Cooler Master has announced a brand new air cooler in the market – and that is the MasterAir MA610P. From the aesthetics, it looks very similar with the MasterAir Maker 8 that has already been in the market for quite some time. Of course, there are a few major differences. For those who like single tower air coolers with a built-in light show, then take a look at what the MasterAir MA610P has to offer.

Before we begin, the naming scheme is something to take note of. Breaking down the MA610P name into its respective segments, the MA stands for MasterAir, 6 stands for the number of heatpipes, 1 stands for single tower cooler, and the number 0 is for variant number, whereas the P means for premium. There’s also a MA620P which is a dual-tower air cooler.

Specifications

Unboxing

From the box itself, it’s no surprise or differs significantly compared to other Cooler Master’s air cooler packaging. Most of it is black but with a splash of purple, since purple is the official color for Cooler Master’s coolers.

Opening up the box reveals an accessory box together with the user manual and also the warranty card.

After that, there are two large pieces of foam. These two large pieces of foam sandwiched the MasterAir MA610P, creating an all-around protection for the heatsink together with the two fans.

Inside the accessories box, nothing out of the ordinary is found. Mounting hardware for both AMD and Intel platform with a familiar-looking backplate as well which we’ve seen in the G100M. It even has mounting hardware for the Intel’s X299 and X99 platforms.

Last but not least, Cooler Master included a grey syringe of thermal paste from their new lineup instead of the white and purple as we’ve seen over the years.

The MasterAir MA610P

In terms of design, the MasterAir MA610P is reminiscent of the MasterAir Maker 8 from the yesteryear. There are a few notable differences here, namely the RGB lighting since everything needs to have RGB now.

As mentioned in the video, the MasterAir MA610P comes with two MasterFan 120 Air Balance RGB and a centerpiece that illuminates with RGB too. Cooler Master is also considerate enough to make channels for the wires to pass through the fin stacks so the user doesn’t have to deal with the potential cable management nightmare. Though, Cooler Master could have employed pogo pins so there are less cables.

At first glance, many people mistakenly thought that the MasterAir MA610P is in push-push configuration. Obviously, that’s not the case. By taking out both fans, we realized that the fan blades’ orientation are inverted. These two MasterFan 120 Air Balance RGB are custom-made for the MasterAir 610P so that the sticker and fan chassis wouldn’t disrupt the RGB lighting.

Fan replacement seems to be pretty much impossible at this point, as the fans comes with a proprietary mount which will only fit fans that is made the same as the custom made Air Balance RGB for the MasterAir 610P.

Installation

The installation process is quite straightforward. Firstly, prepare the backplate accordingly, depending on what processor you’re using. Once that’s done, apply some thermal paste onto the processor and remove the sticker on the base of the MasterAir MA610P. Then, the cooler can be lowered to the CPU and screwed. But – there’s a catch.

It is highly recommended – no, a necessity – to use a long Phillips screwdriver. Cooler Master is kind enough to have notches on the fin stack so that your screwdriver can access the screws directly. However, short screwdrivers will definitely have a problem here. It would be great if Cooler Master included a screwdriver too.

Since there are already cables routed through the heatsink itself, managing and connecting the fans’ power and RGB is easy and convenient.

One thing to note is that for motherboards with a backplate like the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi that we’re using here, you’ll have a problem. that motherboard’s plate will obstruct the mounting mechanism. Hence, the motherboard’s plate will have to be removed. This problem was seen on other coolers that uses a custom backplate like the MasterAir G100M that we reviewed here.

As for RAM clearance, we’re using the G.Skill Trident Z here and we had to remove the RAM before installing the fans. However, there were no clearance issue with the RAM at all, just the installation sequence to take note of.

Testing Methodology

For this test, we used Prime95 with ‘In-place large FFTs’ for maximum heat output. The test is conducted under ambient temperature of 30°C using the following setup and the GC-PRO thermal paste from Gelid:

Tests are done independently for each of the CPU coolers – MasterAir MA610P, Wraith Prism, Wraith Spire. Temperature readings are only taken after the performance is consistent throughout all the remaining stress test.

Performance wise, the MasterAir MA610P actually performs quite well throughout the test. Not only that it manage to tame the Ryzen 7 2700X running on stock frequency at 52°C on load, the operating noise is barely audible from 1 Metre distance.

Conclusion

Out of the box, the MasterAir MA610P is a pretty decent CPU cooler in terms of performance. The mounting mechanism is similar to what other Cooler Master is using for their other coolers. While the cooler fairly easy to install, it’s recommended to use a long Philips screwdriver for easier installation.

If you’re a fan of RGB lighting, the RGB fans of the MasterAir MA610P can be connected to the motherboard RGB header or the included RGB controller for the RGB light show you always wanted. Now, the only issue we have here is that the included fans are custom made – both the frame and the mount. This makes replacement virtually impossible with normal 120mm fans, which is pretty bad for the long run.

The MasterAir MA610P is available at the price of RM209 from Cooler Master Official Store at Lazada.

Pros

• Clean and subtle aesthetics
• Built-in cable management for the RGB
• Good performance with push-pull configuration out of the box
• RGB controller included or can be connected to motherboard header

Cons

• Irreplaceable fans as it uses proprietary mounts
• Needs a long Philips screwdriver to install, which is not included