With the tower format cooler generally accepted as the best current heatsink design architecture, the variations are often with the case, heatpipes and fan configurations. Previous Cooler Master designs such as the V8 and V10 are pretty extreme with additional heatsinks sprouting from all parts making them into monster coolers.

Although this cooler may resemble a basic heatpipe cooler, CM has gone down a different route in making it unique. The Hyper N520 not only has a dual fan configuration but the fans are also slightly offset supposedly to ensure the air is "accelerated" through heatsink. So where about does this cooler fit into Cooler Master's ranges?

Well, the V8 and V10 coolers are very high end and with specific coolers such as the Hyper TX3 for the new Intel i5 processors, Cooler Master appear to have slotted the N520 into the all round category with it being compatible with an array of different processors. Enough said for the moment, let's take a better look at the product in question before unleashing it on our test rig.