Cooler Master Master Liquid 240L Core Review: A budget liquid cooler with a big bite

Introducing the MasterLiquid 240L Core by Cooler Master, a 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler

With today's review we'll be looking at Cooler Master's newest 240mm AIO liquid cooler, the Master Liquid 240L Core. It features Cooler Master's latest generation Gen S liquid pump for enhanced cooling performance and a budget price of $99 USD, but is that enough to compete in today's crowded market? We'll be testing this cooler against a variety of liquid and air coolers with AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X to see if the 240L Core has what it takes to stand out from the competition.  Included with the Master Liquid 240L Core are:

  Features of Cooler Master's Master Liquid 240L Core

With a relatively low price tag of $99 USD, Cooler Master's latest offering is on the cheaper end of the price spectrum for 240mm liquid coolers.

Most coolers arrive with either pre-applied thermal paste or a tiny tube, but cooler master includes a normal sized tube of CryoFuze.

Since this liquid cooler's CPU block does not overhang the RAM slots, all sizes of RAM are supported.

The fans included with a cooler can be just as important as the heatsink, and have a direct impact on performance and noise levels. Cooler Master includes 2x 120mm fans of an unspecified model. These fans feature speeds of 650-1750 RPM, up to 71.93 CFM of airflow, and up to 1.86 mmH20 static pressure. The lifespan of these fans is rated at over 160,000 hours.

AM4/AM5 Installation

The installation of this cooler is very simple on AMD platforms, as you'll use the default retention mechanim. The first step is to secure the AMD mounting bars to the CPU block by using the included screws. Once you've installed the mounting bars, apply the included CryoFuze thermal paste. Attach the clamps to the motherboard's retention bars, and secure them by tightening the thumbscrews. You'll need to secure the fans to the radiator using the included long screws, and then secure the radiator to your computer's case using smaller screws. Finally, connect the PWM and ARGB connections together and to your motherboard headers.   Test Platform Configuration and Testing Methodology

I've tested Cooler Master's 240L Core paired with AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X CPU and ASRock's B650E Taichi motherboard, installed in DeepCool's CK560WH computer case. To test cooling capacity, I run Cinebench R23's multi-core benchmark in four system configurations.

Observant readers may notice that the noise graphs start at 35 instead of zero. This is because my sound meter cannot measure sound levels lower than 35 dBA. This makes it the "zero" for testing purposes. For those concerned that this might distort results - there's no worry. If anything, the graphs above will minimize the differences in noise levels because dBA measurements are logarithmic. For a  detailed explanation of how decibel measurements correspond to perceived noise levels, please check out the video below from BeQuiet! which makes it easy to visualize and understand the true impact of of increasing dBA levels.

Noise Normalized Results

Performance scales by an extremely limited amount with stronger coolers on AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X, which means there isn't much of a benefit to running fans at full speed. It's useful to see how coolers perform when noise normalized for quiet operation. Cooling an average of 122W during the course of Cinebench testing, Cooler Master's 240L Core's performance was absolutely impressive for a budget cooler. It outperformed both EK's Elite 280mm and Thermalright's Frozen Notte 240 when noise normalized, tying with Noctua's legendary NH-D15S for cooling performance when normalized for silent operation.

The performance of the Master Liquid 240L Core is only beaten by DeepCool's LT720 - which is the strongest 360mm Liquid Cooler I've ever tested, one of the few capable of keeping Ryzen 7 7700X under TJMax (95C) in the most power intensive workloads.

Maximum Cooling Performance at Default Power Limits

With the stock power limits of AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X, most coolers will cause the CPU to reach it's TJMax of 95C. In this configuration, we'll be evaluating the cooler by how many watts are dissipated by the cooler and the noise levels it produces at full speed.

Cooling an average of 135W, Cooler Master's Master Liquid 240L Core is almost capable of cooling a maximum power workload with Ryzen 7 7700X (at the default power limits). This is a very surprising result from a budget minded AIO, I personally expected it to cool less than 130W.

When it comes to noise levels in this maximum performance scenario, the 240L Core runs quieter than the other liquid coolers I've tested but it isn't quiet in any sense of the word. At 48.2 dBA, it's noise levels are near the edge of what I consider acceptable - I prefer noise levels below 50 dBA.

95W Thermals and Acoustics

It's important to test a cooler under a variety of power limits, because most workloads won't push the CPU to use it's full power budget. Cooling difficulty decreases dramatically with lower power workloads and how loud the cooler operates in these situations is more important.

Cooler Master's thermal performance is again very impressive, with an average CPU temperature of 72C during the course of testing. This is the 2nd best result I've recorded yet, beaten only by DeepCool's flagship 360mm AIO.

The noise levels in this scenario are much better than the unrestricted performance at only 45.6 dBA. This is a moderate noise level which is certainly audible, but it's not too loud and should not bother most users.

75W Thermals and Acoustics

Workloads like gaming tend to use around 75 watts, so this test will represent the sort of noise levels and temperatures you'll encounter while gaming on Ryzen 7 7700X. This is a fairly easy thermal test, and even the weakest of coolers should handle it without problem.

While I show thermal results here in the graph above, they're not very important. Acoustics and noise levels are much more important. Really, all of the results above are good enough and even the worst result isn't any cause for concern.

That being said, Cooler Master's thermal performance here is quite simply impressive. With an average CPU temperature of 59C (in a 23C ambient), the 240L Core's performance is better than every competing cooler we've tested it against.

The acoustics of Cooler Master's MasterLiquid 240L Core when tied to the default fan curve of ASRock's b650E Taichi are good. At only 40.3 dBA, the noise levels are that of a quiet humming noise and shouldn't bother anyone.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a quality 240mm AIO that doesn't break the bank - Cooler Master's Master Liquid 240L Core is what you need. It features great performance and a budget price with a MSRP of only $99 USD. Cooler Master has a $20 rebate offer valid for purchases made until July 22 - bringing the total cost of purchase down to only $79 USD for those who take advantage of this offer!

Strong Cooling Performance with a budget price tag

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