Introduction
On the bench today is the Cooler Master MASTERAIR MA824 STEALTH (MAM-D8PN-318PK-R1). It is part of Cooler Master’s MASTERAIR series of coolers that represents the best offerings that they have. We previously reviewed the MASTERAIR MA624 STEALTH and the MA824 improves upon it with two additional heat pipes as well as a new design for the heat pipe to increase heat transfer. There’s also a 30th Anniversary version of the MA824 available that adds some RGB bling to the experience.
We’ll strap it to our air cooling test platform that is built around a Ryzen 7 2700X processor with a manufacturer-claimed TDP of 105W. This should provide a reasonable usage case that we are likely to see with some of today’s most demanding air-cooled CPU coolers.
Cooler Master MASTERAIR MA824 STEALTH Overview
The Cooler Master MASTERAIR MA824 STEALTH cooler is an air cooler that is designed to work on a wide variety of sockets, including Intel’s LGA1700/115x/1200 and AMD’s AM4/AM5. Notably absent are the older Intel HEDT sockets, the TR4 and AM3 and below.
Heatsink
Cooler Master MASTERAIR MA824 STEALTH sports eight heat pipes which provide full coverage of the nickel-plated copper base to allow for heat dissipation. The pipes extend up into an aluminum dual tower that is sandwiched with fans. The entire assembly is black and does not have any LED bling attached to it, which allows it to remain stealthy even under power.
Cooler Master emphasizes the use of the black aluminum cover as a way to show a premium finish on the unit. The cooler has its mounting screws on the top, so you do not have to remove the fans or wedge a screwdriver anywhere inconvenient to get this mounted to your system.
Fans
Cooler Master includes two Mobius series fans – a 120mm for the outside and a 135mm sized one for the middle. The 120mm flavor is clipped to the heatsink using provided fan clips, while the 135mm is pre-installed and does not appear to be removable with anything short of a crowbar and irreversible damage.
The 120mm Mobius fan supports a fan speed of 0 to 1950 RPM (+/- 15%) at a reported noise level of up to 22.6 dB(A) while the 135mm Mobius fan supports a fan speed of 0 to 1550 RPM (+/- 15%) at a reported noise level of up to 24.6 dB(A). The stated airflow maximum is 63.1 CFM and 63.6 CFM at up to 3W and 2.4W of power respectively for the 120mm and 135mm fans. The claimed MTTF is greater than 200,000 hours (Ed: Let’s not test that claim as we’ll never get to publish the review). Lastly, this fan uses a 4-pin PWM connector and sports LDB bearings.
Let’s move on now to our test setup and installation of the Cooler Master MASTERAIR MA824 STEALTH.