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To begin with, the Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M was shaping up to be a great CPU air cooler. The dual-tower design is aesthetically pleasing with its design providing a very clean and minimalist appearance – when installed into the system, it looks very neat with few cables to manage.
Its pleasing appearance is further bolstered by the all-black coating, with a sprinkling of RGB lighting on the top shroud. The only thing which slightly detracts from the clean looks is the two silver screws on the top panel. Although not a huge issue, these would have fit in much better with the design if they had the same black coating as the rest of the cooler.
The overall build quality of the Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M is great. It has a really sturdy feel to it, the materials used in manufacture seems to be of high quality. Not only for the main cooler itself, this high-quality feel extends to the brackets and mounting hardware too, so removal and refitting the MA620M multiple times shouldn’t be a problem, we expect the hardware to stand the test of time.
Not only does the MA620M look great, it also offers excellent acoustic performance. During our acoustic test, the MasterAir MA620M placed high in our charts. When you take into account the fact that the fan is spinning at 2000 RPM, the relatively low noise level proves to be quite an achievement, which Cooler Master deserve credit for. Other models of 120mm fans running at 2000 RPM have been known to be much louder. At low RPM when the CPU temperatures are lower, the MA620M is virtually silent.
Unfortunately, looks aren’t everything, especially where CPU coolers are concerned. A CPU cooler's primary objective should be to keep the temperature under control, this is one area where the Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M falls short, especially when overclocking comes into the equation.
During our initial stress tests at stock CPU frequency, the MA620M kept our Core i9-9900K within its operating temperature range. By no means was it up there with some of the best coolers we tested, but it did an OK job.
Once we pushed the CPU further with higher frequencies, this is where the MA620M started to struggle. In our basic overclocking stress test at 4.7 GHz, CPU temperature did start to rise quite rapidly, and while it never reached the thermal limit of the CPU, it did get close.
However, during our final ‘extreme’ stress test with the CPU overclocked to 4.9 GHz on all cores, the Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M was unable to prevent thermal throttling of the CPU. Actual readings from the CPU temperature sensors exceeded 100°C and CPU core frequency throttled by up to 10%. Therefore we would not recommend this CPU cooler to anyone who may attempt overclocking on a high-end CPU, such as the Intel Core i9-9900K.
Although we wouldn't recommend the MA620M for overclocking, it may be suitable for cooling mid-range CPUs at stock frequency, which do not require such a high TDP cooling solution. Furthermore, the MA620M features a very simple installation process that takes very little time to complete, which is a bonus.
The Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M is available to buy for £89.99 from Overclockers UK HERE.
Pros
- Aesthetically pleasing design.
- Fast installation process.
- Tall RAM compatibility.
- Quiet operation.
Cons
- Poor cooling performance.
- No option to mount extra cooling fans.
KtGuru says: It is a shame the Cooler Master MasterAir MA620M was let down by its poor thermal performance. Its stunning aesthetics, quiet operation and quick installation process could have provided the recipe for something brilliant.
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