Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 280 CPU Cooler Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Pro 280 AIO CPU Cooler is currently £98.17 from Amazon, with an RRP of £119.99, and we think that’s fantastic value for money. That’s ever so slightly cheaper than the offerings from Corsair, NZXT, and a few others, and it whips their butt in terms of performance, so you hardly have to do the math there.

Overview

Cooler Master got off to a shaky start with their new cooler designs, some of the older ones were a little noisy, the fans weren’t as good as their rivals, and the pump noise was sometimes excessive. However, they’ve gone back to the drawing board with each generation and it seems the MasterLiquid Pro series is where they’ve cracked the formula. The OpFlow technology may sound like marketing nonsense, but it’s clear that this cooler is doing something right, as the temperatures are some of the best we’ve ever seen and the pump is as quiet or quieter than rival products. The new fans weren’t even set to their silent mode, and we still got fantastic temperatures, and low noise too, you could comfortably dial them down without cause for concern with performance, or dial them up if you feel you’re going to be really ragging your CPU and voltages and need that extra cooling performance edge, the choice is yours.

Build quality is literally a strong point here. The whole thing feels pretty chunky and robust. Most notable are the use of the extra thick tubing with durable braided covering, it’s unlikely to break anytime soon, that’s for sure. The tubing also comes with thick mounts on both the pump and radiator sides, with swivel mounts that make it easy to get the correct orientation. Smaller details like the huge rubber grommet for the fans, good quality mounting kit, and braided cables all add up to a premium quality experience with the MasterLiquid 280 Pro.

There’s little else to say about this cooler that isn’t already obvious. It’s got fantastic build quality, aesthetics that are sure to look great in your rig, and performance that can deliver low noise and low temperatures with relative ease; you couldn’t ask for much more at this price range.

Pros

• Excellent build quality
• Stylish aesthetics
• Quiet fans and pump
• Fantastic performance in both stock and overclocked scenarios
• Easy to install
• Supports both 120 and 140mm fans
• Competitively priced
• The best CoolerMaster cooler to date

Cons

• None

“If you’re looking for an enthusiast grade AIO CPU cooler that looks great and performs even better, the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 280 is one of the best we’ve ever tested. Highly recommended!”