Cooler Master Improves Geminll S524 With Copper Base

Cooler Master has unveiled a new CPU cooler targeting compact desktop cases.

Today there are several coolers on the market that stand on the CPU and look like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo shown below. Although coolers of this design are very popular and can provide excellent cooling for large desktop computers, they are often large and may have trouble fitting inside of smaller cases.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

The Cooler Master Geminll S524 Ver. 2 is a much smaller option that measures 144 x 141 x 105 mm (L x W x H), allowing it to easily fit inside of most micro-ATX computer cases while maintaining relatively high cooling performance.

Many coolers with a similar design have been made by numerous companies (including Cooler Master) in the past, but this one has an extra trick up its sleeve: It doesn't occlude the memory slots, and in fact, it actively cools the RAM sticks.

In addition to having difficulties fitting inside of cases, larger CPU coolers also have a tendency to block part of the RAM slots on motherboards. To overcome this problem, Cooler Master extended the cooler so that it hangs above the RAM sticks themselves. The fan on the cooler, which blows down, then works to actively cool the RAM in addition to the CPU. The cooler might also help cool VRMs as a result of the increased airflow blowing down on the motherboard.

Compared to the original Geminll S524, the Geminll S524 Ver. 2 is identical in every way with the exception of the heat pipes. Both coolers use five heat pipes, but the Ver. 2 cooler switched to copper heat pipes and a copper base instead of the electroplated copper base used on the original. Cooler Master said that this change will result in an average 7 percent decrease in temperature.

The Cooler Master Geminll S524 Ver.2 is available in North America, but Cooler Master said the pricing will vary by region. You can find it on Newegg now for $44.99 and for $39.99 on SuperBiiz.

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
  • TNT27
    SO what is the best budget cooler sub 40$?

    I keep hearing the 212 EVO, but are there any better out there?
    Reply
  • junkeymonkey
    too bad it don't use the latch system for amd as there vortex plus cooler -- just latch it down like the stock cooler set up -- made that part so easy
    Reply
  • Saberus
    From the looks of it you have to remove the heat sink if you have to replace or add RAM, and with it lopsided it might be a bit of a pain to install. It may work for folks who do a one-and-done build and never upgrade. As I plan for repair-ability and upgrade-ability, this cooler would be a no-go for me.
    Reply
  • Mr5oh
    An article that talks about improved base, yet no pictures of this improved base?
    Reply
  • junkeymonkey
    the vortex plus takes a 90mm fan and theres room for tall memory in the close slot

    ya,know you see that issue a lot. sure seems the manufactures would see that the memory may hit the cooler but do nothing much about it ??
    Reply
  • iPanda
    From the looks of it you have to remove the heat sink if you have to replace or add RAM, and with it lopsided it might be a bit of a pain to install. It may work for folks who do a one-and-done build and never upgrade. As I plan for repair-ability and upgrade-ability, this cooler would be a no-go for me.

    Hmm, perhaps with taller heatsinks on RAM. Seems like enough room in the picture to barely clear after disengaging the retention clips. Definitely have room if you use low-profile ram / heatsinks.
    Reply
  • balister
    Problem is, for a number SFF cases, this cooler is still too tall. The sweet spot for a number of SFF cases is around 65mm to 70mm. So they need to decrease the height on this cooler even more than it already is
    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    Anyone else cant also comment on the post about skype ?
    Its the only one that does not load the discussion part :D.
    Reply
  • ahnilated
    My question is why not have the cooler suck air through the fins. This way you are not blowing hot air down onto the memory chips which you are trying to cool. The cooler accelerated air would be much better than blowing down hot air onto the components.
    Reply
  • junkeymonkey
    if that's what you want just flip the fan over
    Reply