Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP CPU Cooler Review
Meet the Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP
Cooler Master’s bringing new tech to the CPU cooler market with its V4 Alpha Black
Cooler Master is one of the biggest names when it comes to CPU cooling. This year, Cooler Master is launching a new lineup of CPU coolers that utilise new heatpipe technology. With its new V4 Alpha 3DHP Black, Cooler Master is using new tech to deliver better results with fewer heatpipes.
With its new 3DHP (3D Heatpipe) tech, Cooler Master aims to deliver the performance of four standard CPU heatpipes with two. Thanks to the new shape of these heatpipes, Cooler Master also plans to provide more effective use of heatsink surfaces and improved heat transfer results.
3D Heatpipes are what define Cooler Master’s new V-series CPU coolers, and today, we will see how well this tech works with the new V4 Alpha black.
Cooler Master innovates with 3DHP tech
With its 3DHP tech, Cooler Master aims to solve some of the problems with traditional heatpipes. Traditional heatpipe designs can result in hot spots on a CPU cooler’s coldplate. With 3DHP designs, cooling is more even thanks to its extra prong. Instead of a U-shaped design, the extra prong on a 3DHP adds extra cooling near the centre of the heatpipe, resulting in more even thermals.
Cooler Master’s 3DHP tech is making its debut with Cooler Master’s V4 Alpha 3DHP Black CPU cooler. With their new heatpipes, Cooler Master aims to do the work of four traditional heatpipes with two. If they succeed, Cooler Master may have transformed the CPU market, achieving similar results with less material. However, will these heatpipes best all traditional 4-heatpipe CPU cooler designs?
Packaging
Packaging-wise, the V4 Alpha Black comes in a pretty standard cardboard box. Since CPU coolers of this size are pretty basic when considering the entire CPU cooling spectrum, this is to be expected. That said, the box is sturdy and is more than capable of protecting the product inside.
Size and Specifications
Measuring in at 133mm x 114mm x 161mm, the V4 Alpha 3DHP is a relatively small CPU cooler. The cooler ships with two pre-installed black Mobius 120 fans and has maximum RPM values of 2050 RPM. These fans are mounted in a push-pull configuration, with the heatsink being painted black.
The top of this CPU cooler is covered by a large plate, which covers the heatsink and its pre-attached fans. These fans are mounted using black clips, allowing these fans to be easily swapped out.
Note that this CPU cooler does not come with pre-applied thermal paste. A tube of Cooler Master’s CryoFuze thermal paste. Users must apply this thermal paste themselves.
Accessories and Mounts
Included with this CPU cooler is a PWM splitter cable, which allows this CPU cooler’s two fans to be powered from a single header. It also comes with a tube of CryoFuze thermal paste, which is enough for several CPU cooler installations.
The V4 Alpha 3DHP Black ships with mounts for both AMD and Intel CPU sockets. This includes support for AMD’s AM4/AM5 CPU sockets and Intel’s LGA 1851, LGA 1700, LGA 1200, and LGA 115X sockets.
OC3D CPU Cooler Test Rig Specifications
Last year, we built a new PC for CPU cooler testing. This new PC has a newer, hotter-running CPU, a more power-hungry graphics card, and a cooling layout that is common for today’s gaming PCs. Simply put, we have moved to more modern hardware so that we can better test modern CPU cooling solutions.
CPU: Intel i5-14600K @1.27V (Fixed)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WIFI
Case: Custom Lian Li O11 EVO XL
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 32GB (2x16GB)
GPU: Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Nitro+
PSU: be quiet Dark Power 1,000W
Fans: 4x be quiet Silent Wings 4 fans
