Overall and Final Verdict
With Cooler Master slowly moving their product lines into the new Master branding it wasn’t a big shock when they introduced the MasterLiquid Pro 240. In fact a few month ago they send one of the kits over but there were a few fitment issues that they fixed. They went with a completely different design than what everyone else is going with for AIO kits. This is mostly because Cooler Master didn’t just go with an OEM kit from the company with most of the patents on AIO kits. They went out of their way to design something completely different and that is really clear when you look at it. The MasterLiquid 240 ended up performing well, outperforming the typical Noctua cooler than we run. It ran cooler at both idle and under load and while it didn’t outperform on the noise testing, I would say it ran nice and quiet with the exception of when I had both fans running at 100% fan speed. Installing the kit wasn’t any harder than your standard heatsink. They had compatibility for any socket and it was just a matter of getting the correct parts out for our specific socket. I think the best part about the kit are the two MasterFan Pro 120 AB fans that they include with it. They have a nice rubber mount design, good airflow, and there is a switch on the back to help tune the kit for noise or performance.
My two complaints about the kit were both with its aesthetics. Cooler Master went with the same plastic water lines that most of the AIO kits come with. I’ve never been a fan of them, but with companies like Corsair selling similar kits with nicer lines, it would be great to see them improve the MasterLiquid with them as well. Beyond that, I was a little concerned with the overall height of the dual chamber pump design. I didn’t run into any fitment issues due to it, but it does look a little tall. Neither issue had any impact on the performance of the kit, though, but I do think more people buy AIO water cooling kits for that water cooled look than anything else.
The MasterLiquid 240 has an MSRP of $119.99 and that in itself is less than the MSRP for the Corsair H100i V2 that I would consider the most popular current 240mm option. That said right now the Corsair is selling for less, Cooler Master is going to have to beat this kit in pricing to have a big impact on the market. So the MasterLiquid Pro 240 is a good kit, but keep an eye on its price for it to really be the kit to get.
Live Pricing: HERE
