It is difficult for manufacturers to innovate in the world of all-in-one water coolers, but that hasn’t stopped Cooler Master from making an attempt. Its new units, the MasterLiquid Pro 120XL and MasterLiquid Pro 240, have redesigned radiators and pump assemblies.
The radiators have a square fin design, which means that the aluminum fins are neatly folded with 90-degree angles for maximum surface area and therefore higher heat dissipation.
The real highlight of the MasterLiquid Pro liquid coolers is the pump assembly. Rather than enclosing the pump and cooling fins in a single chamber, the cold plate has its own chamber, with the pump enclosed in another right above it. The coolant flows through the radiator, into the pump, and then through the cold plate and back to the radiator.
The idea behind this separate-chamber design is that the coolant around the pump is cool, leaving the pump running cooler and extending its lifetime. However, we aren’t so sure: In a liquid loop, fluid flows so fast that there is no discernible difference in temperature before and after passing through the cold plate. Additionally, despite the claims of a longer pump life, Cooler Master has not raised the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) rating of the pump or extended the warranty further compared to older units – they remain at 70,000 hours and 5 years, respectively. Nonetheless, Cooler Master claims that the pump has an MTBF of 175,000 hours, which is a very impressive figure.
Power consumption for the pump is set at 6 W at 12 V, and the spec sheet says that it makes less than 12 dBa of noise.
The MasterFan Pro 120 Air Balance fans provide up to 66.7 CFM of air flow and 2.34mm of static pressure when spinning at the full 2000rpm speed. At full speed they make 30 dBa of noise, and at the minimum 500rpm speed they whisper a mere 6 dBa. As expected, they have a 4-pin header and are therefore PWM-compatible.
The MasterLiquid Pro 120 and 240 will hit shelves this month, whereas the 140 and 280 mm variants should arrive in May. Cooler Master did not announce pricing.
Update, 4/19/16, 12:46pm PT: Pricing is $99.99 for the 120 and $119.99 for the 240.
Update, 4/25/2016 11:20am PT: Cooler Master reached out to us stating that the originally listed 70,000 hour pump life was a mistake. The actual MTBF sits at 175,000 hours.
Update, 5/05/2016 10:30am PT: Corrected original text to clarify pump life.
Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
