Tom's Hardware Verdict
Cooler Master’s Hyper 622 Halo provides a good balance of value, low noise levels, and effective cooling performance.
Pros
- +
Extremely strong results with AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X
- +
Low Noise Levels
Cons
- -
Doesn’t perform as well on Intel
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware
Cooler Master has been busy updating its entire cooling lineup this year. We recently reviewed the MA824 Stealth air cooler, which impressed us with its high-end cooling performance, combined with quiet operation. We also recently tested the 360L Core, a low-priced AIO that rivals more expensive competitors.
But today we’re looking at Cooler Master’s latest mid-range air cooler, the Hyper 622 Halo. This is a dual-tower successor to the company’s classic Hyper 212 air cooler, which was considered the standard for entry-level after-market air coolers for several years. The 622 Halo is paired with Cooler Master’s latest Halo2 series fans, which are optimized for strong performance at low noise levels.
We’ll have to put it through our usual testing to see if it deserves a spot on our Best Coolers list. But first, here are the Hyper 622 Halo’s full specs, from Cooler Master.
Specifications
Cooler | CoolerMaster Hyper 622 Halo |
MSRP | $59.99 USD |
Installed Size | 125 (L) x 137 (W) x 157 mm (H) |
Heatsink Material | Aluminum |
Heatpipes | 6x 6mm heatpipes |
Socket Compatibility | Intel Socket LGA 1700/1200/115x AMD AM5 / AM4 |
Base | Nickel plated Copper |
Max TDP (Our Testing) | 220W on Intel i7-13700K, 129W on AMD Ryzen 7 7700X |
Packing and Included Contents
The Hyper 622 Halo arrives in a cardboard package similar to other coolers of its class, that’s taller than it is wide. The inner contents are surrounded by molded plastic and cardboard. for the protection of the cooler during shipping.
Included with the package are the following:
- Dual-tower heatsink
- Fan clips for two fans
- Two 120mm Halo2 fans
- A medium-sized tube of CryoFuze thermal paste
- PWM splitter
- Manual
- Mounts for all modern CPU sockets (including AM5 & LGA1700)
Cooler Installation
Installation of the Hyper 622 is easy and is almost exactly the same process on both AMD AM5 and Intel LGA1700 platforms.
1. If you’re running an AMD Ryzen system, you’ll need to start by removing the default retention bracket. Intel users will need to apply the backplate to the motherboard. Intel users will need to secure the backplate with included metal standoffs. Ryzen users will simply screw the standoffs into the motherboard. This is the only significant difference between AMD & Intel installations.
2. The next step is to place the mounting bars on top of the standoffs and secure them with the included screws.
3. Apply thermal paste to the CPU and then place the heatsink against the mounting bars. Secure the heatsink with a screwdriver.
4. Finally, install the fans using the provided fan clips and then connect the fans to the PWM and ARGB headers on your motherboard.
Features of Cooler Master’s Hyper 622 Halo
⋇ Six 6mm heatpipes
The Hyper 622 moves heat from the CPU using six 6mm copper heatpipes .
⋇ 42mm RAM Compatibility
In the default configuration, the Hyper 622 Halo is compatible with 42mm(1.65 inches) or shorter RAM sticks. The fans touched the edges of my 43mm RAM sticks in my Intel testing setup. However, you can always raise the fan a few millimeters to insure compatibility with taller RAM modules.
⋇ 157mm (6.18 inches) height
With a height of only 157mm, you won’t have any problems fitting this cooler in most cases.
⋇ Upgraded Halo2 fans
There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels. And the Hyper 622 Halo includes Cooler Master’s latest Halo2 series fans, which have been designed for lower noise levels, and are rated for 160,000 hours. This longer endurance rating indicates that Cooler Master stands by the quality of these fans, as many competitors will only qualify their fans for 50-60,000 hours of use time.
Model | Cooler Master 120mm Halo2 Series |
Dimensions | 120 x 120 x 25mm |
Fan Speed | 500-2050 RPM +- 10% |
Air Flow | Up to 51.88 CFM |
Air Pressure | Up to 2.89 mmH2O |
Bearing Type | Rifle Bearing |
Lighting | ARGB |
MFFT | 160,000 hours |
Cooling Considerations
Modern CPUs high-end, whether Intel or AMD, are difficult to cool in intensive workloads. In the past, reaching 95C+ on a desktop CPU might have been a cause for concern. But with today’s fastest processors, it’s considered normal operation. Similar behavior has been present in laptops for years due to cooling limitations in tight spaces.
Since last fall, Tom’s Hardware has brought you cooling reviews using one of the most power hungry desktop CPUs on the market – Intel’s flagship i9-13900K. To give you an idea of what it takes to cool Intel’s behemoth, we’ve tested it with a variety of coolers from basic low-end air coolers like the Amazon Basics cooler, to high-end 420mm AIOs such as Corsair’s iCUE H170i Elite.
It’s nice to see how Intel’s flagship responds to different levels of cooling. But those results don’t always correlate with lower-tier CPUs. Today’s review features two CPUs more commonly purchased by system builders and buyers: AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X and Intel’s i7-13700K.
LGA1700 Socket Bending
Note there are many factors other than the CPU cooler that can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.
In order to prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of board showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.
Testing Methodology
All testing is performed at a 23C ambient room temperature. Multiple thermal tests are run on each CPU to test the cooler in a variety of conditions, and acoustic measurements are taken with each result. These tests include:
1. Noise normalized testing at low noise levels
2. “Out-of-the-box”/default configuration thermal & acoustics testing.
a.) This means no power limits on Intel’s i7-13700K, and AMD’s default power limits on AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X.
b.) Because CPUs hit Tjmax in this scenario, the best way to compare cooling strength is by recording the total CPU package power consumption.
3. Thermal & acoustics testing in power-limited scenarios.
a.) With Ryzen 7 7700X, I’ve tested with limits of 95W and 75W enforced.
b.) On Intel’s i7-13700K, I’ve tested with limits of 175W and 125W enforced.
The thermal results included are for 10-minute testing runs. To be sure that was sufficiently long to tax the cooler, we tested both Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE and DeepCool’s LT720 with a 30-minute Cinebench test with Intel’s i9-13900K for both 10 minutes and 30 minutes. The results didn’t change much at all with the longer test: The average clock speeds maintained dropped by 29 MHz on DeepCool’s LT720 and 31 MHz on Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE. That’s an incredibly small 0.6% difference in clock speeds maintained, a margin of error difference that tells us that the 10-minute tests are indeed long enough to properly test the coolers.
Testing Configuration – Intel LGA1700 Platform
CPU | Intel Core i7-13700K |
Comparison Coolers Tested | BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 Cooler Master Master Air MA824 Stealth Cooler Master Hyper 622 Halo Cooler Master Master Liquid Core 360L Cougar Forza 85 Essential DeepCool Assassin IV DeepCool LT720 EKWB Nucleus CR360 Lux Jiushark JF13K Diamond Lian Li GA II Performance Thermalright Silver Soul 135 Thermalright Peerless Assassin Montech D24 Premium MSI CoreLiquid MEG S360 Noctua NH-D15S |
Motherboard | MSI Z690 A Pro DDR4 |
GPU | Intel ARC A770 LE |
Case | Be Quiet! Silent Base 802, system fans set to speed 1 setting. |
Monitor | LG 45GR95QE |
PSU | Cooler Master XG Plus 850 Platinum PSU |
Testing Configuration – AMD AM5 Platform
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X |
Motherboard | ASRock B650E Taichi |
GPU | Intel ARC A770 LE |
Case | DeepCool CK560WH |
Monitor | LG 45GR95QE |
PSU | Cougar Polar X2 1200W |
Albert Thomas is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering CPU cooling reviews.
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digitalgriffin I have used every variation of cooler masters rifle bearing fans. They are horrid with low airflow and high noise.Reply
I would be shocked if they actually managed to produce a decent fan. -
mwm2010 They're really that bad? I'm just asking because I have zero experience with Cooler master.Reply -
techfreak I have to be blunt with Cooler master CPU coolers since I have used many different models.Reply
The Halo fans is the weak point in my opinion, proably Cooler master include Halo
is mainly due to aesthetics than performance.
Why Cooler Master don't use Sickleflow fans which in my opinion is a better fans
than rest of Cooler Master fans lineup.
Only models like Cooler Master MA612 and MA624 use Cooler Master sickleflow.
While Hyper 212 range uses other Cooler master fans which is puzzling.
I'm quite surprise that for this review for the Cooler Master Hyper 622 performance isn't good.
However since I uses a lot of Cooler master different heatsinks.
Hyper 212 series is best suited for lower end/mid range than high end CPUs like i7 or even i9.
Intel Core i7 13700K is difficult to cool since it's operating temp is very high so unlikely
one to pair with Cooler Master Hyper 622 especially with it's subpar fan.
Maybe when I'm able to get my hands on Cooler Master Hyper 622, I will swap it's fans
to CM sickleflow to check if it does bring temperature or not. -
Albert.Thomas
I really liked the fans on them, but I haven't ever done any dedicated fan testing. Maybe that will change soon.digitalgriffin said:I have used every variation of cooler masters rifle bearing fans. They are horrid with low airflow and high noise.
I would be shocked if they actually managed to produce a decent fan. -
helper800
I have some of the AF fans and they are fine, but suck as downward facing fans like for an AIO mounted on top of a case to push air through the radiator. When they are mounted like that and they get the slightest amount or vibration or at certain RPMs they make an awful rattling sound. They do not have this issue as long as they are mounted vertical to the ground for front intake or as back exhaust. I have had their 120mm AF 140mm AF and 200mm AF fans and they all do this rattling.Albert.Thomas said:I really liked the fans on them, but I haven't ever done any dedicated fan testing. Maybe that will change soon. -
Johnpombrio I have a different take on how to use the Cooler Master Hyper cooler (I have used a dozen Hyper 212 coolers). First is that I buy i7 chips instead of i9 as they run cooler and I cannot tell the difference in performance (except in "benchmarks" heh). I only overclock a bit to again keep the temps down. That lets me run the Hyper fan at a set low speed which eliminates any noise. Forget about two fans as they usually end up with a frequency "beat" issue which can be very annoying.Reply
I have built too many computers over the decades to be awed by "higher performance" CPUs. I instead concentrate on high-end graphics cards.