Chad's CPU Cooler Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HERO (Intel Z170) - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Patriot Viper 4 3000MHz 4X4GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Graphics Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB OC - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Corsair Neutron XTi 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: INWIN D-Frame - Read our review
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower DPS 1050W - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit - Buy from Amazon
• Software: RealTemp 3.70, AIDA64 Engineer 5.75.3900, and CPU-z 1.77.0 x64

I would like to thank ASUS, InWin, Patriot, and Fractal Design for supplying products for me to test with.

To see our testing methodology and to find out what goes into making our charts, please refer to our CPU Cooler Testing and Methodology article for more information.

Thermal Results

Right out of the box, and allowing the cooler to do what it does without any messing about with it, the performance starts off strong. At 55.25 degrees, the MasterLiquid 240 comes in at a respectable fourth place with the coolers we have tested thus far. We should mention, that for this, and all following testing, we did run the pump at full speed, which was reported at 948 RPM.

Applying the overclock, and still allowing for PWM control of the fans, the temperature jumped to 72 degrees, which is not all that bad in the grand scheme of things. However, the MasterLiquid 240 has fallen from fourth to sixth place in this test.

Attempting to gain every ounce of performance out of the cooler, pushing the fans at full speed, we see there is a slight reduction in temperature. The 70.25-degree result keeps the sixth place position in this run, but also shows how close the PWM fan curve is to delivering the most from this cooler, without having to deal with all the noise this test method presents.

Noise Level Results

As it is displayed in this chart, with the pair of fans turning at 1147 RPM, the 30 dB of noise seems high, but in reality it is not all that bad at all. Most descriptions of noise levels will tell you that this is the beginning of human hearing, and while we could hear a slight hum from the fans, we would in no way call this result loud.

When we applied the overclock, the PWM circuitry did ramp up the fans slightly to 1636 RPM. At this time the noise does increase to 38 dB, which is noticeable in the room, but still not in the droning range of noise, and inside of a chassis, with sound directed away from the user, the noise is even less noticeable.

To obtain the best performance, we do not feel the extra 1.75 degrees we saw in thermal testing is worth the amount of noise produced to achieve it. At 69 dB with the fans turning at 2547, there is no way to disguise this amount of noise. Even with headphones on while gaming, you are going to hear the MasterLiquid Pro 240 if you choose to run the fans at full speed.