Cooler Master Masterliquid 360 ION Review – The Highest Resolution Liquid Cooler Around

Yet another breezy and timely release by Cooler Master hits the PC hardware market, the Masterliquid 360 ION AIO. To match the concurrent trends found amongst these cooling products, Cooler Master decided it was their turn to drop an LCD AIO device, and for $250, I would be nervous, too. However, this product has a ton of charm hidden beneath those shocking first impressions that might be worth your consideration.

Style / Feel / Build / Hardware

Like always, the Cooler Master Masterliquid product line continues to deliver high-quality metal-based hardware, and the 360 ION follows this trend. The 360 ION feels well-built all around. Even where there are small instances of plastic-based manufacturing, the product is generally made of robust metal, weighing about 4 pounds.

During installation, I found the pump hoses a bit stiff when spinning them into a fittable position, but I am glad they won’t move when mounted in the PC. Similar to the weight, if you want high-grade parts, pick your poison.

Based on touch, feel, and look, the most inexpensive or non-favorable parts of the 360 ION, if I had to nitpick, would be the fans and maybe the LCD plexiglass casing. The fans just seem a bit boring compared to other Cooler Master options out there, especially ones provided by other AIO listings. Especially when shelling out $250 for a CPU cooler, I expect a bit more flare to this product, but the 360 ION heavily leans on the impact of the LCD for that wow factor.

Speaking of the LCD, the display is the most intriguing factor the 360 ION sells, and let me tell you, it delivers. The 2.1-inch screen is astonishingly bright, sharp, and even looks fairly HDR, supporting a vast array of colors found similar to smartphone photography and screens. I really didn’t expect the saturation and pixel density to be as good as they are, as you can’t see any pixels even when shoving your face into the LCD. This is easily the best part of the Masterliquid 360 ION, as it should be, and it doesn’t disappoint. We will go over the customization features shortly.

Other than the LCD, the 360 ION CPU head features Cooler Master’s self-proclaimed “Halo” ring RGB layout but doesn’t utilize any next-gen RGB features previously launched, such as choosing the color of individual LED lights, rather than the entire RGB device. You can watch our Cooler Master 360 Atmos review to learn more about that. In this case, due to how prominent the display is, I think the simple Halo ring works here, even though I am spoiled and upset about the RGB feature backtracking.

Side statement: when installing the Masterliquid 360 ION, we tried to cheat and use the mounting provided by the previous AIO installed, but the CPU head simply didn’t make contact due to the mounting hardware height, so make sure you use the provided parts that support up to AM5 and Intel LGA 1700. The installation process is generally simple and the same as any other Liquid Cooler. It’s even easier because Cooler Master tends to keep their products no larger than needed, so the ION fits right into our more minor ATX case.

There are more wires involved here due to the need to power a display via Micro-USB, and multiple RGB connections for each fan, power, etc., would lead us to daisy chaining in this particular RGB build. The installation worked as intended, but just prepare for the annoyance of extra cable management and the need for a capable motherboard. The Micro-USB for the head does have motherboard pins on the other end, so there is no need to panic about ugly cable runs.

Performance / Hands-on-use / User Experience / Analysis / Etc.

Besides the actual use case of the Masterliquid 360 ION in cooling performance, this liquid cooler has more to offer than just RGB customization. Customizing the LCD is certainly fun, as it offers a variety of screens to choose from, such as CPU temperature and other system info, personal images, clockfaces, and more. Each of these screens also offers the ability to mess with settings such as the color of the clock or brightness of the LCD. It never felt like I was limited in choices here, which is all you can ask for.

Customization takes place within Cooler Master’s new software launch, MasterCtrl, instead of Masterplus. I didn’t realize they had swapped interfaces, so at first, I thought my 360 ION wasn’t showing up on Masterplus, leaving me frustrated. Master Ctrl also offers the ability to see performance and temperature readings, keeping up with trends presented by other competitors. You can also alter fan speed, fan RGB colors and modes, and monitor fan RPM, Pump RPM, Power Draw, and more. The addition of Cooler Master’s Ctrl software went well with their release of the Masterliquid 360 ION, as they needed a visual and feature-based update.

I have no real complaints regarding the software and the individual control of the 360 ION. As long as my PC works, you can’t go wrong. Maybe the software is a bit too simple? I’ll let you decide.

Cooling Performance of the Masterliquid 360 ION: Is it Worth It?

To determine whether the 360 ION’s performance matches its style, we tested it against their previous 240mm liquid cooler, the PL240 Flux, in a Cinebench and Usage load temperature test. There is only one way to determine whether Cooler Master’s self-proclaimed hardware design improvements are selling points.

Some might say comparing a two-fan vs. a three is unfair, but wait until you see these results. Bigger, both in size and price, isn’t always THAT much better.

Test Results – 360 ION V vs. PL240 Flux

(360 ION)
Idle Temperatures – ~30 Celsius

Multi-Core
Cinebench Multi-Core (360 ION) w/ 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400: 672
Multi-Core Temps During Test – ~50-55 Celsius

Single-Core
Cinebench Single-Core (360 ION) w/ 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400: 98
Single-Core Temps During Test – ~34-40 Celsius

(PL240 Flux RGB) – Previous Cooler Master Liquid Cooler
Idle Temperatures – ~30 Celsius 

Multi-Core
Cinebench Multi-Core (PL240 Flux) w/ 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400: 661
Multi-Core Temps During Test – ~56-60 Celsius

Single-Core
Cinebench Single-Core (PL240 Flux) w/ 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400: 98
Single-Core Temps During Test – ~35-45 Celsius

Discussing The Test Results

Overall, the PL240 Flux compared to the 360 ION: you’d think there would be a larger discrepancy between the two devices. The results show that, yes, there is a difference in performance within a few degrees, but how many dollars are you willing to spend per degree of cooling? Think about it that way.

With the 360 ION, the price per degree goes way higher. Granted, you are paying for the highly luscious customizable screen on the CPU head. Cooler Master cut away some RGB customization from their newest generation tech releases, but it’s just a trade-off to fit in the display. It’s a big ask for those looking for functionality and performance above all, as the 360 ION clearly doesn’t provide a substantial upgrade compared to older products.

In general, people who are willing to shell out an additional $120 compared to a regular AIO price point would still have to place their PC in a visible area even to warrant spending the extra money. I personally don’t think many people will ever decide to go this route, and neither will I based on my set-up, but those who do will find a lot of value in the refined LCD in the 360 ION. The cooling could have performed a bit better, but if you are looking for prestige in your PC, the Masterliquid 360 brings style to a new level while also performing within acceptable boundaries.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the choice is ultimately up to you, and you have to decide what is most important to you when building your PC rig. I was shocked by the quality of the LCD when turning it on for the first time, but I wasn’t surprised by the price after seeing the quality with my own eyes. At $250, it is an enormous ask for most PC builders, but this product fits right into the hyper-hobbyist who likes to showcase their gear as much as they use it—a great device and worthy of being present on the market that is PC parts.

It’s a great product indeed, but the price is too steep for the actual performance to warrant the jump to this product. My PC isn’t in the most visible spot but granted the gift of the LCD, I would have done it anyway if it had been cheaper. It’s an understandable price, but the 360 ION prices itself out in a way.