermal paste and tried again. Unfortunately the results were the same. If you happen to have personal experience with the Cooler Master Hyper N520, I would be interested in hearing how it works for you, so please post in the forum thread regarding this review.

Pros:

» Unique design
» Well made
» More compact than other heatpipe tower coolers

Cons:

» Fairly loud
» Installation could be easier
» Mediocre cooling performance
» Relatively high price

Special thanks to Cooler Master for providing the Cooler Master Hyper N520 CPU Cooler to Bigbruin.com for review!