Cooler Master V4 and V8 3DHP Review: A masterful engineering achievement

What makes Cooler Master’s new V4 Alpha and V8 Ace 3DHP air coolers stand out against their competitors? Well, it’s in the name of the product – the company’s new 3DHP (3D heatpipe) technology represents a serious advancement in cooling.

Traditional copper heatpipes are typically formed in a “U” shape, and work well enough in most scenarios. But Cooler Master’s 3DHP heatpipes look more like a trident, with three ends instead of two. There’s more to the tech, which we will cover in more detail below.

Additionally, the V8 Ace 3DHP features two of the strongest fans we’ve ever tested from a Cooler Master product, with liquid crystal polymer blades and backed by a six-year warranty.

Let’s take a look at the specifications and features of these coolers. Then we’ll go over thermal and noise benchmarks to decide if the V4 Alpha and V8 Ace 3DHP air coolers are good enough to make our list of the best CPU coolers we’ve tested.

Cooler specifications

Features of Cooler Master’s V4 Alpha and V8 Ace

▶️ Innovative 3DHP Heatpipes

Both the V4 Alpha and V8 Ace are powered by Cooler Master’s innovative 3DHP heatpipe technology. To simplify things somewhat, while most heatpipes are “U” shaped, with one prong of each heatpipe on the left and right sides of a heatsink, 3D heatpipes add a prong in the middle to give it more of a trident shape, enhancing the efficiency of thermal transfer.

Traditional heatpipe setups don’t usually fully saturate the fins of a heatsink, only providing 70% fin utilization, according to Cooler Master. This makes sense, as you’ll often see that temperatures continue to rise in extended-length cooler testing as the fins become more fully saturated. Cooler Master claims that with its 3D heatpipes, fin utilization is increased to 95% or more. We’ll see how that plays out in our benchmark testing shortly.

▶️ RAM Clearance

RAM compatibility is excellent with both of these coolers. The V4 Alpha doesn’t overhang or interfere with RAM DIMMs at all, allowing for compatibility with all sizes of DDR4 or DDR5 DIMMs.

The V8 also has wide RAM compatibility. Its intake fan does overhang the DIMM slots, but if your RAM is particularly tall – like our T-Force Xtreem DDR5-7200 featured below – the sliding rail system allows you to easily adjust fan position, so things fit properly. We had to raise the fan by a few millimeters for proper clearance, but I think the sticks I’m using are about the tallest on the market, at 48.8mm height. Officially, RAM up to 45mm in height is supported.

▶️ 30mm thick Liquid Crystal Polymer fans

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink. The included fans have a direct impact on aesthetics, noise levels, and overall thermal performance. The fans on the V8 Ace 3DHP are made for longevity, built with liquid crystal polymer (LCP) blades and loop dynamic fan bearings.

They come pre-installed with a sliding rail system, allowing for simple installation and height adjustment.

▶️ Aesthetics

You might notice the top of the V8 Ace 3DHP looks like it has eight gigantic heatpipes – but note they’re not actually real heatpipes. Does that mean it’s only decorative, and serves no real purpose? I wouldn’t say that. The “fake” heatpipes here seem to be made from metal and are cold to the touch, indicating that they do have the ability to absorb heat.

I decided to take the cooler apart for a better look at this piece, and it appears the primary function is actually to prevent air leakage. If you look closely at the picture below, you’ll see the fans are slightly taller than the heatsink. If that’s not a concern for you and you prefer an “old-fashioned” look that shows the ends of the copper heatpipes, the cooler works just fine without the top, though you’ll lose a small amount of thermal efficiency.

▶️ Packaging

The outer packaging highlights the design of the product in a colorful but subtle way, incorporating a purple background on the top and black on the bottom.

Pulling on the purple tab in the front reveals the fanciest inner packaging I’ve ever seen for an air cooler, seemingly designed for store displays.

Intel and AMD-specific models

Cooler Master sells versions of these coolers labeled specifically for Intel or AMD CPUs. We tested the AMD model with our 9950X3D. Both versions do come with mounting hardware for platforms from both companies, so you could install, say, an Intel-specific version of this cooler on an AM4 or AM5 CPU / motherboard.

But a Cooler Master rep told us that the AMD version has a flatter IHS, while the Intel version is more convex, to make the best contact with CPUs from each platform. The V8 Ace reportedly also has different internal liquid volumes to best target heat on each platform. We’re told both versions target the same performance metrics, but you should use the correct cooler for your platform for the best results – as we did when running our benchmarks, shown below.

Included with the package are:

• Mounting hardware for AMD and Intel platforms
• 120mm fans
• Cryofuze thermal paste
• Installation manual

▶️ V8 Ace 3DHP AM5 Installation

To begin putting things together, you’ll first need to remove the default AM4/5 retention bracket. Next, place the studs over the exposed holes.

Afterwards, take the mounting bars and secure them with the included screws.

It’s time to apply the thermal compound. If you’re not sure how to do that, we have a handy thermal paste application guide that covers the different methods you can use.

After thermal paste is applied, take the CPU block and press it against the mounting bars, using the built-in screws to secure it in place.

Finally, you’ll want to attach both fans by sliding them into the rail system built into the cooler, then connect their cables to the motherboard’s PWM header.

Real-world testing configuration – AMD AM5 platform

We’ve tested coolers with both the Ryzen 9950X3D and its non-V-Cache sibling, the 9950X in the past year. There are some differences in how the 9950X and 9950X3D CPUs are impacted by thermal events. While the heat output of the CCDs of AMD’s 9950X3D is relatively balanced, the 9950X I used has one CCD that runs much hotter than the other, with a difference of over 10 degrees Celsius in some scenarios, shown below.

For now we’ve returned to using a 9950X3D for cooler testing, as it has a more balanced heat profile, and is almost certainly a more widely adopted CPU. The benchmark results shared in these reviews may differ from others because I emphasize results that are comparable to real-world use. This means I generally test CPU coolers inside of a closed desktop case, which increases cooling difficulty compared to other testing methods.

Many reviewers test coolers on open test benches, which have a combination of lesser airflow needs and lowered ambient temperatures. This results in making weak coolers appear stronger than they really are. Some publications have also used generic thermal plates to test cooling solutions. I reject both of these methods because they don’t accurately reflect real-world cooler conditions.

Our latest testing setup uses the FLOVA F50 computer case from Tryx.

This case features a unique “crossflow” fan that pulls air from the side, which the company claims is more effective than traditional intake fans. For air cooling tests, we’ve added a single Noctua NF-A12 G2 intake fan.

PBO Performance and maximum noise levels

We’re going to start by focusing on a traditional maximum performance test, with the CPU cooler’s fans allowed to reach their fastest speeds, for the best cooling possible.

Turning on PBO allows AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D to stretch its legs to an extent and consume over 260W. Enabling PBO enables high power consumption and heat output, when using MSI’s X870E Carbon Wifi motherboard the CPU will reach its TJ Max (peak temperature) of 95 degrees Celsius (203 Fahrenheit) and thermally throttle to some extent with most coolers. When this throttling occurs, I’ve measured the average power consumption to determine performance.

You’ll notice there are two results for Cooler Master’s V8 Ace 3DHP, one marked with an asterisk. I wanted to include a test to see if there’s any point to using stronger or more powerful fans. When we tested the first iteration of Cooler Master’s 3DHP technology in the Hyper 212 3DHP, replacing the default fans with Montech’s flagship E28 fans resulted in ~5% better thermal performance.

Fortunately, the fans included with the V8 are strong enough to extract the maximum thermal potential of the 3DHP technology – the results are basically on par with the best coolers on the market.

The included fans are also a bit different than your average 120x25mm PC fan, measuring 30mm thick. At 45.6 dBA, their maximum noise level is audible, but those who prefer silence will be satisfied with our noise-normalized results.

The V4 Alpha’s thermal performance might not seem impressive at first glance, until you consider its noise level. Measuring at a maximum of 38.9 dBA, it is the quietest cooler we’ve tested in over a year.

200W thermal benchmarks

For the next thermal test, I leave the motherboard settings at their defaults, which results in a power limit of 200W when running Cinebench R23.

Thermal results in this scenario were similar to our first test, with Cooler Master’s V8 Ace taking second place. The V4 Alpha’s results were on the low end of our charts, but that’s more or less to be expected with its quiet, low-power fans.

150W + GPU thermal results

Our next test runs Cinebench on the CPU with a 150W power limit, while also running Furmark on MSI’s RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3x OC. This causes the GPU to consume ~295W of power. This test is designed to emulate the thermals of games, which primarily stress the CPU and GPU.

You’ll see there are two results for Cooler Master’s V8 Ace: the result in blue was obtained after pairing the heatsink with Montech’s flagship E28 fans, which are extremely strong. The result in red was testing performed with the default fans included.

This test highlights the one “weakness” of Cooler Master’s 3DHP lineup – the reduced fin area results in worse thermal results when the internal temperature of the computer case is higher, such as you’d see in warmer environments or when your GPU is being fully utilized (like in gaming.)

Noise-normalized testing

Most testing is performed with the cooler tied to the default fan curve of our MSI X870E Carbon motherboard, but some of y’all prefer to see tests when the noise levels of coolers are equalized. This is especially important to those of you who prefer silent computers. This next test has the CPU cooler noise-normalized to 38.9 dBA, with PBO enabled for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU.

This test is especially difficult because in addition to the reduced noise from the CPU cooler, our current test bench’s system fans are configured to run extremely silently, below the floor of the noise meter I use to measure dBA.

Most coolers can’t keep the CPU from reaching its peak temperature (TJ Max) in this stress test. Cooler Master’s V8 Ace did especially well here, with the second-best result we’ve ever recorded. The V4 Alpha’s results aren’t as impressive at first glance, until you remember that it is powered by only two heatpipes – it outperforms other coolers with four to six heatpipes!

Karhu DDR5 RAM thermals testing!

Your CPU cooler does not operate in isolation. It has an impact on not just your CPU’s temperatures, but also the other components in your build, like your RAM and GPU. To that end, I’ve run the Karhu RAM stress test. This places a load of ~153W on the CPU and ensures system RAM (DDR5 in my case) is fully stable. In this type of scenario, most AIOs tend to produce worse results than air coolers.

Both of Cooler Master’s 3DHP coolers performed exceptionally well in this RAM thermal test. The V8 Ace outperformed all competing dual-tower air coolers, and the V4 Alpha tied with Arctic’s Freezer 36-S for the best results we’ve seen that don’t include a dedicated RAM fan!

Conclusion

Cooler Master’s V8 Ace is an engineering masterpiece, using two 3D heatpipes and four standard copper heatpipes, combined with a single-tower heatsink to deliver thermal performance that beats most dual-tower heatsinks with eight heatpipes. Installation is simple, and noise levels are reasonable.

There’s not much more you could want in a cooler – except for a lower price. But as with all new cutting-edge technology, there’s an early adopter tax with a price tag of $119.99 for the V8 Ace. If you’re looking for a similarly powerful cooler with a lower price tag, I’d recommend Thermalright’s Royal Pretor 130. Alternatively, if you want a less-powerful, more-affordable option that incorporates Cooler Master’s three-pronged heatpipe tech, the Hyper 212 3DHP also impressed us in testing, and costs around $25. And of course there’s the middle-ground V4 Alpha, which we also tested here and found to be one of the quietest air coolers you can buy. That model has a list price of $49, but was selling for $44 at Amazon when this was published.

I look forward to testing future products as Cooler Master continues to refine and improve its 3DHP manufacturing processes. I can imagine a future iteration of this technology will empower an air cooler stronger than anything previously possible.