Introduction
The Hyper 48 HSF is designed to provide high performance cooling, be super quiet, and uses a universal mount that works with Prescott (LGA775), P4 (478), and AMD K8 (754/939/940).
Cooler Master was one of the first heatsink manufacturers to incorporate heat pipes into their cooler designs. They are continuing that tradition with the new Hyper 48 heatsink fan.
The Hyper 48 is in some ways similar to the successful Cooler Master Hyper 6 heatsink fan released earlier this year, but in other ways it is quite different. The Hyper 48 is not as tall as the Hyper 6, uses smaller, heavier, vertically stacked copper fins, and has only four heat pipes instead of six as used in the Hyper 6. The single biggest difference though is the quiet 92mm fan, which blows down onto the heatsink instead of across, as it does on the Hyper 6.
You can read our earlier review of the Cooler Master Hyper 6 HSF here.
The Hyper 48 heatsink is made out of pure copper and weighs in at 864g (27.8 oz) including the fan. It is advertised as being
Cooler Master designed the Hyper 48 to provide high performance cooling while at the same time being super quiet. They chose a large, low speed, open frame, Delta fan this time around for the new Hyper 48 cooler.
- Four imbedded heat pipes provide superb heat dissipation
- Special heatsink design — vertically stacked copper fins
- High volume airflow achieved with special 92mm fan
- Super quiet performance (18.5 dBA)
- Universal mounting hardware for Prescott LGA775, P4 and K8 platforms
Heat Pipe Technology
The Hyper 48 cooler uses four copper heat pipes to transport heat from the heatsink base up to the large surface area provided by the copper fins. A heat pipe is a highly efficient conductor of heat. A properly constructed heat pipe has a very low thermal resistance, which is roughly independent of its length (unlike ordinary metal rods whose thermal resistance increases with length). Heat pipes are commonly used to transport heat from one location to another.
Heat pipes work on the principle of evaporation and condensation. A working fluid (frequently distilled water) evaporates inside one end of the heat pipe (the hot-end) absorbing heat in the process. A partial vacuum inside the heat pipe allows the water to evaporate at low temperatures. Once formed, the water vapor diffuses from an area of high vapor pressure (where it is being generated) to the other end of the tube where the vapor pressure is lower.
The vaporized fluid then condenses back to liquid (cold-end) and the heat is dissipated into the air from the metal cooling fins. The working fluid returns to the hot end via capillary action thru an internal wicking structure (sintered metal coating, fine wire mesh, or grooves) so the heat pipe does not have to rely on gravity to recycle the working fluid.
The key to a heat pipe’s high efficiency is the latent heat of vaporization. One gram of water absorbs 540 calories of heat when it changes state from a liquid to a gas (without any increase in temperature). It then gives up this same amount of heat when it condenses back into a liquid. By contrast, adding 540 calories of heat to 100 grams of copper (small heatsink) would raise its temperature 60ºC!