The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo Black looks great if you want a simple air cooler with a clean design and ARGB lighting. However, if you want to maximize performance per dollar, you will find it wanting. On the AMD test bench, the Hyper 212 Halo Black routinely lost to the older Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition, which was a surprise considering the new cooler beat the older one on our Intel test bench. Considering AMD's chiplet architecture vs. Intel's monolithic designs, I expected it to be the other way around. However, this doesn't change the fact that while I consider performance to be decent, it doesn't compete on the value front. Suffice it to say if you don't need ARGB lighting, options like the DeepCool AK400 and ID-Cooling SE-224-XTS Black offer way better bang for your buck; however, if you do want ARGB lighting, the balance tips more in favor of the Hyper 212 Halo Black. In that specific scenario, it makes a lot more sense for a system built around a Ryzen 5 or Intel Core i5 processor.

While performance is middle-of-the-road, build quality was honestly pretty solid. Sure, it's just a heatsink, but the finish was clean with no scratches or problems. Even the fan is good in that the overall noise profile is smooth with no odd bearing noises, tonal fluctuations, or other issues that can be irksome beyond the sound of moving air. It is when you have to install the cooler you find one of its potential pitfalls. I am 100% honest when I say Cooler Master has the simplest mounting hardware design I have used in many years. It is so incredibly simple, but it is challenging to work with in some situations. If you are looking to upgrade from a stock cooler and don't want to remove your motherboard, then you will likely wish you had played more Fallout and grew a third hand from the excessive rads. This is because there are no standoffs or anything else to secure the backplate to the AMD or Intel motherboard. Therefore you will need to hold not only the backplate on the board but also the cooler and still screw the two together. Simple is nice, but not when it creates bigger headaches than it solves. On the reverse side of that coin, if you are building an entirely new system and install the heatsink before installing the motherboard into your case of choice, you can 100% avoid this issue and move on with your life.

Overall the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo Black remains a great-looking and solid-performing cooler that, if you absolutely must have ARGB lighting, will serve you well in entry to mid-range rigs. This is especially true if you find a deal and can get it for $40-45, where I would recommend it. However, the Hyper 212 Halo Black doesn't quite hit the right combination of performance, price, and features at the current MSRP.