titleFrom a quick glance, the TPC 812 looks very similar to the Hyper 612 PMW from Cooler Master we reviewed recently, and given the similarities in their name, you'd be likely to accept that and move on. Cooler Master has engineered many subtle differences with the new cooler in hopes of improving functionality and performance, including vertical vapor chamber to pull the heat up into the heatsink away from the CPU. So take another look and read on as we put the latest air solution from Cooler Master to our tests.

Product Name: Cooler Master TPC 812

Review Sample Provided by: Cooler Master

Written by: Adam and Wes

Pictures by: Wes


Specifications

Model

RR-T812-24PK-R1

CPU Socket

Intel Socket:
LGA 2011 / 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775 *

AMD Socket:
FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2

CPU Support

Intel:
Core™ i7 Extreme / Core™ i7 / Core™ i5 / Core™ i3 / Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Quad / Core™2 Duo / Pentium / Celeron

AMD:
FX-Series / A-Series / Phenom™ II X4 / Phenom™ II X3 / Phenom™ II X2 / Phenom™ X4 / Phenom™ X3 / Athlon™ II X4 / Athlon™ II X3 / Athlon™ II X2 / Athlon™ X2 / Athlon™ / Sempron™

Dimension

138 x 103 x 163mm (5.4 x 4.1 x 6.4 in)

Heat Sink Dimensions

134 x 74 x 158 mm (5.3 x 2.9 x 6.2 in)

Heat Sink Material

Copper Base / 2 Vapor Chambers
6 Heatpipes / Aluminum Fins

Heat Sink Weight

826g (1.83 lb)

Heat Pipes Dimensions

ø6mm

Fan Dimension

120 x 120 x 25mm (4.7 x 4.7 x 1 in)

Fan Speed

600 – 2,400 RPM (PWM) ± 10%
(1,600 RPM with Silent Mode Adapter)

Fan Airflow

19.17 - 86.15 CFM ± 10%
(59.54 CFM @ 1600RPM)

Fan Air Pressure

0.31 – 4.16 mm H2O ± 10%
(1.99mm H2O @ 1600RPM)

Fan Life Expectancy

40,000 hrs

Fan Noise Level (dB-A)

19 - 40 dBA

Bearing Type

Long Life Sleeve Bearing

Connector

4-Pin

Fan Rated Voltage

12 VDC

Fan Rated Current

0.2A

Power consumption

2.4W

Maximum TDP

300W

Fan Weight

152g (0.34 lb)

Notice

* Supplied accessories may differ by country or area. Please check with your local distributor for further details.

Warranty

2 years



Packaging

It’s clear right away when you see the TPC 812’s packaging that this is a Cooler Master product. The purple on the top is a dead giveaway. What is a little different is the use of black on the front rather than white like we would normally see. The front of the box also has a picture of the TPC 812. Cooler Master slipped all of the heatsinks specifications right onto the side of the box as well, it’s great to be able to compare dimensions and everything else when the TPC 812 is sitting next to other heatsinks on the store shelf.

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Inside the box the instructions are sitting up top. The heatsink is secured in a foam and all of the accessories are in a white box. Inside the white box you will get top and bottom mounts, a bag with LGA 2011 socket mounts, and all of the screws and bolts needed. You also get a small tube of thermal paste and an adapter cable to slow down the fan if needed. The two plastic pieces are a second set of fan mounts that you can use for a push pull configuration on the TPC 812.

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Our Test Rig
Intel i7-3960X

Asus Rampage IV X79 Motherboard 

Seagate Constellation 2tb Hard drive 

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011

Cooler Master Gold Series 1200 Watt PSU

http://www.highspeedpc.com/ Test Bench

Kingston 1600Mhz DDR3 Quad Channel Ram

Kingston Hyper X 120 SSD’s in Raid 0

 


Installation
Installation of CPU cooler is not fun. It’s a fact that we tech enthusiasts learn early: hard drives fail, USB is great, and mounting a cooler is dreadful. Cooler Master has put an honest effort in trying to alleviate this process, and it’s a much appreciated one. But it doesn’t help much. The all-in-one bracket, which ratchets to fit the required socket, will save you some time mounting different arms, but takes a bit of patience itself. The piece has knob that fits atop the CPU base, inserted between the two heat pipe banks and then expanded out as needed. There is a small notch that keeps the tool from sliding freely, but if you need you’ll be installing this on a board within a case, three hands will definitely help.

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To keep the cooler universal, Cooler Master has included several different bolts that mount first onto the motherboard rise to meet the screws on the cooler. That was my first question, too: why not just make the screws longer? That would work fine for the 2011 socket, but rule out the others.

The second pain is that while there are Philips heads on the mounting screws, the height of the fins are likely to be taller than the shaft of whatever screw driver you may have handy. Since the fins are almost flush with the corners of the bracket, not only will you have to remove the fan to secure the cooler, but you’ll also have to find a screw driver long enough that the handle doesn’t begin before the fins end, or you’ll be going in at an angle. Again, extra points for doing this inside of a case.

 


Performance
Take note first of the top of the cooler, for a few reasons, the first of which is that once installed, you’re not going to have a choice but to look at it. Admittedly, it is a nice finish. Though the heat pipes protrude and gloss, the base of the top is a satin metal, subtlety branded in a soft font. Let’s compare this again to the Hyper 612, which had a plastic cap and aluminum heat pipes. Cosmetically speaking, the TPC 812 will probably fit in easier with the rest of your build. Silver and black are more universal than forcing warm hues such as copper.

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You should also notice a difference in heat pipe design, even shape for that matter. The TPC 812 includes six heat pipes on each side of the fins, but also features an elongated pipe the width of three pipes combined.

The base of the cooler helps to explain what and why. Between the heat pipes, which meet together on a square platter that rests on the processor as usual, you’ll notice a second layer, which this flat pipe terminates to. Essentially, Cooler Master is maximizing the surface area available to add another avenue of heat transfer, officially dubbed ‘vertical vapor chambers’.  It works in the same manner of traditional heat pipes, trading the heat as it travels up towards the fins and evaporating back down to begin the cycle again.

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How do these vertical vapor chambers translate in testing?

wm graph

The addition vertical vapor chambers weren’t enough to compare to the 612 PWM’s extremely large surface area. Take that trade off as you will: if size restriction comes into play, the TPC 812 is still a great option, especially considering its on par Intel’s stock water cooling. We were surprised to see a difference between the coolers, to the point where we ran the test several times, on the exact same set-up and ensuring the same ambient temperature. What we determined was that although they used a more efficient design, it still wasn’t able to overcome the difference in overall size and surface area between the two heatsinks. 

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Overall

When I first saw the TPC 812 I was impressed with its unique design and the use of Vertical vapor chambers as a way to get even more cooling power beyond typical heatpipes. After testing the TPC 812 I was left a little unimpressed with both is mounting design and its performance. To be fair the performance isn’t bad when you consider how much larger the 614 was, but I was expecting a little more from this unique design. One thing we weren’t able to put to the test was a push pull with the TPC 812, Cooler Master did include a second set of fan mounts to use with this though. This was a nice bonus. Add to that the fact that this is still a good performing heatsink with a good looking style it is still a heatsink to consider. But the price is going to be an important factor. At $66 it’s a little high, but as the price comes down slightly this could be a nice heatsink to pick up.

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Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

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