Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
The Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 is a standard looking dual tower cooler, similar to the Hyper 622 Halo White, but is much larger. This rendition utilizes aluminum fins for the two towers. Cooler Master’s logo can be found in the middle of the top plate covering the fins, hiding away the copper heatpipes. This makes for a very clean appearance. The fan shares a similar black color scheme to the heatsink, making for a simple and clean appearance. I personally find this cooler to be quite appealing for any black color themed computer. As the name implies, it is stealthy. Speaking of the build quality, I found everything to be quite rigid and feels durable.
This is a dual tower cooler, meaning the Cooler Master MasterAir 824 Stealth will have much larger proportions compared to regular 120mm-sized coolers. Being larger in size, it will fit in most mid-tower ATX cases, but may have some height interference on a case-by-case basis if you know what I mean. The fins have little notches on the side to help hook the fan in place. There is a total of forty-one fins on each stack. You may notice that closer to the base, the fins become smaller. These smaller fins are to assist in reducing interference, which worked very well. The spacing between the fins is about 3mm, and they are generally evenly spaced out with some variance. The total surface area for cooling is approximately 1.182 m². When it comes to the actual size, the Cooler Master MasterAir 824 Stealth is 162.2mm in length, 150.6mm in width, and 165.6mm in height, including the second fan. The Mobius 120’s thickness of 25mm is already accounted for in the 162.2mm length. The cooler weighs 1.45kg including the fan. This weight is within expectations of this type of cooler, meaning there will be a reasonable amount of stress on the motherboard.
Taking a look at the side, you can see how the thickness of each fin is constant throughout the entirety of the heatsink. These thin fins are used to keep the cooler light while maximizing surface area. The fins are made from aluminum likewise to many other coolers. The reason behind most fins being made from aluminum rather than copper is because aluminum is a lighter and cheaper metal. Although copper has better thermal conductivity at 401 W/mK compared to aluminum at 237 W/mK, the trade-off between weight, price, and performance is typically not worth it, as the gain in weight and price is much higher than the gain in performance.
Moving on, the material used to build the heatsink is not the only factor in lowering temperatures, but the fan used is another essential aspect of this cooling solution. The Cooler Master MasterAir 824 Stealth uses a Mobius 135 and Mobius 120. The maximum rated airflow of the Mobius 135 and 120 is 63.6 and 63.1 CFM, and the maximum rated air pressure is 1.92 and 2.69 mmH2O, in that respective order. Note CFM stands for cubic feet per minute. On paper, the CFM does not seem high, but let us see how this fan will actually perform in the performance testing on the next page.
In regard to the noise level, with the use of rifle bearings, the Mobius 120 is specified at 22.6 dBA at the loudest, which is excellent. Between the towers is a Mobius 135, which has a maximum noise rating of 24.6 dBA. Both of these fans use Loop Dynamic Bearings. These bearings are similar to regular fluid bearings, but have a system Cooler Master calls Oil Reflow to help the oil flow continuously and keep the lubrication more constant. This achieves an increased life span and keeps the noise levels low. Cooler Master also implements an Anti-Sway System, which uses a magnetic ring to prevent the bearing shaft from tilting, meaning the mounting position will have no effect on the lifespan of the fans. Regarding RAM clearance, there were no issues with the heatsink or fans with all sticks of RAM installed in my PC.
Looking at the bottom of the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth, we can see how the heatpipes are configured relative to the base. The base is flat and does not appear to have any abnormalities. It is made out of copper and electroplated with nickel, which is preferable, as nickel will protect against oxidization. Nickel is highly resistant to corrosion, making it perfect for sustaining copper surfaces. I also personally prefer the shiny silver look over the look of copper. Everything else is painted black. These painted layers add to the long-term durability of the cooler itself. These choices to nickel plate and paint the cooler are things that are commonly seen nowadays. The MasterAir MA824 Stealth comes with pre-applied thermal paste, aiding the transfer of heat from the CPU to the rest of the cooler. All eight continuous heatpipes are soldered to the base. The fins are also attached to the heatpipes quite firmly. The whole build is overall pretty decent.
For the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth, the orientation of the heatpipes is parallel with the fan mounting surface of the heatsink. The heatpipes are lined up parallel against each other aside from the ends throughout the radiator fins. The layout of the heatpipes of the MasterAir MA824 Stealth is used to optimally dissipate heat. The fins attach to the heatsink by the included fan clips. The process of removing and reattaching the fan was quite simple.
The installation of the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth was straightforward but hard. The manual is fairly simple to follow along and necessary in understanding which clips to use for each processor. The installation process is fairly standard after screwing the mounting clips onto the backplate. For AMD, you will use the stock backplate. This method is good, as the installation process is very linear and simple given you can screw the cooler onto the backplate directly through the included mounting brackets.
After placing the backplate in place and installing the mounting brackets to the backplate, you will be ready to install the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth. There are several ways to install the brackets, as the cooler is compatible with AM4, AM5, and LGA socket CPUs. The center fan will be pre-installed, making the installation process easier.
During installation, I experienced very little issues with RAM clearance with the front fan, as the shorter fins provided an adequate amount of space for my taller profile memory. My main issue with the installation was mainly in regard to the size of the cooler itself. The size made maneuvering around my case slightly difficult, especially when aligning the screws with my backplate. I had some assistance in applying pressure to the backplate to allow me to better line up the screws on the cooler with the screw holes on the mounting brackets. The size makes it difficult to see and feel where you should be screwing down, but with a little bit of fiddling, you will be able to install the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth.
Overall, the Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth is made quite well. As mentioned earlier, the top fins have a plate to protect the top of the heatsink from bending. The installation process was simple, as you can simply just installing the mounting brackets to the backplate, then screw it down the rest of the cooler to the aforementioned brackets. Despite being simple, the installation was hard in regard to the size of the cooler itself. The overall experience was quite good with the linear and simple process, but some assistance may be needed. Now, we can continue to the part that really matters, the cooling performance. Let us take a look at the results on the next page.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
