Introduction

PC enthusiasts worldwide know . They have had quite a few successes in the market of CPU cooling, and are trying to push forward once again with a new item. The HAC-V81 or "X-Dream" is the latest Heatsink to come out of there labs and has some interesting features. It has been designed with (and I quote) -

Coolermaster's 10 year experience in thermal dynamics, fan characteristics, heat sink manufacturing, noise reduction techniques, user friendliness, quality control, last but not least: our mass production and cost control capability.

Quite a statement, so let's take a closer look at the specs and see what we have here on the bench. Big thanks to for supplying the review sample.

Specifications

Fan Dimension: 80 x 80 x 25 mm
Rated Speed: 2500~4800 rpm
Air Flow: 31.4~62.8 CFM
Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
Adjustable Voltage Rate: 7~13.2 VDC
Heat Sink Dimension: 80 x 69 x 45 mm

Features

Aerodynamic fan grill designed to reduce intake noise & air efficiency.
High Strength material to reduce acoustic noise in comparison with metal grill.
External fan speed adjustment on PCI bracket allows user to set the desire fan rpm (2500~4800rpm) without opening up the chassis.
Special Copper Cylinder Insertion process ensures perfect contact between copper and alloy.
Back Pressure Reduction comes from special design fan cover with vent hole to prevent rebound back pressure.
Famous Tool-less clip, easy on the thumb!
Worry-free Power Management: 3 pin connector only for detecting real time fan speed; 4 pin connector drawing power directly from PSU to prevent overload on mainboard.

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A closer look

The packaging is designed with a 'see and want' kind of approach, with clear plastic showing off the contents easily. One thing I would say about the packaging though, it is probably one of the harder parts to get to grips with! Seriously, it took me quite a while to get into it; but the items inside were well protected and easily viewed so not a bad thing. The packaging is deceiving in one area and that's the weight. I could easily see the clip sat across the three lugs on your CPU socket, and the weight of the package made me worry a bit but after holding it my hands I can see that it isn't all that heavy at all.

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The centre of the fan has a great looking hologram sticker with the Coolermaster logo on it. I guess that mean's it's a genuine Coolermaster Fan : ) Now here comes the interesting part. When the fan is spinning, the hologram and correct lighting project a still image of the Coolermaster Logo rather than just a spinning blur of colours. Ok, no big deal really, but it fascinated me for a few minutes ....... anyway, the fan itself is based on Coolermaster's patented Rifle Bearing, and my previous experience with such a fan was very positive when it came to the noise department but more on that later. Sitting just under the fan, there is a fan shroud, again made from plastic but again, if it keeps costs down and does its intended job then not something I'll complain about. The shroud grips the fan with the use of a simple clipping mechanism, rather than screwing into it. It also attaches to the Heatsink itself in the same manner. The shroud lifts the fan away from the Heatsink a few millimetres's so that the dead area under the centre of the fan is lessened, hopefully allowing more air to reach entire Heatsink.

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Removing the fan we get a closer look at the Heatsink. The majority of the Heatsink is constructed from Aluminium with a circular Copper insert right where the CPU core and the base of the HSF meet. Copper draws heat away a lot quicker than Aluminium and the Aluminium can disperse the heat a lot faster than the Copper, so hopefully the combination of the 2 will provide good performance.

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Moving to the bottom of the HSF, we can see that the base hasn't been machined very well at all. So much for the quality there then. It's not all that bad but it did make me ask myself whether to lap the sink or not and there should be no need for this.

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The clip for the X-Dream has been designed with ease of use in mind. It fits over the 3 lugs of the CPU socket and there is a push lever to provide the leverage to get the clip into place. I found this kind of mechanism very easy to use and it felt safer than using a screwdriver. Chances are if you slip you won't do any damage but with a screwdriver you might.

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Going back to the fan, you will notice a rather different power cable than usual. The fan draws power from a standard 4 pin Molex connector you will find on any PSU. Coolermaster have also thoughtfully provided a 3 pin, 1 wire speed sensing clip to attach to your motherboard. This is something that I am very pleased to see. I personally prefer to run all my fans direct from the PSU Molex connectors, but I also like to keep the speed sensing (and some motherboards like you to have the speed sensing too). Usually this requires a quick mod but here it is done for you. Talking of speed, it's adjustable.