Which CPU cooling method is better, air or liquid? - Ask a PC expert
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Date: 2022-03-15
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Comments and reviews: 10
Grizzly66
Air coolers can block RAM slots, but not ALL of them. This should be made clear as you're generalising air coolers as -blocking RAM- when this is not always the case. Just as you say people generalise AIOs as -leaking all the time-, then why are you generalising air coolers? I've got several air coolers they don't block the RAM slots. Coolers like the Noctua NH-D15 and Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro do block RAM slots. But slimline coolers like the Cooler Master Hyper 212, Noctua NH-U12A and Be Quiet Dark Rock Slim don't. You mentioned the Hyper 212 and then you say -air coolers block RAM-, very generalised and misleading like saying AIOs leak all the time.
Anyway, how often do people open their case to play with the RAM anyway? The last time I touched RAM was 2012. Set and forget is what most people tend to do. Unless they decide on 8GB now and realise it's not enough, so upgrade later on.
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Air coolers can block RAM slots, but not ALL of them. This should be made clear as you're generalising air coolers as -blocking RAM- when this is not always the case. Just as you say people generalise AIOs as -leaking all the time-, then why are you generalising air coolers? I've got several air coolers they don't block the RAM slots. Coolers like the Noctua NH-D15 and Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro do block RAM slots. But slimline coolers like the Cooler Master Hyper 212, Noctua NH-U12A and Be Quiet Dark Rock Slim don't. You mentioned the Hyper 212 and then you say -air coolers block RAM-, very generalised and misleading like saying AIOs leak all the time.
Anyway, how often do people open their case to play with the RAM anyway? The last time I touched RAM was 2012. Set and forget is what most people tend to do. Unless they decide on 8GB now and realise it's not enough, so upgrade later on.
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Dalai
An important point to be mentioned is RAM clearance with air. Can't use many of those fancy-ass RAM kits like Trident Z Royals or Team Group's really cool memories with most high-end air coolers. If that aesthetic is important for you, then air coolers, in general, are not going to fit over them. So then, CLCs like the Kraken X62, X72 are the way to go.
Also, almost all CLCs are loud! The pump and the stock fans combined have a bad noise from which you cannot get away.
Also, remember, the specific heat capacity of water is much higher than air. That means that, even though it can absorb more heat, it absorbs so far slower than air does. So, if you're gaming, where the CPU workload is keeps spiking and dropping incessantly, air will almost always be a better bet, if we're talking science. For sustained high clock speed workloads like renders/ transcodes, water is better.
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An important point to be mentioned is RAM clearance with air. Can't use many of those fancy-ass RAM kits like Trident Z Royals or Team Group's really cool memories with most high-end air coolers. If that aesthetic is important for you, then air coolers, in general, are not going to fit over them. So then, CLCs like the Kraken X62, X72 are the way to go.
Also, almost all CLCs are loud! The pump and the stock fans combined have a bad noise from which you cannot get away.
Also, remember, the specific heat capacity of water is much higher than air. That means that, even though it can absorb more heat, it absorbs so far slower than air does. So, if you're gaming, where the CPU workload is keeps spiking and dropping incessantly, air will almost always be a better bet, if we're talking science. For sustained high clock speed workloads like renders/ transcodes, water is better.
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Michael
Let's just say that this was a complete waste of a potentially good video.
The Ryzen 3000 series is going gangbusters - the biggest German retailer sold more Ryzen 3600 CPUs alone than all of Intel's CPUs added together - and for the single chiptlet CPUs (3600, 3600X, 3700X, 3800X) the portion of the water block which has the heat exchanging fins inside covers has less than one quarter of its heat exchanging area covering the hotspot because the chiplets are not in the centre of the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) but rather in the corner.
An air cooler on the other hand will have 50% of its cooling capacity covering that spot.
This is why I chose a Noctua NH-U12A air cooler for my 3600X system rather than a CLC
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Let's just say that this was a complete waste of a potentially good video.
The Ryzen 3000 series is going gangbusters - the biggest German retailer sold more Ryzen 3600 CPUs alone than all of Intel's CPUs added together - and for the single chiptlet CPUs (3600, 3600X, 3700X, 3800X) the portion of the water block which has the heat exchanging fins inside covers has less than one quarter of its heat exchanging area covering the hotspot because the chiplets are not in the centre of the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) but rather in the corner.
An air cooler on the other hand will have 50% of its cooling capacity covering that spot.
This is why I chose a Noctua NH-U12A air cooler for my 3600X system rather than a CLC
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jake
Why do I choose air cooling?
It seems the object is to transfer heat from one location to another.
Water can do this until it reaches saturation then it just fails to transfer heat. Plus it is complicated. Pumps, hoses, radiators, electrical connections.
Air is direct and to the point.
Your PC may get very hot.
With water it may take awhile to get the temps to return to normal.
With air being direct as soon as the load decreases to the temps decrease.
Plus you get all that lovely airflow over your boards critical components.
The trouble lies in the case selection.
In a market dominated by the liquid cooled mania; Finding a case optimized for airflow can be a challenge.
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Why do I choose air cooling?
It seems the object is to transfer heat from one location to another.
Water can do this until it reaches saturation then it just fails to transfer heat. Plus it is complicated. Pumps, hoses, radiators, electrical connections.
Air is direct and to the point.
Your PC may get very hot.
With water it may take awhile to get the temps to return to normal.
With air being direct as soon as the load decreases to the temps decrease.
Plus you get all that lovely airflow over your boards critical components.
The trouble lies in the case selection.
In a market dominated by the liquid cooled mania; Finding a case optimized for airflow can be a challenge.
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Isaiah
I agree 100% with everything said in this video. my air cooler has blood stains on it from me trying to work around it. went to a clc for my next build just for a cleaner look. Think my noctua slightly outperforms the new 280mm but its negligible, and I dont notice seasonal fluctuations with the water I saw on air. If your on a tight budget go air, you can get same cooling for half even a 1/4 of the price. If you bought the cheapest case possible go air as most sub $50 cases are not engineered for water cooling and can make installs a nightmare. Other than that this video hit the nail on the head.
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I agree 100% with everything said in this video. my air cooler has blood stains on it from me trying to work around it. went to a clc for my next build just for a cleaner look. Think my noctua slightly outperforms the new 280mm but its negligible, and I dont notice seasonal fluctuations with the water I saw on air. If your on a tight budget go air, you can get same cooling for half even a 1/4 of the price. If you bought the cheapest case possible go air as most sub $50 cases are not engineered for water cooling and can make installs a nightmare. Other than that this video hit the nail on the head.
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pcworld
I'm still using the majority of the same custom loop I first built 11 years ago and back then the Noctua range of cpu coolers probably didnt even exist. It used to cool an overclocked socket 775 Quad core then cooled an X58 overclocked 6 core Xeon and now cools an i5 9600k.
Part of the reason I don't ditch my loop is because I don't want a heatsink weighing 1-2Kg hanging off of the cpu socket.
And being so huge that it dominates the inside of the case.
The Noctua DH? Might match an AIO or even my loop but for aesthetic purposes I think I'll stock with my loop thanks.
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I'm still using the majority of the same custom loop I first built 11 years ago and back then the Noctua range of cpu coolers probably didnt even exist. It used to cool an overclocked socket 775 Quad core then cooled an X58 overclocked 6 core Xeon and now cools an i5 9600k.
Part of the reason I don't ditch my loop is because I don't want a heatsink weighing 1-2Kg hanging off of the cpu socket.
And being so huge that it dominates the inside of the case.
The Noctua DH? Might match an AIO or even my loop but for aesthetic purposes I think I'll stock with my loop thanks.
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Michael
i rather stay on Air Cooler. it is the starter pack of all mother technology right now. although big difference water cooling is a bit neat because no heatsink attach. but i rather stay
on Air Cooling, i'am not a mobile phone or products always changing parts, i preferred economical. But if your concern about cooling the cpu, just play on the room with air conditioning: D IMAO. Problem solve with no worries, it is electronics and takes it life span, but if you have money go for it nyahahah
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i rather stay on Air Cooler. it is the starter pack of all mother technology right now. although big difference water cooling is a bit neat because no heatsink attach. but i rather stay
on Air Cooling, i'am not a mobile phone or products always changing parts, i preferred economical. But if your concern about cooling the cpu, just play on the room with air conditioning: D IMAO. Problem solve with no worries, it is electronics and takes it life span, but if you have money go for it nyahahah
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RJ
EVO 212 air cooler works flawlessly and worry-free for me with an notoriously hot I7-8700K, even under heavy work loads, and maxed out graphics gaming. And, as has been already stated here, it helps tremendously with also cooling VRMs and MOSFETS. My motherboard temps look I am using this PC in a refrigerator all the time. If, I want more bling (e. g.; AIO RGB) in my life, I'll buy a gold chain, and not worry about a pump failure and my CPU being toasted by that without any warning.
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EVO 212 air cooler works flawlessly and worry-free for me with an notoriously hot I7-8700K, even under heavy work loads, and maxed out graphics gaming. And, as has been already stated here, it helps tremendously with also cooling VRMs and MOSFETS. My motherboard temps look I am using this PC in a refrigerator all the time. If, I want more bling (e. g.; AIO RGB) in my life, I'll buy a gold chain, and not worry about a pump failure and my CPU being toasted by that without any warning.
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TigerClaw
I prefer Air Coolers over AIOs. They are much easier to deal with then an AIO. The only point of failure from an Air Cooler is the Fans. If they stop working. Its easy to replace those fans with new ones. For AIOs. The point of failure is the pump. If that dies. You have to replace the entire AIO With a brand new one. And it will be a costly one.
So go with Air Cooler since replacing the Fans is much cheaper then replacing an AIO.
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I prefer Air Coolers over AIOs. They are much easier to deal with then an AIO. The only point of failure from an Air Cooler is the Fans. If they stop working. Its easy to replace those fans with new ones. For AIOs. The point of failure is the pump. If that dies. You have to replace the entire AIO With a brand new one. And it will be a costly one.
So go with Air Cooler since replacing the Fans is much cheaper then replacing an AIO.
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Water has higher thermal capacity that air. Ironically I would say that liquid cooling suits gamers better, since the liquid can store some heat before ramping up the fans, for example in a challenging scene. Once the CPU load takes longer than 15minutes, the thermal capacity of the liquid is saturated, so then I would say, Air is better since heatsinks (especially dual towers) got larger Area to dissipate heat than AIOs!
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Water has higher thermal capacity that air. Ironically I would say that liquid cooling suits gamers better, since the liquid can store some heat before ramping up the fans, for example in a challenging scene. Once the CPU load takes longer than 15minutes, the thermal capacity of the liquid is saturated, so then I would say, Air is better since heatsinks (especially dual towers) got larger Area to dissipate heat than AIOs!
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