[SOLVED] Cooler Master Hyper 212, Intel stock fans, and bearings

jhsachs

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
224
6
18,685
After reading how cheaply made Intel stock coolers are, I studied some forum posts and reviews and decided to get Cooler Master Hyper 212's for a couple of upcoming builds. That was until I stumbled across the datum that the Hyper 212 uses sleeve bearings.

I've always understood sleeve bearings to be the cheapest type, substantially less durable than ball bearings. I did some research and learned more. Sleeve bearings are popular because they're cheaper but also because they're quieter (good). They are particularly ill-suited to applications that involve heavy loads (not a CPU cooler) and variable speeds (definitely a CPU cooler).

I looked up the Intel stock coolers for LGA1155 sockets and found that they use "hydraulic bearings," which I learned are ball bearings that use a film of lubricant to keep the parts moving smoothly.

In balance, this suggests to me that the Intel stock cooler is likely to be noisier than the Hyper 212 but more durable. Sure, I want my CPU coolers to be quiet, but more than that I want them to keep working so my CPUs don't fry.

All of this is contrary to what I've read consistently about Intel fans being cheap junk and the Hyper 212 being pretty well made. Comments, please?
 
Solution
I'll try to make my thoughts about this a bit more clear. First, this isn't like a bad fan in a PSU or one that's permanently attached to something. IF it fails on the 212 it's really easy to change it to something else. IF. I've used the 212 before. One of the first ones I bought was used on an x38 build. To my knowledge it's STILL in use and going fine. 10+ years? If you think it's going to fail after 3 years I can tell you from personal experience that's not the case.

The advantage the 212 has is reasonable performance with minimal cost. Yes, there are better performing HSF out there. Yes, there are cheaper HSF out there. But it's rather hard to find one that performs as well while spending as little as it costs. And...

jhsachs

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
224
6
18,685
47, I hope that you or another person can post again and address my concern more directly. I see that I let it be implicit in my original post, so I'll be more specific: Should I change my evaluation of Hyper 212 vs stock cooler vs some other presumably more expensive option in view of what I found about bearings, and if not, why not?

Please don't take this personally, but I don't know you, so I have no basis for judging how much authority your opinion has. With no reasoning or evidence to support it, it doesn't help me much.

Ignoring the bearings issue because a forum poster says I can replace the cooler if it breaks seems like ignoring smoke rising from a forest near my house because a neighbor says that if it's a fire I'll have plenty of time to call the fire department.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I'll try to make my thoughts about this a bit more clear. First, this isn't like a bad fan in a PSU or one that's permanently attached to something. IF it fails on the 212 it's really easy to change it to something else. IF. I've used the 212 before. One of the first ones I bought was used on an x38 build. To my knowledge it's STILL in use and going fine. 10+ years? If you think it's going to fail after 3 years I can tell you from personal experience that's not the case.

The advantage the 212 has is reasonable performance with minimal cost. Yes, there are better performing HSF out there. Yes, there are cheaper HSF out there. But it's rather hard to find one that performs as well while spending as little as it costs. And as I tried to say in the first post, even if the fan fails it can be replaced. The 212 is falling out of favor as there are others not that can outperform it without costing too much more. With smaller die chips the 212 is reaching it's limits. But it's still a good performing HSF if you aren't shooting for massive overclocks, etc.
 
Solution

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I had one of the early varieties of the 212. (I think itis still running in my HTPC?, 7 years later)
It was absolutely silent, even under load. You almost had to stick your head in it to hear the fan.

Sleeve bearing? Yes, but most inexpensive fans are like that. It is not necessarily a limiting design point.

The 212 line used to be really good. Inexpensive for what it does. There are other newer ones at that same price point, that may be a bit better.
 
After reading how cheaply made Intel stock coolers are, I studied some forum posts and reviews and decided to get Cooler Master Hyper 212's for a couple of upcoming builds. That was until I stumbled across the datum that the Hyper 212 uses sleeve bearings.

I've always understood sleeve bearings to be the cheapest type, substantially less durable than ball bearings. I did some research and learned more. Sleeve bearings are popular because they're cheaper but also because they're quieter (good). They are particularly ill-suited to applications that involve heavy loads (not a CPU cooler) and variable speeds (definitely a CPU cooler).

I looked up the Intel stock coolers for LGA1155 sockets and found that they use "hydraulic bearings," which I learned are ball bearings that use a film of lubricant to keep the parts moving smoothly.

In balance, this suggests to me that the Intel stock cooler is likely to be noisier than the Hyper 212 but more durable. Sure, I want my CPU coolers to be quiet, but more than that I want them to keep working so my CPUs don't fry.

All of this is contrary to what I've read consistently about Intel fans being cheap junk and the Hyper 212 being pretty well made. Comments, please?
Those fans can run for years without bearing wearing out. Even between them there are different qualities but most are made out of sintered bronze https://www.dura-barms.com/bronze/sintered-and-powdered/ Others may have some groves inside that hold more lubricant (Riffle bearings).
Another types may have oil chambers built in and under some pressure (Hydraulic bearings). Ball bearing types are more durable but also slightly noisier although you'd need to have very acute hearing to notice.
Best are Magnetic levitation bearings which don't have any contact between axle and bearing.
 

jhsachs

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
224
6
18,685
Thanks for several very well thought out replies. I haven't made a decision about this yet, but I want to toss in one other factor I'm considering that may (or may not) run counter to all of these arguments.

I'm going to build two machines with i7-3770's. The price point for a used i7-3770 is currently around $65.

How much should I spend to outfit my $65 CPUs with the best quality coolers?

I sure don't want to spend the $200 that I'd pay for some of the really cool coolers I've seen.

Do I want to pay $35 for a new Hyper 212, or even $20 to $25 for a used one? Maybe I do. Or maybe I don't.

Do I want to spend several more hours calculating the break-even points where the cost, quality, noise level, and reliability of several different types of coolers become justified? Heck, no!
 

jhsachs

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
224
6
18,685
I arrived at a decision. I've got one stock cooler on hand, and I'll use that for the first build. I'll buy a Hyper 212 for the second. Then I can decide what to do for the third one on the basis of a side-by-side comparison.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Orientation is everything to a bearing. Some are better off than others.

Sleeve bearings and it's derivatives like rifle bearings excel at a vertical orientation since those bearings aren't much more than a chrome pin perpendicular to the fan, shoved through a brass tube. All the fans weight, rotational force is along the length of the bearing. Sleeve suck for horizontal orientation since all the force on the fan is on the very tip of the axle. This makes for uneven wear on the bearing with any slight imbalance, that only gets worse with use.

Hydraulic derivatives and ball bearing fans are far superior for horizontal use, with ball bearing the best, as rotational force isn't on the tip of the axle, but along the shaft. Basically opposite of sleeve. Ball bearings don't do so well at vertical, hydraulic are better in that respect.

Sleeve are just fine for most coolers as they are a vertical orientation in front/back, but hydraulic is better if the fan ends up/down
 
  • Like
Reactions: Theresa N