Is The Coolermaster Hyper T4 Just As Good As 212

Does the fan direction for the CPU cooling make a difference?

Airflow through the case is important, so yes, it matters.There are several options for how a CPU cooler can exhaust heat from the CPU. This is the Intel factory cooler for a socket 1150 system (note* it's not much different than several other Intel stock coolers.) Which way does the air go? DOWN through the heat sink and then out willy nilly in all directions in your case. It works, but it's not great. The next type of CPU cooler we see is a vertical arrangement:(The Hyper Evo 212, one of the best and most ubiquitous budget aftermarket aircoolers you can find.)Air is pushed through the fins and then... which way? The optimal orientation is to point it towards the back of your case because, most of the time, you will also have an exhaust fan at the back to evacuate the hot air coming off the cooler. It is also fairly typical to locate intake fans at the front of the chassis, pulling cool air into the chassis where it's picked up by the cooler, heated, and then exhausted out the back. What you get is airflow that looks like this:(note, the above diagram also includes a bottom intake and a top exhaust, but the principle is the same.)Does it have to be that way? No, it doesn't. You could use the rear for an intake, the front for an exhaust and orient accordingly. What you don't want to do, however, is point fans at each other in opposing directions, the end result would be turbulent and inefficient. There's more, of course, to managing airflow in a case, positive and negative case pressure, push / pull, and moving air through restrictive mediums... but for the basics of which way do I point my CPU cooler... if you have the option to do so, point it towards an exhaust fan.