Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO CPU Cooler Review
Cooler Master Nepton 240M Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Cooler Master is no stranger when it comes to all-in-one water coolers. They have developed some powerful and innovative systems in the past and continue to do such today. We checked out the Nepton 240M today, which is a new sibling to the Nepton 280L that we recently checked out.
Cooler Master didn’t upgrade a whole lot on the 240M, but they desired to make a smaller package that was just as efficient as the 280L, while making is significantly quieter. Cooler Master aims to tell you that noisy doesn’t always mean efficient. Their core competition was the Corsair H100i, which is a well known and respected AIO cooler that has been on the market for two years already.
The Nepton 240M introduces a fan with an all new blade design, called the Silencio 120, which was designed for quieter operation and a higher static pressure. In our testing we found these fans to be extremely quiet, even under full load. There were times that we were wondering if they were even running, making us check out the system to verify. At idle, you couldn’t even tell the Silencio fans were spinning.
You’ll find FEP tubing on the Nepton 240M, which is designed to limit evaporation and will prevent kinking. It may not be the nicest looking, but it’s more effective than your traditional rubber tubing.
Out of the box, our Nepton 240M arrived nearly flawless. There was just a single chip in the paint and that was it. All of the fins in the radiator were straight and that is a rare thing to find.
Cooler Master made installing the Nepton 240M much easier when compared to the 280L. The biggest improvement was how the back plate holds in place. They goofed a bit on the way you mount the water block to your processor, as previously you had thumb screws, and now you are required to use a screw driver. The introduction of a rubber anti-vibration gasket for under the fans was a little strange, though once you got the first fan in place, it went smooth. Overall the install experience was great.
On the performance side of the house, the 240M proved to be a champ. Not only does it have that extreme silence factor, but it performed exceptionally well. It showed itself to be one of the top 240mm AIO coolers that we’ve reviewed, again, all with quiet operation. It did fall a little flat when high loads from x264 and Prime95 came about, but it was still able to keep up just fine. Comparing it to the older Nepton 280L, it was able to perform better in several tests, though there were many that it could not even touch.
So what does the Nepton 240M cost? You will be able to find your very own Nepton 240M on Amazon for $110.96 shipped, plus tax in some areas, or via Newegg for $125.90 shipped.
Overall the cost of the 240M is what you will want to keep in mind when searching for a cooler. Many of the other coolers that we’ve reviewed are closer to that $100 mark, but they’re nowhere near as quiet. This cooler is by far the quietest AIO water cooler that we’ve reviewed, so the price may be justifiable by many.
Legit Bottom Line: Cooler Master did a fantastic job making the Nepton 240M a near silent AIO solution, all while not sacrificing the performance for that low noise level.