Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Testing
The test rig consists of the following parts:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
Video Card: Zotac 560 Ti
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 16GB
Power Supply: Enermax Maxrevo 1350W
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB raid 0 Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe

As always testing was done using Intel Burn Test (IBT) with the AVX instruction set. The reason to use this instead of Prime95 with this setup is that it pushes our i7 3770K a whole lot harder. This gives us a better sense of extreme load temps. Most of the testing was done at the max memory setting for a single pass. While admittedly this in no way would qualify the chip as stable while overclocked, it gives us a realistic idea of what temperatures the CPU will be hitting. Additionally we are going to run 3DMARK Fire Strike Extreme to give you a realistic idea of performance while gaming.

Our baseline was established using a bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 with the 3770K on stock settings:

Ambient temps: 22.22C/72F
Idle temps: 38.75C/101.75F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5C/146.3F core average

The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:

Ambient temps: 22.22°C/72°F
Idle temps: 32.75°C/90.95°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5°C/146.3°F core average

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At this point things are looking very promising for the MasterLiquid Pro 240. Idle temps are quite low and the one pass of IBT at max memory is dead even with our baseline cooler. Time to crank up the heat and see how this AiO handles some overclocking.

As opposed to going for a max overclock, we are simply going to shoot to hit 4.5ghz pass or fail. If the cooler will allow our 3770K to hit 4.5 ghz we note the temperatures and move on to test it using 3DMARK Firestrike. If not then back down to a more acceptable and stable overclock. Not as extreme as our previous testing, but slightly more consistent and far more analogous to normal use such as gaming.

Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:

Ambient temps: 22.22°C/72°F
IBT temps: 78.75°C/173.75°F with one core hitting 83°C

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This is a very decent result for an AiO, it lands it pretty much dead center in our performance comparison. We did start with expectations that this cooler would perform a bit better so a couple of things were tested. More stock paste was applied, an additional unit was swapped in, as well as a thermal paste swap for Arctic MX-2 high performance thermal paste but in the end the results were all much the same. The good news is the MasterLiquid Pro 240 is a very consistent performer and these temperatures are nothing to be ashamed of.

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After we finished testing the max thermal performance of the cooler, it’s time for a gaming test; that means it’s time for a pass of 3DMARK Firestrike. Here’s what we found.

Ambient temps: 22.22°C/72°F
3DMARK: 66.25°C/151.25°F with one core hitting 70°C

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It’s safe to say that this cooler is one of the most silent that we’ve had in our test system. The newly designed pump is ultra quiet, nearly silent. The two 120mm fans are a bit louder but still amazingly calm even when running at full speed.