Cooler Master Masterliquid 240 AIO CPU Cooler Review

Introduction Cooler Master is one of the biggest names in the PC component market, and they've already won many awards for their coolers over the years, from the virtually legendary 212 air cooler to their more recent Masterliquid series. Today we kick things off with a look at their newly revised Masterliquid 240, and AIO liquid cooler with a, you guessed it, 240mm radiator. The new design features a revised pump design, improved tubing and a few other minor ergonomic and visual tweaks. As you can see from the specifications, it comes with support for every major socket spanning many years of motherboard releases. Not only will it fit the now ancient 775, it'll also support 2011-v3, as well as the new AMD Ryzen chips on the AM4 platform. It comes equipped with a pair of 120mm which operate between 650 and 2000 RPM. Cooler Master Masterliquid 240 AIO CPU Cooler Packaging and Accessories The box is nice and large, providing plenty of protection for the hardware. On the front, you can also see it supports LGA 1151 and AM4. There is quite a lot of hardware included in the box with this cooler, mostly due to the fairly extensive socket support. You'll find a universal backplate, AMD and Intel mounting arms, all the usual nuts and bolts, a Y-splitter for the fans, and two 120mm fans. The fans are very nice quality and are Cooler Master's own MasterFan 120 AB series, which are tuned for high airflow and low noise. They also feature thick rubber grommets on both sides of each screw fitting to help reduce unwanted vibrations. A Closer Look The most recent few AIO coolers from Cooler Master have used a much neater looking radiator design, it's a bit more square and doesn't have any lumps and bumps on the side like many of the cheaper AIOs. It also looks and feel more durable than most, and the attention to creating a more professional looking product really shows. The hoses have been given an upgrade too, they look much thicker than previous models, with some of the nicest weave braiding I've ever seen on an AIO. The heat shrink-wrap on the fittings also looks more durable and the whole thing just looks more robust in general. The pump on this model doesn't have that clear plastic top like the last model, and while I did like the other design, this looks even better. It's a lot more understated, and it'll be easier for it to blend in with the rest of your build. On the side of the pump, you'll find two pivot mounts, which will allow you to find the best orientation for the unit when installing it in different configurations. On the base of the pump, a large copper contact plate that's sure to provide excellent coverage on any of the supported CPUs/sockets. The radiator has a good amount of fins packed in, with a design that should allow for lots of airflow with low resistance, but also shift quite a lot of heat too. Installation The fans are very easy to install on the cooler, just use the included thumb screws and fit them in either a push or pull configuration to suit your needs. Using the included screws, fit the appropriate Intel or AMD bracket to the base of the pump. Slot the four long screws through the appropriate holes on the universal backplate, then hold them in place with the four black plastic retention clips. Four spacers on the other side hold everything in place. Now you simply need to apply thermalpaste and screw down the pump. The pump is held in place by four more thumb screws, and as you can see, it doesn't get in the way of any motherboard components. Finally, once powered on, you'll see a while LED light for the Cooler Master logo; simple yet effective. Test System and Methodology We always use the same test system and tests with CPU coolers that we compare against each other. The full specifications of our test system are as follows: Test system: ASUS P8Z77-V, LGA 1155 socket, Z77 chipset Intel Core i5 3570K with Noctua NT-H1 under the IHS 16GB Kingston 1866Mhz DDR3 512GB OCZ SSD be quiet! Dark Power Pro 800W Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0 All testing conducted using NT-H1 thermalpaste We’d like to say a big thank you to ASUS, Noctua, Kingston, Cooler Master, and be quiet! and Intel for providing components that make this testing possible. Testing Methodology: We always use Noctua Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste. Prime 95 is run for 10 minutes to calcular "load" results. The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad-core processor. Fans are left to operate at default PWM profile speeds unless otherwise stated. If a variety of fan speed results are done for a particular product review and then removed from the graphs in future reviews of other products to avoid clutter. If you would like to see more fan speed results for a particular product please check its individual review. For watercooling tests all pumps have been operated at 12 volts unless otherwise stated. Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and we keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing . Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees. Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled, hard drive in idle and power supply isolated. These are taken at desktop idle and load. The cooling performance tests are run at stock 3.4GHz (with Intel Turbo up to 3.8GHz) and overclocked 4.5GHz (1.35v) settings. Voltages are fixed to prevent inaccuracy between comparisons. All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings so are fully comparable. Each test is repeated 3 times to ensure consistency. There is approximately a 1 degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software CPUID HW Monitor There is approximately a 1.5dBA margin of error with our Benetech GM1351 decibel meter In all these graphs we may have a few "reference" results of particular products that do not fit within that category for comparative purposes. Software Used CPUID HWMonitor Prime 95 Performance Stock clocks were clearly not a problem for the MasterLiquid 240, at just 25c over ambient while running at full load, and beating out the Noctua NH-D15 by 1c. Pushing up the clocks and the heat, the 240 still did a fantastic job, with the perfect right where we would expect compared to a few other AIO's, including the more expensive and bigger Silent Loop 280mm. Stock clocks didn't require the fans to work very hard, so as you would expect the cooler was very quiet. What's most impressive, however, is how quiet the pump is, easily one of the quietest we've ever tested! Pushing the heat up didn't have a huge impact on noise either, and the new MasterFan 120 AB fans really are doing an excellent job; I'd even feel comfortable pushing the RPM to a higher setting to improve cooling performance. Final Thoughts Pricing The CoolerMaster MasterLiquid 240 is normally around £79.99, however, at the time of writing it was available on Amazon for just £65. This is fantastic value for money given the overall performance we've seen today. Of course, shop around for the best deals, that £65 price might change, but if it's happened once, it'll happen again. Overview Cooler Master rarely disappoint when it comes to their coolers, heck, they have the word "cooler" in their name, so it would be a bit embarrassing if they couldn't hold their own in that market. The MasterLiquid 240 delivered some pretty rock solid performance, balancing respectable temperatures with low noise, making it a great choice for virtually any type of system build. The build quality is easily the best we've seen from Cooler Master too, with a durable radiator design, and incredibly thick and very nicely finished hoses. I would like to see the cooler with slightly longer hoses, though, as those with large cases may not be able to mount it in the front panel, but that's not a major problem for the majority of users. The mounting kit is a little cumbersome to install, but I can't argue with how modular it is, as it supports a lot of sockets, and how durable it is once installed. That build quality shows in the design too, it's a great looking cooler, and it's only complemented further by the two MasterAir 120 AB fans that come with it. With support for everything from Intel's almost ancient 775 socket, right up to the brand new AMD AM4 socket, this cooler should fit any system you need it to. However, the most welcome feature is easily the price, and if you can pick one of these up around £65, it's going to be a tough job to find anything of this quality, performance and design for less. Pros Durable build quality Stylish design Premium quality fans included Excellent socket support list Durable mounting kit Incredibly quiet pump Cons The hoses aren't especially long, so many not fit front panel mounting in larger chassis Neutral Takes a while to install, but is very durable once complete