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CPU cooling in 2017: AIO vs Air cooling?

Gdourado

Hello, how are you?

I was searching the web on the subject and I keep finding lots of posts and discussions about this.

I keep finding that AIO coolers are only for aesthetics as top air coolers deliver about the same performance while beeing quiet and more reliable.

 

But what I find are posts and discussions from 2013 and 2014w when the best AIOs where the Corsair h115 and such.

 

Meanwhile thee have been many new AIO models released and I guess the technology probably is better now.

On the air coolers, there haven’t really been nothing new for a couple of years and the top performers then, like the Noctua D15or the IB-e extreme are still the best air coolers today.

 

So I ask this, how is the situation today? Have AIO caught up and are air coolers now obsolete in performance terms?

 

thanks.

cheers!

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In keeping temps low AIO liquid coolers win all the time, but it still isnt as reliable (pumps still die as they do and you cant replace it).

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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13 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

In keeping temps low AIO liquid coolers win all the time

 

no

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I prefer AIO coolers for the simple reason as "Jesus christ, air coolers as fuckin´ ugly".

Seriously, I think it´s a shitty look with a big ass piece of metal that takes up all the attention

And I´m super pleased with my Corsair H100i v2 AIO

Case: Corsair Graphite 760T || PSU: Corsair RM650i || Mobo: Asus RoG Strix Z270E || CPU: Intel i5-7600K @4.8GHz || Cooler: Corsair H110i v2 || RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz 16GB White LED || GPU: MSI GTX 1070 8GB GAMING X || SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB, Samsung 860 Evo 500GB, Samsung MZ1280 M.2 128GB || HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB

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52 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Funnily enough, Linus & co did a video on the subject 2 weeks ago.

 

 

Just saw the video.

what struck me most was that a single tower, single fan Noctua cooler was able to beat a top 280mm aio...

 

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1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

In keeping temps low AIO liquid coolers win all the time, but it still isnt as reliable (pumps still die as they do and you cant replace it).

Not. Even. Remotely.

 

In ordinary use cases air cooling and watercooling are so close in performance as to be indistinguishable from one another if the onlooker is unaware of what cooling solution is under the hood. With mild to moderate overclocking a high quality aircooling solution with a high cfm will outdo almost any AIO liquid cooler. In heavy/high overclocking - that is functional overclocking, not "I wanna break records and need LN2 to do it - watercooling will surpass aircooling, but only with custom loop/full system style watercooling. Temperature differentials, thermal transfer and heat carrying capacity are why liquid cooling surpasses air cooling at higher/faster clocks. It's also the reason that at design clocks/thermals aircooling is better.

 

AIOs are nothing more than a gimmick to sell to people that want "watercooling" but don't want to spend the scratch or don't have the technical wherewithal or confidence to install it. Or those for whom form/visual appeal is more important than function. Despite its lackluster performance the AIO has been very successful at earning money for corporations and not much else. 

 

Give me a heatsink and heavy duty fan any day.

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At highest level AIOs do make sense. But those are dual/triple rads. Single rad AIOs are only worth for looks, size constrains and if you are living in country with extremely high ambient and no AC. In any other case, $80 air cooler will always beat $80 AIO. Since $80 AIO performs same with 30% cheaper air cooler.

^^^^ That's my post ^^^^
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