• TWEAK
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• Air cooling

Cooler Master MasterAir MA824 Stealth

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Before we dive in and take a closer look at the MA824 Stealth from Cooler Master, I have listed the specifications that I found on Cooler Master's website.

The technical specifications:

• Intel Socket: 115X, 1200, 1366, 1700, 2066, 2011(-3)
• AMD Socket: AM4, AM5
• Heat Pipes: Direct Touch/ 8 Heat Pipes
• Material: Aluminum Fins
• Fan Size: 1 x 135 mm / 1 x 120 mm
• Fan Speed: 120 mm: 0 – 1950 rpm, 135 mm: 0 – 1550 rpm
• Noise Level: 135mm 24.6 dBA, 120mm 22.6 dBA
• Pressure: 135mm - 1.92 mm, 120mm - 2.69 H2O (Max)
• Size & Weight
• Length: 162.2 mm
• Width: 150.6 mm
• Height: 165.6 mm

All about the MA824 Stealth

The MA824 is built with performance, noise and design in focus. The stealth design gives a neutral and stylish look. The fans are from their latest Mobius series, which we have also previously looked at. They provide a good combination of noise and performance. In addition to that, the tower is equipped with eight superconducting composite heat pipes. With two included fans, the cooler uses push-pull cooling to optimize the cooling of the tower and your CPU.

It is not because the MA824 Stealth has a very different design than the previous models. But length and height have been increased, among other things. The screws are pre-mounted on the tower, which goes all the way down. Where the large 135 mm fan is fixed between the heating pipes and cannot be removed. We get kits to be able to mount on newer AMD motherboards, as well as various Intel motherboards. Besides that, we also have a 120mm fan, a 4-pin adapter and some manuals.

From the start, as I said, a Mobius 135 mm is already mounted on the cooler. Next to that, a 120 mm Mobius fan is also included, which creates a push-pull effect. Even with the extra cooler fitted, there is 42m of RAM clearance. Which allows for RAM which also has a bit of height. Without the extra fan mounted, the tower has a RAM clearance of 67mm.

The tower itself is built up with eight heat pipes with a nickel plated base. Which goes up on each side to two heatsinks which must ensure that the heat is distributed as best as possible. It's all done in black and keeps the Stealth design like previous models. The top cover is made of aluminum and gives a very stylish look, which is only broken by the Cooler Master logo.

Assembly

Cooler Master has provided everything you need. The plate that comes with it must be used for Intel, where if you want to mount on AMD, you must use the plate that is on the motherboard from the start.

When the plate is mounted, the other brackets are screwed on, which must hold the plate together on the motherboard, and make it possible to fasten the cooler to the motherboard.

The Test – Use and Performance

Test system

• MSI MEG Z690 Unify
• Intel I7 12900K
• Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti
• 32 GB HyperX Fury DDR5 5200 MHz CL36
• Samsung 970 EVO 500 GB SSD

Test software

• Cinebench (Benchmark)
• HWinfo64 (Monitoring)

Procedure

The test is set up so that we first warm up the system with Cinebench for 5 minutes. Then run it further for 10 minutes where we measure the average temperature in HWiNFO64. We then finally subtract the room temperature at the given time and land on a delta temperature to give as neutral a picture as possible. The fans are set to run at full speed, so that you get a picture of the maximum cooling performance with the load we are now giving it. It should give a real picture of how much you can stress on the different coolers, and whether they can take more or less than what we give it.

**After following up a bit on the I9 12900K and heat generation, I have chosen to turn off Hyper-Threading, to give the cooler the opportunity to show what it can do, rather than pushing the CPU to its maximum. All tests in the future will run like this.

The measurements:

Room temperature: ~ 26 degrees
Fan speed: ~ 1550 RPM

CPU WATTS: ~ 215

As always, we start by looking at the idle temperature. Where we start off nicely with the MA824 Stealth, which stands out nicely with the lowest result compared to previous air coolers. The MA824 Stealth has a delta temperature of 3 degrees below idle.

We ramp up the test and start pushing the temperature so that the MA824 Stealth can work overtime. Here it ends up with a result of 54 degrees in delta temperature, and again it manages to give the best performance compared to previously tested air coolers.

Noise level

Normally, sound has been tested with non-professional equipment, which has only given an indication of the noise level. I have replaced this part, measuring the noise level with the UT353 from UNI-T. At full speed during the test, the cooler ended up with a noise level of 50.8 dBA. The fans were running at 100%, and I had my doubts if they were even running, as the fans were incredibly silent.

Price

The MA824 Stealth has not arrived in stores yet and we have therefore not been able to find a price. However, Cooler Master has stated an MSRP of 130$.

If you want to find more information about the MasterAir MA824 Stealth from Cooler Master, you can click on the banner above.

Conclusion

So we have come to the end of the test of the MasterAir MA824 Stealth from Cooler Master. Every once in a while, manufacturers manage to surprise with their products, and that is undoubtedly what has happened here with the MA824 Stealth. Their system is easy to install and they have found a system that works and shows no reason to change much. The design itself probably appeals to some who are not into RGB, but who want bang for the buck in terms of performance.

It is exactly the bang for the buck that fits the MA824, where you get a silent air cooler, but which does not compromise on performance, which is also nice to see, where it manages to come up with an incredibly nice result, and still achieves 215W on 12900K.

The black premium design itself is in competition with many other brands, where their designs are very similar to each other. But the test also shows that Cooler Master can easily be there with both performance and appearance here.

As mentioned, I have switched to measuring the noise level with different equipment than before, and therefore you can easily see if you look at early tests that it is an extreme jump in the measured sound level. But it must be said that the cooler was incredibly silent, and if you throw it in a cabinet with little sound reduction, you will probably end up never hearing the fan running, even at 100%.

Finally, if I have to come up with something that speaks against the MA824 Stealth, it's the size. It takes up quite a bit of space, and that also means that probably not all builds can make use of it, as it also requires a cabinet that can hold it in it. So if it's a small ITX you're going to make, you'll probably have to take a second look to see if the dimensions match.

In the end, there is only one score left, and here I end up giving 9 out of 10 along with Great product to the MasterAir MA824 Stealth from Cooler Master. Although the size is listed as a con, it is also difficult for it not to have a small size when it has to manage to create a good cooling performance. However, it is undoubtedly a candidate worth keeping an eye on, and if you need to change the cooler and you are going the air cooler route, then the MA824 Stealth is worth a look.

Pros

• Easy to install
• Beautiful design
• Incredibly silent, even under pressure
• Great performance

Cons

• Fills up quite a bit

Score: 9 + Great Product