Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth Review: Cool, Quiet and Covert

Cooler Master’s Stealth Fighter

Reviews
By Garrett Carver
published
Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth holds steady ground with some of the best large heatpipe air coolers we’ve tested, as well as performing just as comparably with some of high-performing 240mm AIOs.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Making use of that pair of large 140mm SickleFlow fans, the MA624 Stealth, slower fan speeds move a lot of air over the large set of twin heatpipe towers, similar to the Noctua NH-D15, Deep Cool Assassin III and be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

By utilizing larger, slower-speed 140mm fans, Cooler Master’s MA624 Stealth reaches very low registered noise levels, nearly as silent as the Noctua NH-D15 and be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4.

The remaining coolers using 120mm fans with much faster rotational speeds see higher decibel readings.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We see the larger heatpipe air coolers doing very well here due to their noise level advantage, while also remaining very competitive with the larger (but noisier) liquid coolers.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Priced right around $100 at time of writing, the Cooler Master MA624 Stealth is certainly expensive for an air cooler, but it’s in the same territory as our other high-end heatpipe coolers listed here. This is also the same pricing plateau we see many of our performance 240mm AIOs start at, but the AIO coolers then scale sharply upwards as we move into 360mm liquid coolers and more specialized offerings like the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Thermal imaging with our FLIR ONE Pro shows nominal differences between 100% and 50% fan PWM for the Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth. We can see the heat soak difference between the front/fan side of the cooler (right side) in each photo, where the inlet fan feeds ambient chassis air into the heatsink towers and a gradual blaze of warmth as expelled heat exists the rear (left side) of the cooler in each image. Even so, the MasterAir MA624 Stealth dissipates heat evenly across the cooler at each fan speed setting.

Cooler Master has pulled out all the stops to release an excellent option in the large heatpipe cooler arena, trading blows with some of the best CPU coolers we’ve tested. While it doesn’t glitter with RGB lighting, it shines as an effective near-silent thermal solution for some of the most potent desktop CPUs from both Intel and AMD--as long as you don’t count Threadripper.

Garrett Carver
Garrett Carver
CPU Cooling Reviewer

Garrett Carver is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering thermal compound comparisons and CPU cooling reviews; both air and liquid, including multiple variations of each.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • NightHawkRMX
    However, the large, dual-fan MasterAir MA624 Stealth comes ready to impress while being completely devoid of lighting accents. Instead, it features an all-blck color scheme for an imposing look for those who favor their flair without the flash.

    I believe you meant all-black.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    Looks like a decent cooler, but overpriced. It is as expensive as the BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4 and the Noctua NH-D15, both of which are better coolers.

    I would be interested in seeing a review of some of Thermalright's models, such as this
    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CwqPxr/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-peerless-assassin-1206 heatpipes, 2 fin stacks, 2 fans. All for just $41.
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    This cooler essentially performs as-well as the Dark Rock Pro 4, even a bit better at 50% fan speed. The ~1C difference between them at 100% is nearly negligible making them equal performers (or better in terms of the Cooler Master considering 50% fan performance).

    I would be happy to cover the Thermalright - I can attempt to reach out to their marketing department to get a sample, but typically we are approached by companies to cover their merchandise and we use this opportunity to compare with other components under the same testing criteria.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    Okay, sounds great!
    Reply
  • VforV
    NightHawkRMX said:
    I would be interested in seeing a review of some of Thermalright's models, such as this
    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CwqPxr/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-peerless-assassin-1206 heatpipes, 2 fin stacks, 2 fans. All for just $41.
    Looks like it's in the same price tier as Arctic Freezer 34 Esports Duo, which has this review from 2020 > https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/arctic-freezer-34-esports-duo-cooler,6352.html
    I have that Arctic cooler on my Ryzen 3600 OC to 4.4Ghz and it's cool and quiet. It really is the best budget cooler as the article says.

    That being said I would like to see the review of the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 too. I'm always looking for a better budget CPU cooler :)
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    I own the Freezer 34 Esports One on my R5 3600. Its a good cooler.

    However the esports duo has 2 less heatpipes and a lot less fin surface area compared to the Thermalright by the looks.

    I have a feeling the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 may be very good for its price, by looks alone.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    anything priced within reach of the NH-D15 needs to beat it by a decent amount.

    Noctua's warranty/free future mounting brackets/etc are just too good a value to go anywhere else for same price.
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    hotaru251 said:
    anything priced within reach of the NH-D15 needs to beat it by a decent amount.

    Noctua's warranty/free future mounting brackets/etc are just too good a value to go anywhere else for same price.

    Regardless, there are some instances where Noctua's color scheme is just too polarizing for some people, making these other alternatives/comparisons valid.

    To put this all into perspective, our result temps are under 100% CPU utilization for sustained periods of time (2 hrs), which is pretty much the worst type of hell for a cooler to contend with. In real-world applications, this is almost rarely the case and there would be minimal difference between many cooling options at intermittent loads over the same time duration. Considerably less difference if someone is not pushing all-core overclocks on higher core-count CPUs and running this on a factory clocked 4, 6 or 8 core processor.
    Reply
  • KoutsiDK
    hotaru251 said:
    anything priced within reach of the NH-D15 needs to beat it by a decent amount.

    Noctua's warranty/free future mounting brackets/etc are just too good a value to go anywhere else for same price.

    Not really. The D15 is old, so way cheaper than its starting price, and its extremely big and ugly as sin. Also, it is not painted. Painting the cooler fully black adds 2-3 degrees. So no, the pricing is fine for the Coolermaster
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    KoutsiDK said:
    Painting the cooler fully black adds 2-3 degrees.
    its been tested and they are effectively same (within margin of error) and actual differences are more often than not fan related (as all fans have an accepted variance from what they are listed at)

    KoutsiDK said:
    The D15 is old, so way cheaper than its starting price,
    original msrp when it debuted in 2014: $99.90 (if u doubt it check their sites article of when they 1st announced it) same as it is today.
    because something is "old" doesnt mean it gets cheaper. a top of the line product has no reason to depreciate in value until it has a replacement.

    KoutsiDK said:
    its extremely big and ugly as sin.
    can get it in black. (and ur saying the mastercooler one with the ugly top plate is better? well everyone does have different tastes i guess)
    KoutsiDK said:
    So no, the pricing is fine for the Coolermaster
    noctua has the best mounting hardware in industry. (everyone should adopt that as its simple)
    afaik best warranty in the industry (they ship you for free a new bracket if a new socket comes out as well)
    some of (not the best ever) the best fans in the industry.



    is it fine for a high end cooler? sure. However noctua's perks make it best choice if you dont mind getting nh-d15.
    Reply