Cooler Master GeminII M4 CPU Cooler Review

Cooling/CPU Cooling by leeghoofd @ 2012-02-06

Usually when a CPU cooler is reviewed here at the Shrimps we are talking about high end big and bulky models. Dual towers, triple fan equipped, the bigger the better. But what about for them that are building a high performance HTPC or eg a mini cube ? Do they have to rely solely on the included boxed coolers ? I had the privilege to build a Mine LAN PC inside a Lian Li V353 Cube shaped case. Most important factor was the build's size, not at the cost of performance. The choice of components was pretty high end : Asus Maximus IV Gene, Intel 2600K, 16Gb of Corsair ram, 120 Corsair GT SSD and a Nvidia GTX560 GPU. More than suitable for casual gaming purposes. After the build was completed, we noticed, during stability testing, that the CPU got pretty hot. And it was still running at out of the box speeds. Time to look for a beefier cooling solution Our eye fell onto Cooler Masters' latest low profile CPU cooler : The GeminII M4 CPU cooler.

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Assembly and Test Setup

As you saw in the specifications list almost all sockets are supported, besides Intels socket 2011. The SB-E die size is even bigger than the socket 1366 ones. The GeminII M4 base doesn't cover the entire die surface.

 

 

 

Installation is pretty straightforward. Screw the appropriate support brackets on to the cooler.  Install the backplate on the motherboard, apply the included thermal grease and then secure the entire cooling unit.

 

 

 

On the Intel support bracket a spring mounted system asures the right amount of pressure. This to avoid bend pins in the CPU socket. On the right a shot of the installed backplate. Coolermaster includes a tool to secure the nuts with a basic Philips screwdriver.

 

 

 

Once mounted the cooler looks humoungous on the tiny micro ATX motherboard. Turn the page to see if it performs likewise...

 

 

 

With low profile DIMMS no clearance issues, not even when all banks are filled !

 

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