12VHPWR Bomb Has Been Planted | Cooler Master Fix, HAF II 500, 220mm Fans, & New Hyper 212

HAF II 500 Case

Some of you may remember Cooler Master’s HAF X case, which was wildly successful. The new HAF II 500 has 2x220mm fans in the front and a single 180mm fan in the rear. For its fans, Cooler Master uses LCP blades for performance and for structure, which helps when the fans are so large. It also uses a PBT hub and dual-ball bearings.

The objective of this new HAF case is to bring it back to the routes of high air flow, which is where the name “HAF” comes from. The HAF cases have hits and misses over the years. While the HAF X was successful, the H500P, for instance, was not. The H500M and H500B after it were pretty good, though. 

For the HAF II 500, Cooler Master wants to price it at $180, but it might be $200 due to the world's current oil and freight pricing. 

At Computex, we got to see a prototype scoop in the power supply shroud, which is similar to something HAVN implemented in its BF 360 case. The scoop is magnetically secured with 2 magnets and it sits in front of the case’s lower 220mm fan, which has a little bit of a lip underneath the flow guide so some of the air can get into the bottom chamber to feed the 3 hard drive cages underneath. The performance on the PSU shroud also allow any air that comes in from the bottom to go into the GPU.  

The case also has a steel cable management bar that acts as a flow guide with its perforations. The idea is that it should allow air through to the memory. The ramp is also supposed to ramp air into CPU tower coolers. This might have some impact on VRM temperatures.  

The back of the case has huge holes used for ventilation. 

There’s a plate that covers the hard drive cage within the shroud.

The back side of the case has a cable management door that can hide everything. 

Implementing a large 180mm fan in the back is a huge challenge for cases because they’re very wide and take up a lot of space. This means the HAF II 500 doesn’t have much depth for cable management, though the pre-installed velcro straps should help. The cable management door is also designed to kind of make up for that. 

The top of the case has interesting fan rails that can adjust to accommodate different fan sizes. 

The case does not come with ARGB fans, but it still includes 6 RGB headers on its included hub.

A lot of people have a really positive association with the HAF series in the past, so we’re happy to see it come back. We’re really interested in it because it has massive fans on the front. 

The case also has a GPU support built in with an adjustable rail.

Fan Guides and Ducts

Cooler Master also showed off fan guides that can mount on top of fans to redirect flow. The company is targeting around $10 for them. Our experience with using devices like this in the past is that it can improve pressure and you can target air in specific areas.

Silencio 600

The company’s Silencio 600 case is interesting for trying to go ultrasilent, where its front panel features a fuzzy exterior. It’s supposed to help reflect noise and bounce it back into the case. Cooler Master’s goal here is to achieve an equivalent noise level compared to a solid door, though the company is not there yet, and we’re not sure if they’ll ever get there, but that’s their objective. The material is PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate.  

They’re trying to get the case to retail at $140, which is actually very competitive if they can hit it because it uses 2x180mm fans on the front that are 40mm thick. That should help a lot with static pressure. The rear fan is a 140mm one, which is more standard. 

The Silencio 600 also has a similar flow guide to the HAF II 500 with holes in it for air to hit the RAM. 

Q300 LV3

Cooler Master’s Q300 LV3 is supposed to be a $45 case when it is released. It’s got a tempered glass panel. The company revealed to us that the Q300 case has typically lost the company money with it being a play at marketshare.

The LV3 is an updated version and it will include a rear fan and will have room for more cable management. 

We tested the original Q300 years ago and drilled holes into it to make the existing ones wider and it improved performance. Now Cooler Master has included wider holes from the factory so you no longer need to do it yourself.

QUBE 340

Corsair also sells a variant of the Q300 called the QUBE 340, which comes with a head-set stand that you can mount into the front of the case. 

These lower-end cases aren’t super interesting to us, but they are Cooler Master’s more entry level and higher end cases. 

Current-Sensing Power Supply

To address the mess that is 12VHPWR, Cooler Master showed off a power supply that does current sensing. By default, the PSU will be green, but once it gets warm, it will start blinking red. Once it goes into more dangerous territory, like 15 amps, the light will turn solid red and then turn off. 

Power Sensing Connector

Cooler Master is also selling a cable that lights up similarly to its new current-sensing PSU that lights up when it senses 12VHPWR issues.

Coolers

On the cooler side, the company showed off a concept AIO cooler with a radiator and fan built on top of the pump. 

Hyper 212 Flow

With the Hyper 212 Flow, Cooler Master said it wanted to go back to its roots with the Hyper 212, which the company says is their top seller on Amazon. It uses standard heat pipes instead of 3D ones. Cooler Master says the cooler uses its new Mobius fan and the performance is better. The company is targeting $30 for it.

RAM Heat Sinks

Cooler Master isn’t selling memory, but it is making RAM heat sinks. We guess the idea is, if you’re going to spend a $1,000 on memory, it should be colder...

The company is working with G.Skill on the product and it’s got a 30mm fan inside that pushes air outside the heat sink. 

As long as you have decent cooling in your case and you’re not heavily overclocking your RAM, these kinds of devices aren’t necessary.