Installation:

The Cooler Master Hyper TX was installed on a system with the following components for this review:

» Intel Pentium D840 (3.2 GHz Dual-Core) CPU
» ECS Elitegroup RC410L/800-M Pentium 4 mATX Motherboard
» Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB SATA 3 Gbps Hard Drive
» Buslink DVD R/RW Optical Drive
» OCZ 1GB (2x 512MB) Platinum XTC PC2 5400 DDR2 Memory
» Allied AL-B500E 500 Watt Power Supply
» CentOS Linux 4.4


I removed the shroud and fan from the cooler prior to installation, and it made the whole process an absolute breeze. The aluminum fins are so compact that the motherboard clips are easy to access, even if your system is still inside of your case. It took just a few seconds to get the cooler attached to the motherboard, and the images below take a look at it from a couple angles. As you can see, the cooler clears all motherboard components easily.


The image below shows the shroud and fan installed, and oriented so that the little lip on the back side will guide air down on to some of the power regulating chips. I have accidentally touched these during operation in the past, and they do get hot! Providing a bit of air flow can only be a good thing, as cooler electronics are generally happier and healthier electronics.


With most heatpipe coolers being designed to blow air parallel to the motherboard, most motherboard components don't get the secondary cooling that used to be more common. I really like the design of this little lip, and the only thing that would be better is if you could share the air with components on more than one side of the cooler. The design does allow you to position the cooler in any one of four positions on your CPU, so you can pick the most effective position for your application. Just keep in mind that the bulk of the air is passing straight through, and you may want to aim the CPU cooler's exhaust at either your case exhuast fan or your PSU intake fan.