The Cooler Master MaserLiquid 360 is one of the better offerings from Cooler Master in terms of coolers, the Atmos is on the more expensive side of AIO coolers from Cooler Master, but they are still very affordable compared to other brands on the market. This cooler made its debut in September 2023, making it just less than a year old as of the time of writing, so you can be sure you’re getting the best of the best when it comes to updated technology.

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Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360 Atmos

4.5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

• Cooling Method: Liquid
• Noise level: 27.2dB(A)
• Material: Copper, Aluminium
• Fan size: 120mm
• Max fan speed : 2,500 rpm
• Thermal paste: Included

What We Think

This is a very affordable cooler that really brings in bang for the buck performance. It has a nice sleek aesthetic and it comes in two colours to choose from. This Cooler Master Atmos cooler is doping the company proud in both performance and build quality.

Reasons to Buy

• Great performance
• Stylish
• Affordable

Reasons to Avoid

• Bulky CPU block
• No screen (could be a pro for some)
• Fans look cheap

• Shop on Amazon

This brand is good at offering affordable cooling solutions, but they don’t always stack up to the rest in terms of quality, that changes in the Atmos, as we feel that the build quality has been vastly improved over the previous generation of coolers.

✓ Review Summary

Why we gave this cooler a 4.5

The Cooler Master Atmos cooler is one of the best coolers we have tested from Cooler Master, it preforms very well and sticks to a reasonable budget, the same can’t be said for some 360mm AIO cooler out there. If you need a cooler that gets straight to the point, that performs well with the latest hardware, is RGB enabled and is easy to install and configure, then this CPU cooler just might be for you.

To cut a long review short, we feel that Atmos deserves a place among the better coolers that we have tested. The price is much more affordable than some of the other options we have tested and the performance is very similar too. Just that alone adds a lot of value to the purchase, and the fact that this cooler is visually very appealing and modern only adds to the value that this CPU cooler brings to the table.

What’s in the box

This cooler comes with everything you need to use it within your build, this includes brackets and standoffs for both AMD and Intel sockets. Here is a full list of the contents of the box:

Design

The design of the MasterLiquid looks and feels like it was made with a quality-first approach that puts it a whole level above the Cooler Master of yesteryear. We were fortunate enough to receive the white version of the Atmos, which we feel is one of the better-looking coolers on the market to date.

The Atmos takes it back to basics, with no LCD screen to be found on the block, but you do have a window to view the internal workings of the CPU block, specifically the heat sink. There is RGB present, but if that bothers you, you can disable it if you prefer that retro feel. We think the visible heatsink is a nice touch that not many other manufacturers provide, it’s giving us clear plastic controller vibes.

The Sickleflow edge fans come pre-installed onto the radiator of the Atmas, which is almost unheard of, especially on 360mm radiators. This is a big plus in our book, skipping an installation step completely to the aid of the less experienced PC builder. Not only that, but the fans are pretty capable of delivering 70.7 CFM of air, with a 27.6 dB(A) max noise level, it does this by spinning up to 2500RPM.

The tubes are made from sleeved rubber, meaning it’s more than durable enough to take a good thrashing during installation. The joint plumbing also seems like it can withstand the roughest of installations (don’t take that as a challenge). It’s always good to know that your tubing can withstand a lot.

The radiator is densely packed with fins and made of aluminum, The fins are not too hard to bend but the same can be said for most coolers. The Atmos is finished in white, but also comes in a black variant, we must say, that the white variant is one of the more elegant coolers on the market today.

Installation

Thanks to the pre-installed fans, installation of the Atmos is pretty simple. All you need to do is figure out what bracket you need for the socket you have and attach that to the CPU block. The rest is screwing the radiator to the PC case, and connecting wires, everyone’s favorite activity.

The Atmos comes with an RGB hub that you connect to your motherboard via USB and power with SATA, this is about the most complex part of the installation, and it's not that hard at all. Once all of the relevant connectors are routed, you can control the RGB of the cooler in the Cooler Master software. 

Remember to plug the CPU block into its motherboard USB slot, we forgot to do this and were met with extremely high CPU temperatures on bootup. 

Performance

So how does all this equate to performance? Good question! But first, we should outline the test bench we used to make all this happen, as the other components in the rg often contribute to ambient temperatures. Outlining these components will help give you a better idea of why things get a little toasty.

Component	Name
CPU	Core i5-14600K
Memory	Corsair Vengence @ 6400MHz
Motherboard	Crosshair Dark Hero Z790
GPU	RTX 4070 Ti Super
Power supply	ASUS ROG Thor 1000W
Case	Cooler Master Masterframe

As you can see, we spared no expense when it came to power, everything you see here is up-to-date and on the latest platform. We chose the 14600K because it’s a great middle ground processor, any higher and we wouldn’t be able to compare air coolers.

Idle cooling performance

Idle cooling performance
CPU temp 28°C (core temp average)
CPU temp 37°C (max temp)
Air temp behind fans 24.6°C
throttle 0%

Idle cooling performance is sort of the entry-level barrier that we expect all CPU coolers to cross, if the cooler cannot handle idle, then it’s very unlikely that it will handle any stress on the system. As you can see, temperatures spike to around 37 degrees, but only briefly. This kind of fluctuation can be expected sometimes. The Atmos passes this test with flying colors, and now onto the stress test.

Aida Stress test cooling performance

Aida Stress test cooling performance
CPU temp 59°C (core temp average)
CPU temp 77°C (max temp)
Air temp behind fans 27.8°C
throttle 0%

The Aida test is a stress test designed to push your system far beyond the normal use case, it loads the CPU to 100% usage and shows no mercy whatsoever, it’ll go on like that until you stop the test. The Atmos seems to be able to handle the load put on the 14600K as the temperatures never reach 80 degrees, even on the spikes. The average temperature remains fine at 59 degrees, with plenty of headroom until the Tjmax.

Blender cooling performance

Blender cooling performance
CPU temp 59°C (core temp average)
CPU temp 71°C (max temp)
Air temp behind fans 27.0°C
throttle 0%

Blender is a 3D modeling software that can really get things going in the temperature department. Usually, we use GPUs for rendering, as they excel at linear rendering tasks, but it’s good to know you have a CPU and cooler combo that is also up to the challenge. The Atmos keeps everything under control, as the temperature of the 14600K never reaches 72 degrees on the max, and keeps again at around 59 degrees. The performance of this cooler looks very similar to the 420mm cooler we just tested from ASUS, which is not bad for a 360mm.

Handbrake ToS benchmark

Handbrake ToS cooling performance
CPU temp 63°C (core temp average)
CPU temp 73°C (max temp)
Air temp behind fans 27.3°C
throttle 0%

Finally, we have the Handbrake ToS test, this test involves encoding a 6GB 4K video down to 1080p and measuring the temperatures as we do so. Encoding is another task that can really raise the temperature, but not when you have the Atmos on your side. The maximum temperature never even reaches 75 degrees with the average temperature holding steady at 63.

Considering this is a 360mm cooler, it’s getting close to the performance of the 420mm ASUS cooler we tested recently, you can find the review of the ProArt LC 420mm here.

What do these benchmarks mean? 

We cast a very wide net with our benchmarks, these are to encompass the most use cases as possible, as not everyone uses their CPU equally. We designed a testing suite that puts the CPU to the test in a wide variety of workloads. This allows the CPU to get a little toasty, so we can measure the performance of the CPU cooler. 

If the CPU cooler does well across the board and keeps temperatures down in all workloads, then we would consider that cooler a good all-around pick. The objective here is to find the cooler that keeps the average temperature the lowest possible during intensive tasks. The maximum temperature is less of an issue, as quick spikes can be observed when using even the best of coolers. 

Price

The Atmos is a very affordable cooler, even when not on sale. It’s impressive, the cooling performance you get from this cooler compared to what you pay for it. Right now, on Amazon, you’ll pay around $130 (as of the time of writing). Camelcamelcamel, an Amazon price tracker, says the cheapest this cooler has ever been was $122, and that was in May of 2025.

Alternatives to the Cooler Master Atmos

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  Hands-on Review

  Corsair H150i ELITE LCD XT

  • Radiator Type: Aluminium
  • Fan Edition: 3x Corsair ML120 ELITE RGB PWM
  • Max RPM: 2000 RPM
  • Socket Support: Intel 1700, 1200, 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, 2066 AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, sTRX4, sTR4

  Shop on Amazon
  
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  Hands-on Review

  ASUS ROG Ryuo III 240

  • Cooling Method: Liquid
  • Noise level: 36.54dBa
  • Material: Copper, Aluminium
  • Fan size: 120mm
  • Max fan speed : 2,200 rpm
  • Thermal paste: Included

  Shop on Amazon
  
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  Hands-on Review

  ASUS ProArt LC 420

  • Cooling Method: Liquid
  • Noise level: 31.5dBa
  • Material: Copper, Aluminium
  • Fan size: 140mm
  • Max fan speed : 2,000 rpm
  • Thermal paste: Pre-applied

  Shop on Amazon
  

If you are after something similar, but the Cooler Master doesn’t quite tickle your fancy, then we have some recommendations for you. If you want something with an LCD screen and something that performs similarly to this cooler, then we recommend the Corsair H150i LCD. If you want something a little more low profile, but still want some fancy lights and very competitive cooling performance, then look no further than the Ryuo III 240. Finally, if you want the best of the best, and have room for a 420mm cooler, then we recommend the ProArt LC 420 to cover all your creativity needs.

Conclusion

The Cooler Master Atmos cooler is one of the best 360mm AIOs we have tested on PCguide, the aesthetics of the white finish make the cooler look sleek and modern, and the black finish looks really good too. Probably better off with the black as it will more seamlessly integrate into most builds. The performance of the cooler gives us confidence that you will never be in need in terms of cooling performance, the Atmos can easily handle a more powerful CPU.

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Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360 Atmos

4.5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

• Cooling Method: Liquid
• Noise level: 27.2dB(A)
• Material: Copper, Aluminium
• Fan size: 120mm
• Max fan speed : 2,500 rpm
• Thermal paste: Included

What We Think

This is a very affordable cooler that really brings in bang-for-the-buck performance. It has a nice sleek aesthetic and it comes in two colours to choose from. This Cooler Master Atmos cooler is doing the company proud in both performance and build quality.

Reasons to Buy

• Great performance
• Stylish
• Affordable

Reasons to Avoid

• Bulky CPU block
• No screen (could be a pro for some)
• Fans look cheap

• Shop on Amazon

If you want a great all-rounder who looks the part and plays it too, no matter what task you are performing in your day-to-day, then look no further than this Cooler Master cooler. We’re happy to see a cooler that exceeded expectations not just visually, but in the performance aspect too.