If you are curious about how to install the Masterliquid 360 Atmos, you can watch our full video here.
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When bringing up the conversation of liquid coolers, for the most part, the only discerning factors are the style of the Thermal Head, the size of the radiator, and what temperature my CPU runs at. We can break down each of the three topics regarding the brand-new generation of RGB CPU cooler customization brought to you by the Masterliquid Atmos.
RGB Features with Brand New Lighting Layouts and Personalization:
One great feature included in the box, at a price of $159.99, is a Gen2 Cooler Master RGB Controller box, which fully integrates into the Masterplus software. This is how you will control the RGB styling of the RGB fans included with your radiator and the CPU head.
What makes this stand out from previous generations of RGB is that the individual RGB lights, or zones, can be changed separately from one another. This allows for a more fine-tuned touch to the look of the CPU head and fans, creating color blends, gradients, or patterns that better suit the look of your space.
The CPU head has an inner zone and an outer zone, in which the Cooler Master logo features 4 RGB Zones, and the outer area shows eight zones. Each fan has even more to offer, providing they contain 12 RGB Zones.
Each of these zones is entirely 8-bit in color, and using the custom color effect, you can control the outcome of these effects by using only colors that speak to your inner color scheme. If this option does not suit your fancy, you can stick to the traditional presets, such as breathing, color cycles, and more. If you buy this product, you’d be sure to use the custom lighting as it immediately strikes you as new and fresh.
The CPU head provides a new look to the market, showcasing a transparent material that works very well, enhancing the look and reflecting RGB light. It certainly provides a brighter, new-age design to a previously standardized product look.
240mm VS. 360mm, and Potential Performance Differences:
When deciding between options of 240mm and 360mm, you have to understand that you would typically, not in all cases, receive higher cooling performance with a larger radiator due to increased surface area for heat to dispense. Granted, not everyone can fit these large radiators, so options in 240mm still offer cooling performance with modern styling for those who build smaller ones.
This review features the 360mm radiator, and we will briefly discuss its performance later. However, given the choice and within the luxury of a large enough PC case, I chose to look into the 360mm Atmos, being I just reviewed performance for Cooler Master’s previous release of the Masterliquid 360L.
Performance of the Masterliquid 360 Atmos, Comparing to Masterliquid 360L, a Previous AIO:
To give this a fair review, we took the performance readings from Cinebench and CPU temps of the Masterliquid 360L, a prior product release to Cooler Master’s line of 360mm AIOs, and compared the numbers to the new Masterliquid 360 Atmos.
The Processor used to compare this review and previous cooler reviews is the Ryzen 7 3700X 8 core 3.6 GHz.
- Masterliquid 360L performed as follows:
- Single-core avg. temp – 61.8 C with a score of 1,289.
- Multi-core avg. temp – 75.8 with a score of 12,315.
- Masterliquid 360 Atmos performed as follows:
- Single-core avg. temp – 50.9 C with a score of 1,287.
- Multi-core avg. temp – 69.1 C with a score of 12,524.
Interestingly enough, single-core tests performed worse for the Masterliquid 360 Atmos, with cooler temps at 50.9, but as you can see, the performance was drastically improved on normal, multi-core use.
Multi-core resulted in cooler temps of about 7 degrees Celsius, with a significantly improved Cinebench performance score. Cinebench puts the CPU at maximum usage, raising the temps and core functions of the CPU to truly put the tech to the test. The general average temp of the Ryzen 7 3700x lies between 55-65 degrees Celsius.
Based on these results, Cooler Master’s new products clearly prove improvements in overall performance and cooling, which could be needed depending on your use case. For a casual gamer, it might not make a major difference for the price difference of $50 over the Masterliquid 360L, but for someone looking to get the most out of their system, a little bit more cooling might stabilize your system.
The technology in Cooler Master’s AIOs seems to keep improving based on the provided results, and they keep products fresh with a new face, RGB customization, and included gen2 ARGB box. You would have to justify spending $50 more for new RGB features and 6-7 degrees of cooling.
If the Atmos is in the budget, it’s undoubtedly a way “cooler” product than previous generations at a cheaper price, along with including a nice RGB control box. It will be hard to convince all buyers to make the jump in price, regardless of improved CPU conditions.
Noisy Pixel is giving the Masterliquid 360 Atmos Liquid Cooler an A—the same rank as its previous Masterliquid 360L.
The product does perform better in multi-core tests while offering fresh RGB features. However, it is quite the hike in price for an arguable, indistinguishable improvement in overall CPU performance. If it’s in the budget, the Atmos does spice up your life, but you can certainly feel comfortable without trading off money when buying the Masterliquid 360L.
The choice is yours, nerds.
