Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition Review

Final Score: 92 out 100

If there is one reliable rule in the CPU cooling industry it is that there are no rules. There is only revolution. What can be considered a great deal, or even just a safe choice, this year could be barely adequate next year. With that said, Cooler Master has been rather consistent in meeting the needs of the average buyer. Their latest tweak to their cult-classic Hyper 212 series proves this point. Even with the Clone invasion Cooler Master has consistently worked to make their originals better than the clones. Be it through better aesthetics. Better installation hardware. Maybe even by just plain being better designed. Cooler Master has shown the industry how one can compete on more than just price.
Yes. The Hyper 212 Black 2023 edition has a foolishly similar name to previous generations. Yes. It is not (quite) as attractive, nor as build agnostic, as what the previous ‘Halo’ 212 variant offers. Yes. The fan is not as advanced, nor silent at full speed, as the 212 Halo’s Mobius 120 fan. None of that really matters as the new 212 Black 2023 is all about flexibility and frugality… as it does not cost more than the typical 212 clone. Instead, it flips the script and offers a lot more bang for your budget’s buck.

For performance builds on a budget the addition of an extra ~500RPMs on the stock fan basically gives this 212 Hyper an extra ‘gear’ that if one so chooses can help it out perform the typical 212 Clone… and even the gorgeous Halo variant. Conversely, the improvements to the fin array ‘face’ combined with some tweaking to the stock fan means that for SilentPC aficionados this 212 will outperform the Clones and the official 212 HALO editions.

For those who are more concerned about the final build’s aesthetics the improvements allow this 212 to work better than any Clone and come close to what the Halo editions have to offer. Or at least what the Halo’s can do if you do not care about a lightshow – which we personally do not. Lastly, it offers all this and yet costs about what the ‘premium’ Clones demand for their IP thef… err… ‘homage’ models. Yes. Cooler Master has listened to the greatest complaint about the recent 212 models and offered buyers a new variant that performs better that ever before and yet costs less than what 212 Hypers have demanded in the recent past.

Put simply the new Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black 2023 Edition is a return to the 212 series roots. Albeit with a modern twist. A twist that makes it a great value orientated CPU cooling solution in its own right and an excellent edition to the venerable Hyper 212 line-up. As long as you can live without the extremely impressive fan that the 212 Halo edition(s) ship with this is the Hyper 212 model that you should be looking at. Its combination of nearly as good aesthetics, better cooling potential, and same great installation hardware means that doing otherwise may result in a less flexible and/or poorer performing final build.