Unrealistic Air vs Water Testing

[AngryBeaver]

I just wanted to take the time to post this as I see lots of people making assumptions on the superiority on one or the other without having proper facts.

 

When you see all these tests and comparisons done between a BIG air cooler and an AIO... almost ALL of these tests are done on an open bench.

The problem with this is that it gives the air cooler constant access to cool ambient air. So if you are looking at best case scenario temps this can be helpful, but when it comes to actual usage scenarios it is very deceiving. That is because even with proper case airflow the temp inside your case will always be higher than the ambient outside the case. 

 

Now you might think this is the same for both Air and Water, but that isn't necessarily true. The heat exchange point of an AIO is the radiator. Which has the benefit of being moveable away from the CPU. That means you can mount this in a location that gives it access to fresh ambient air... something the air cooler cannot have. On the flipside you can also make it an exhaust point which means it will take in the warmer case air, but it will also be exhausting that warm air from the CPU so that it doesn't add to the temps inside the case.

 

Now if you have a discrete graphics card, especially one with a custom cooler (non blower system) then the temp being dumped from the CPU and GPU even in a case with proper airflow can easily raise the case temp 8c+ over outside air.

 

This is something those comparisons do not test and is why many people who buy a certain cooler often complain their temps are much higher than the testing showed.

 

So am I saying water is better? Not really. I am just saying that if you look at a given comparison between an AIR and Water cooler that you need to take those things into consideration and overall take the testing with a grain of salt.

[The Blackhat]

I have another gripe about air and water cooler testing, water coolers become saturated with heat after a period of time, durig extended workloads this is shown as a steady rise in temperature, but slight enough that it almost looks constant, many testers and reviwers test for periods of time that are shorter than how long it takes for many water coolers to saturate, not saying water is bad, just saying the testing is flawed, air coolers do not exhibit this behavior the same way water does.

[AngryBeaver]

11 hours ago, The Blackhat said:

I have another gripe about air and water cooler testing, water coolers become saturated with heat after a period of time, durig extended workloads this is shown as a steady rise in temperature, but slight enough that it almost looks constant, many testers and reviwers test for periods of time that are shorter than how long it takes for many water coolers to saturate, not saying water is bad, just saying the testing is flawed, air coolers do not exhibit this behavior the same way water does.

Also true, but they also don't test at a range that will push both coolers.

 

They are bad about not choosing hardware that pushes the thermal limits on them. Air coolers once past their TDP just turn into space heaters, where as a water cooling system will see the DeltaT creep up.

 

Also this scenario you described doesn't really effect the underload temps. They normally run these stress tests long enough to saturate the small loop in these AIO's... the thing that it DOES effect is the idle temps though. Unless they let it sit there and idle for 20-30 minutes these values are generally going to be 2-4c lower than what it should be.

[DarkStang]

I would rather they test in open air, as that is the best case scenario. If you want them to test in a case, then you're introducing way more variables. Is the case way better or worse than mine for airflow? Do they have every available slot for a case fan populated? Are they starving the cooler for fresh air? Which version of the case are they testing with (ie: H500P with/without mesh front panel)?

 

With an open air test you can see how the cooler itself is performing, which is what I want to know.

[AngryBeaver]

3 hours ago, DarkStang said:

I would rather they test in open air, as that is the best case scenario. If you want them to test in a case, then you're introducing way more variables. Is the case way better or worse than mine for airflow? Do they have every available slot for a case fan populated? Are they starving the cooler for fresh air? Which version of the case are they testing with (ie: H500P with/without mesh front panel)?

 

With an open air test you can see how the cooler itself is performing, which is what I want to know.

When doing a comparison video... it just leads to inaccurate results. How many people run an open air case? I know a few, but they are few and far between. Of the people I know off hand running open air cases... I think maybe one would actually need help deciding between air and water.

 

If you are doing a comparison against Air and Water... then doing it open air plays to the strength of the air coolers and gives them inflated numbers compared to actual real life usage.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Testing coolers in a case adds too many variables to the testing suite.

 

What's important in testing a product is reproducing those results. That's why reviewers like Gamers Nexus eliminates variables such as the case so that they can reproduce results easily, and within reasonable times.