Cooler Master MasterAir Pro 3 & Pro 4 CPU Cooler Review

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That's unfortunate about the MasterAir Pro 3. I'm still using a Cooler Master Hyper N520 92mm cooler in one of my older Linux machines, and I was hoping the Pro 3 would prove a worthy successor. I also hope you determine what the issue was with the Pro 3. Also, comparison data from a Hyper 212 EVO or 212 X would be helpful, but I understand you don't have time to bench everything. Thanks for the review.
 
"a spectacular deal for buyers who value longevity more than frugality."


it is double the cost of the deep cool and dose a worse job, tom call a spade a spade and recommend the deepcool
 
just looked up the cryorig H5, DANG is that a pritty cooler \(^_^)

odd that it was not inc in the test and or no Noctua?
the price for the BE quite is close to a Noctua.

I kinda feel like this articular is trying to make this cooler seem ....cooler 😉 then it is
 
Tweaktown's results with their CM PRO 3: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7920/cooler-master-masterair-pro-3-cpu-review/index6.html

This is not a $40 cooler. More like a $25 dollar one. CM is way off on their pricing even if it's geared towards those with limited room and want a more quiet cooler. The low-to-mid range air cooler market segment is getting very busy with competition these days. While the PRO 4 seems like a competitive entry, the PRO 3 falls flat just on pricing alone.
 
It actually cools 1° better and costs 50% more. And the DeepCool already got our recommendations. Furthermore, I wouldn't have even thought to call you that.
 


-_- well played sir. however 1 degree and 50% more dose not = a spectacular deal

 
I just checked, it didn't get the spectacular deal award, it got the Approved award. The Gammaxx 400 got the Choice award, which is two levels higher, in spite of its short warranty and rumors from a few buyers that the short warranty is necessary.

 

No visible damage, perhaps a manufacturing defect?
 
It's odd that the gammaxx 400 became the choice of 'go to' for the comparison, I would have thought the list would have at least included the 212 evo. Coolermaster's own previous cooler to see if these were any update. By frostytech's measurements (which don't always seem to align to other test results) the 212 evo still outperforms the gammaxx 400 (of which there aren't many reviews). Suggesting it would also tie or outperform these new coolers at just over half the cost these are asking.

For that matter depending on how much room someone has they could go with a reeven justice or thermalright true spirit 140 power and get nh-d14 performance for $42-50 respectively. These appear lackluster and over priced.

The 212 evo is the same height as the masterair pro 4 and comparative results suggest they perform the same. So what else is cooler master bringing to the table exactly besides a fatter price tag? I can't tell from the pics, did they manage to correct the ram conflict with the masterair pro 4 that existed with the 212 evo? That's one of the improvements cryorig made with their h7 and h5 universal, alleviating the ram interference (at least on intel boards). The h7 costs less and likely cools the same or better than the pro 4 while being more the size of the pro 3.

Part of the pro3's issue with rough temps aside from the convex base may be due to the fact it only has 3 heat pipes. It's essentially a modern tx3 which didn't fair so well under heavier loads and higher temps either. Most lower/mid range budget coolers are using 4 heat pipes, not 3. Mid to upper range coolers are using 6, 7, 8 heat pipes. Most likely because 3 just won't cut it.
 
Not so odd when you consider it's the Editor's Choice CPU cooler. Our Hyper 212 EVO hasn't been around for years...but I did consider the three-heat-pipe issue when I decided not to just pitch the Pro 3 from the comparison. I also thought of the direction of the core vs the direction of curvature of the Pro 3's base.

 


Right I knew where you were coming from with the gammaxx 400 since it was an award winner. I just figured with the popularity of the 212 evo and the fact it was cooler master's previous flagship budget cooler it would have been included to show what gains if any cooler master has made in 5 years. The masterair pro 3 and 4 look like modern updates to the tx3 and 212 +/evo.

I couldn't tell if anything had actually been updated on these like ram clearance compatibility or anything since the 212 and tx3 or if they're more or less a more expensive direct replacement model. It's still pretty early with comparisons of these new coolers but other reviews don't seem to pit them against the 212 evo either.

It does look like the pro 3 offset the heat pipes a bit for better ram clearance but the pro 4 didn't. They updated the fans, that may be a plus. The downside is that so many places already have the 212 evo and if it performs the same as the pro 4 there's little justification in the price. The 212 evo has been steadily selling for $25-30 usd, $45 is a hard sell. If the evo's were priced at $45 they'd likely be collecting dust on a shelf, outshone by less expensive and equally as capable coolers. $45 is within striking distance of their own hyper 612 v2, raijintek ereboss, a couple decent reeven coolers or the dark rock 3.

They do have a nice appeal with the black cover facing out vs the bare aluminum fins of the older models but at this point it seems like they're competing with their own products from 5yrs ago and the old products are beating the new models on price/performance. I was hoping they would have made significant improvements for a 50%+ cost increase. The name may be more in line with their 'master' series but they could have just as easily named the pro 4 the 212 evo v2 or 212 ++. Even if they stop production of the 212 evo and let current stock dry up the competition's already undercutting them.
 
Well now, if you read the article you'd find that the Pro 3 has 1/2" of offset, that the Pro 4 does not, and that the Pro 4 has 1.4" of component clearance. Beyond that, the images show that the fan can be moved up and down on the fins. As for technological advancements, let's think about what's happened in air cooling since the heat pipe...hmm, I can't come up with anything.

 
I did read the article. I've read plenty of others on these as well. Not a whole lot has been improved but then if there's no improvement why hike the price 50% plus just to give everyone what already existed. I can't come up with a good reason for that. At least when cryorig released their h7, a similar design to the standard 4 pipe heatsinks they thought ahead enough to offset the cooler to avoid any ram clearance issues, no having to raise the fan up and create additional cooler height where it's not needed, they managed to shrink the height of the cooler compared to say the 212 evo and still provide better cooling and noise. So there are innovations that can be made, cm just chose not to.

I'm not saying the h7 is the only cooler out there but since talking about what changes can be made. There's no reason for a 4 pipe single tower to have ram conflict aside from poor design. Once you get into larger dual tower coolers, sure there's going to be some overhang and potential ram interference.

All I mentioned was that for what they are, even competing against their own 5yr old products, the msrp is a bit over zealous. Aside from the black face plate and maybe the mounting arms attaching slightly different, they spit out another 212 evo and jacked the price up. On the pro 4 at least, same ram issues, same direct touch heat pipes, same 4 heat pipes, same mounts, no innovation anywhere. As for the clearance of 1.4", that works out to 35.56mm. The 212 evo had 37mm of clearance so it actually got worse. That's why I think it would have been interesting to have compared this one to it's predecessor.

Maybe final prices will reflect a bit more reality but it's not generally good news when you're trying to sell a brand new widget for 3x the cost of a 4-5yr old competitor like the gammaxx 400 that performs equally as well. It's looking as though cm couldn't come up with anything either except the price tag. Generally people want something for additional cost and it's not a matter of a dollar or two. It's significant.
 
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