Cooler Master TPC 812 Overview
If there is one thing to say about this cooler when you first look at it, that would be busy! There are a heck of a lot of things going on.
First thing you notice is that it has a full 6 heat pipes carrying heat from within the core of the nickel plated block up through a nice set of dense fins. The tops of the pipes are capped with polished chrome ends. Beside them you will notice an odd looking chrome bar that disappears down through the fins as well.
This is the what Cooler Master is calling the “Vapor Chamber”. The idea behind the vapor chamber is quite simply really. Inside the shaft of the chamber there is a small amount of liquid. As the coolers base heats up this liquid turns into vapor. The vapor carries to the top of the chamber where it cools, condenses, and returns to the bottom as a liquid. Basic chemistry really. The idea is that the vapor will carry with it the heat from the CPU and disperse it into the fins of cooler at the top.
Another this you will notice about the cooler is the pre-installed fan on the front. And more importantly than being pre-installed, you will notice that Cooler Master have implemented their own design for attaching the fans which does not involve metal wire at all! Enthusiasts everywhere can rejoice in this fact, as there is no worse step in an install than attaching fans with wire clips.
The base of the TPC 812 as a result of the many cooling elements is rather complicated itself. There are three pieces to the block, the base that makes contact with the CPU, the top to the base, and finally the mounting piece.
The block itself is nickel plated copper. Though it may have a decent finish you would be hard pressed to tell. The sticker used to protect the base actually leaves a bit of what must be glue stuck to the surface when peeled away.
Your cooling reviews are terribly inconsistent.
It is voltage that increases heat not clock speed. You’re running 1.48v, of course its going to run very hot. In other reviews you only go to 1.43v maximum.
This cooler seems on par with others you’ve claimed are very good but this one is very disappointing?
JohnW,
First, thanks for taking reading my review.
I’m sure you are aware that overclocking is not an exact science. Aside from locking in a set of parameters and simply swapping out the cooler for every review, (which is not possible since I have other aspects of each coolers performance to test) I simply can not make everything perfectly the same. I do use as many of the same settings as I can (saved in bios profiles), but ultimately still have to play with voltages to get a stable overclock.
While I admit this is not laboratory perfect I do feel it is a very strong representation of real life.
Specifically to this cooler it actually took 1.464v under load to achieve the overclock. Performance and other factors combined, this cooler was not up to par with many others that I’ve tested.
Thank you for your interest!