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Tags : Coolermaster   Coolermaster Hyper Z600 CPU Cooler   Cooling and Cases   copper   heatpipes   Hyper z600   mirror finish   passive cooling   Reviews   silent  

Introduction Specifications Photos Gallery Installation Test Setup and Procedures IDLE Temperatures and DX10 Gaming LOAD Temperatures Verdict and Conclusion

Coolermaster's Hyper Z600 offers passive cooling that can only be described as amazing. 

 

INTRODUCTION

This year Coolermaster have made a real attempt to capture a larger market share ... introducing a wide range of new thermal products including coolers, chassis and power supplies. Their recently released Cosmos S was a huge success which received rave reviews around the world, while their high-end power supplies made a surpring impact among enthusiasts. With all this in mind, Coolermaster wasted no time in taking advantage of their recent successes, and produce a new CPU cooler that could turn heads. Yes that's right ... they've produced a new PASSSIVE CPU cooler that not only claim to offer excellent cooling performance but also silence. Producing CPU coolers is Coolermaster's speciality, it's what they do best ...  ever since the late 1990's. So, it will be interesting to see what they have in store for 2008.

Now, the subject of passive cooling has always been on everyone's mind. Producing a silent CPU cooler that not only offers good cooling performance, but at the same time total silence? It's every user's dream and it's every manufacturer's goal. Ususally, for coolers that can offer good cooling performance through active cooling with fans ... then noise will be your real enemy. For coolers that offer silence with no fans ... then you have to watch out for heat problems. It's finding the right balance which is the most difficult part.

 

 

In the past, passive cooling solutions used to a luxury that only lower power users can enjoy. Low power consumption means less heat. But nowadays, everyone's going green ... even current CPUs from Intel and AMD use less power, and now motherboards too. So, it's only natural for manufacturers like Coolermaster to produce the next generation of thermal products that offer powerful passive cooling solutions.

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There are several passive cooling solutions available on the market, most will still need a minimum of a separate chassis fan at the rear, to help exhaust the heat and help with air-flow. But the real question is ... how well can these passive coolers perform during overclocking? Can they handle it? My past experiences tells me that passive cooling is not suitable for overclocking ... an active fan is definitely needed. Will the Coolermaster Hyper Z600 change all that?

In this review, we will be taking a look at the Coolermaster Z600 CPU cooler. Suitable for both Intel and AMD processors, the Z600 is a mighty impressive cooler to say the least. It's one of the largest CPU coolers I've seen to date and weighs in at an astonishing 1Kg. It's a PASSIVE cooler that's designed for the high-end and enthusiast market, and features a mirror coated copper base with 6 nickel plated copper heatpipes. It has a unique "X" shape design which allows effecient heat dissipation through interlaced aluminum fins. Coolermaster is confident that the Z600 passive CPU cooler is their best cooler available, and does not include any fans. However, if you want additional cooling via active fans, then there are mounting brackets for upto 2 x 120mm fans.  Ideal for users wishing to add extra air-flow during overclocking.

 

 

According to the specifications given by Coolermaster, the Z600 can passively cool any processor upto 89W ... that's with no fans. Using only a chassis fan it can cool upto 125W. But more impressively, Coolermaster claims it can cool upto 200W+ using active fans ... seeing is believing, so there's only one thing to do. And that's to test this cooler with an overclocked Q6600 with an increased voltage of 1.45V

We'll be testing this CPU cooler on our test rig which is comprised of an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor (B3 stepping) on a DFI LanParty DK X38-T2RB motherboard. We also used 2Gb of OCZ DDR2-1066 ram, a Radeon HD3870 and a PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU. It'll be interesting to see how the Z600 will perform against other coolers from the likes of the Enzotech Ultra-X, Xigmatek and OCZ Vendetta. 

OK let's not waste any more time and take a closer look at the Coolermaster Hyper Z600 CPU cooler.

 

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Introduction Specifications Photos Gallery Installation Test Setup and Procedures IDLE Temperatures and DX10 Gaming LOAD Temperatures Verdict and Conclusion