SFF.Network [SFF Network] Cooler Master's SFF Water Cooler: The MasterLiquid Maker 92

Tom's Hardware has the scoop on Cooler Master's take on a SFF AIO water cooler, the MasterLiquid Maker 92. It made a brief appearance at Computex earlier this year, but no details were available until now. Essentially it is a 92mm AIO, except instead of mounting the radiator to the chassis as in a typical water cooler, the rad and fans are stuck to the top of the block via a bracket. This may not seem that innovative in and of itself, but Cooler Master's selling point with this unit is that the bracket swivels, allowing for either vertical or horizontal configurations.

Read more here.

 

[jeshikat]

And can I just say that Cooler Master MasterLiquid Maker 92 is a stupid name?

They might as well partner with Microsoft in a few years for a GOTY version: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Maker 92 Master Chief's Remastered Edition

 

[Kmpkt]

Cooler Master MasterLiquid Maker 92 sounds like something you'd find in an adult shop to be honest.

 

[confusis]

Or you could buy a regular air cooler which is tied to the CPU socket like this, and save 3/4 of the complexity, add 4x the lifespan (coolant in sealed loops still evaporates) and half the price.

 

[|||]

Cooler Master wants to seem 'cool,' but they don't seem to understand the whole maker movement is about making things rather than buying them, at least not as components that are typically available off-the-shelf for building a computer.

One of the things I like about water-cooling, AIO's included, is that the heat transfer can happen at a volume boundary. You can either draw in cool air from outside through the radiator or expel the hot air from the radiator directly out of the case. By them mounting it directly over the CPU, you get rid of that advantage.

 

[EdZ]

It's a really neat product that as far as I can tell serves absolutely no purpose.

 

[jØrd]

Cooler Master wants to seem 'cool,' but they don't seem to understand the whole maker movement is about making things rather than buying them, at least not as components that are typically available off-the-shelf for building a computer.

The way i saw it pitched was that they were "opening up" their "platforms" to makers w/ (im guessing) more access to schematics or some such and then supporting those makers w/ access to their production facilities / partners & some kind of profit sharing (not 100% sure on the specifics but something along those lines). Weather its a deal the maker community will be interested in is another matter entirely as is weather they will hold true to the pitch.

 

[|||]

Different case covers don't really constitute "maker" projects to me.

 

[jØrd]

Different case covers don't really constitute "maker" projects to me.

Me either but i don't think they misunderstand the idea of "makers making things as opposed to buying them". If i had to guess i'd say they misunderstand the motives behind the maker movement. Offering them a cut of the profits and their name on your website seems naive, as does expecting them to come knocking at your door because your a big brand box producer. My personal opinion though is that the whole thing reeks of a marketing dept trying to cash in on what they see as the new exciting thing before its too late. embrace and conquer perhaps, misguided and obtuse definitely, still around in two years unlikely.

 

[Phuncz]

The one positive thing I take away from this useless product that's clearly targeted at ignorant people, is that you can change it from a tower cooler to a top-down cooler. That's quite original although arguably fringe useful.

 

[Kmpkt]

I think SFF.net needs to do a head to head review of this unit and the Phononic Hex 2.0 pronto.

 

[Tek Everything]

This is very interesting... I refuse to write it off before testing one. I'm already thinking of ways this could be modded.

 

[iFreilicht]

This might be one of the stupidest CPU coolers I've ever seen, holy shit. And still, people will be like: Yeah, watercooling performance in a tower-cooler form factor. So SFF, I'll put that into my NZXT Manta, that'll make it even smaller!

 

[K888D]

Need to compare the CPU temps against an equivalent height tower cooler, it may be that this system conducts heat more efficiently than traditional heatpipes leading to lower temps and noise under load.

Or it may just be a complete load of pointless overly expensive crap.

 

[jtd871]

Like @||| says, the big advantage to watercooling is that you can move the point of heat exchange to a more advantageous location than immediately adjacent to the component that you're cooling. The only interesting feature this unit has is the ability to change the orientation of the fins and airflow. With a carefully-researched air cooler you wouldn't need this ability. Only now you've got a leak waiting to happen and a pump waiting to break down.

 

[BirdofPrey]

Well there's a couple advantages really. The first, that's already been mentioned, is the ability to move the heat rejection portions elsewhere, which this unit fails to do.

The other is that there is the potential for more surface area. Tower coolers can only get so big realistically, and GPUs are even more constrained. Increasing the surface area can be used both to lower fan speed (and thus, sounds output) and to increase total cooling capacity which is why overclockers like using it. Again, this unit fails in that regard.

I would like to see how well this performs, but I am not optimistic that it can outperform an aircooler of equivalent bulk.

 

[jeshikat]

First review is out and not looking too good so far: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/cooler_master_masterliquid_maker_92_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

 

[iFreilicht]

Not exactly surprising, is it? Noise profile is quite nice, though.

 

[Phuncz]

Performance and perf/noise is close to the NH-L9x65, that's very unimpressive.

 

[chemist_slime]

Just signed up on their site. I'm going to give this a try before knocking them.