Move AIO Questions out of Liquid & Exotic Cooling Section

[LOLZR]

I am a huge fan of water cooling, and frequently lurk in the Liquid & Exotic Cooling section of the forum.  Something that has been annoying for me, is sorting through 9/10th of the posts being "what XYZmm RGB AIO should I buy?" or "Is 29C too hot for my new XYZmm AIO?" trying to find threads of interesting builds / people asking for help on custom water cooling / exotic cooling methods, topics which I think are more the essence of what the section is for.

 

Can we make a new section, or a new sticky thread for these AIO questions? Also, sorry if this is not appropriate or is a bad suggestion. Just something that I would like to see happen.

 

Thanks!

[For Science!]

I've also felt so in the past and since now there is a thread, I thought I'd also voice that I feel rather the same. Although admittedly if there was an AIO subsection to the forum, I would imagine a lot of the experienced people who actually know something about liquid cooling may not make it there so the people posting AIO questions may benefit less.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

So it annoys you that posts about liquid coolers are in the liquid cooling section? 

[LOLZR]

4 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I would imagine a lot of the experienced people who actually know something about liquid cooling may not make it there so the people posting AIO questions may benefit less

This is something that I didn't think about, but I think that there is possibly enough that truly do like only AIO to answer these questions?

[LOLZR]

4 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

So it annoys you that posts about liquid coolers are in the liquid cooling section? 

The same 4 questions about AIOs do get a bit much after a while. And I am not alone in the issue.

 

AIO are a really small baby step into the world of liquid and exotic cooling, it would be like if some of the hardware sections got questions every single day if they should buy X, Y, or Z pre-built over and over.

[For Science!]

1 minute ago, LOLZR said:

.

As a minimum perhaps the community can start by reporting the "which AIO is best" / "What AIO for $XX" threads and asking mods to move them to "New Builds and Planning" instead of Liquid Cooling subsection. This would of course depends on how the mods feel about it though, I might give it a try just now to see what happens.

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, For Science! said:

As a minimum perhaps the community can start by reporting the "which AIO is best" / "What AIO for $XX" threads and asking mods to move them to "New Builds and Planning" instead of Liquid Cooling subsection.

No. Don't do this. Questions about AIOs specifically belong in the Liquid Cooling section. They do not belong in the New Builds & Planning section.

[LOLZR]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Questions about AIOs specifically belong in the Liquid Cooling section

So nothing can be done to clean up the amount of "AIO suggestion posts" that plague the subforum?

[Spotty]

Just now, LOLZR said:

So nothing can be done to clean up the amount of "AIO suggestion posts" that plague the subforum?

No, because it's not a problem. It is the correct forum to ask questions about AIOs as it is the liquid cooling forum. It is not the "Custom Water Cooling Forum No AIOs Allowed" forum.

[WkdPaul]

3 minutes ago, LOLZR said:

So nothing can be done to clean up the amount of "AIO suggestion posts" that plague the subforum?

Either reply to them, of ignore them.

 

Same thing happens in the GPU and PSU section, it's not an issue for people visiting those section, so we're a little perplexed as to why this is an issue with water cooling.

Edited February 21, 2020 by wkdpaul

[LOLZR]

@Spotty @wkdpaul

 

Fair, sorry for complaining.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

19 minutes ago, LOLZR said:

AIO are a really small baby step into the world of liquid and exotic cooling, it would be like if some of the hardware sections got questions every single day if they should buy X, Y, or Z pre-built over and over.

That's exactly what every other section looks like, though.

 

 

Edit: oh, I'm late to the party. I'll just move along, then...  

Edited February 21, 2020 by SpaceGhostC2C

[WkdPaul]

4 minutes ago, LOLZR said:

@Spotty @wkdpaul

 

Fair, sorry for complaining.

The PSU has a tier list and the discussion about PSU suggestion is mostly contained in it (even though technically it's not meant for that). If you're interested in maintaining a "AIO tier list", you're welcome to do it

[LogicalDrm]

After sorted by posting date, first page has about half AIO posts and other half about custom gear. So not enough content for own subforum. Some AIO questions are currently already dealt in air cooling.

 

The bigger issue, and one you can help with, are posts that actually don't belong in that section.

These two as examples that are more about things we deal in air cooling.

 

Reporting them to be moved is how you can help us.

[LOLZR]

1 hour ago, wkdpaul said:

you're welcome to do it

I would love to, but I am afraid I have only owned one AIO in my life and am far from an expert.

[idwt]

or instead move your exotic custom loops into a differant section instead of moving AIO's out of the water cooling section, as they technically do belong there

[AngryBeaver]

On 2/21/2020 at 11:47 AM, wkdpaul said:

Either reply to them, of ignore them.

 

Same thing happens in the GPU and PSU section, it's not an issue for people visiting those section, so we're a little perplexed as to why this is an issue with water cooling.

because the people who do full custom liquid are the exotic car drivers of the forums. We drive the cars only a handful of people can afford and don't need it clogged up with people driving riced out Honda civics!

 

Of course I joke, but I do feel many have that mindset. There is a very big difference in doing a custom loop and buying an AIO. They are different enough that they aren't really the same. Yes, they both technically use liquid, but if we are going by that requirement then anything with a heatpipe should be in there too.

 

When it comes down to it an AIO is closer to a air cooler in regards to simplicity than it is to a custom loop. I also think AIOs are more comparable to air coolers from a performance POV as well. I mean AIOs and aircoolers directly compete against each other.

[greenmax]

AIO's arent as good at cooling as a really good air cooler.

[LOLZR]

@greenmax You are correct.

[greenmax]

1 minute ago, LOLZR said:

@greenmax You are correct.

I know, and thank you very much.

Though I got my information from some nerds on youtube who really know their shit.

[LogicalDrm]

59 minutes ago, greenmax said:

AIO's arent as good at cooling as a really good air cooler.

56 minutes ago, LOLZR said:

@greenmax You are correct.

 

That would depend on what coolers are we talking about. High end air cooler will beat 240mm and even 280mm AIO. But thats it. Triple-rads are where the scale tips to other direction. Then there are space concerns and still wanting to OC. So that kind of blanket statement is as wrong as saying AIO is not liquid cooler.

[kirashi]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:07 AM, LOLZR said:

Can we make a new section, or a new sticky thread for these AIO questions? Also, sorry if this is not appropriate or is a bad suggestion. Just something that I would like to see happen.

It's a fair suggestion IMO, but I have to disagree with it because AIO coolers still fall under liquid cooling. Playing devil's advocate, it makes more sense to keep AIO talk in the liquid cooling section because someone who's planning out an AIO build might ask questions, only to receive answers that end up swinging them towards a hard-line custom liquid cooling build.

[TVwazhere]

On 2/21/2020 at 12:58 PM, wkdpaul said:

 If you're interested in maintaining a "AIO tier list", you're welcome to do it

Technically this is covered under the CPU cooler Tier list already  (It's under the Air cooling subforum though since the ratio of air to water coolers is like 8:1 or something way skewed)

[colonel_mortis]

It's not an unreasonable suggestion, and it is something that we considered last time we rearranged the forum categories (that was quite a long time ago). The problem is that there isn't enough cooling content to justify 3 sections, and the current grouping is the one that made (and still makes to me) the most sense for two sections.

[Curufinwe_wins]

While I understand the positions given, I do think there is a huge difference in function and market between off-the-shelf and custom cooling systems, and confusing the two (how they work, what performance they have, when they make sense) is a serious issue. High end AIOs are ludicrously closer in limitations/functionality to high end air coolers than fully custom solutions. They also generally attract a large number of the same people and are almost always worth discussing together. Hell, they even offer generally similar warranties. 

 

By contrast... to me 34 dBA air coolers/aios is not silent. In fact, it's quite unacceptably loud, and full custom solutions (of water or pure passivity) being the only reasonable solution to achieve sub 20-25 dBA noise floors was the single overriding factor in my evaluation matrix. 

 

Personally, I would advocate for an "Off the shelf cooling" and "Exotic/Custom Cooling" subforums.