is an aio worth buying

[Ic3d]

wanting opinions on if i should go for a coolermaster masterliquid lite 240 (£50) or if i should go for a high end air cooler such as the coolermaster masterair MA610P (£52) or if anyone has other ideas for coolers at this price range this would handle an overclocked i7 4790k (upgrading to it soon)

 

please move to other forum section if this isnt suitable for this one

[Smeltie]

depends on personal preference moslty.

aio's won't last forever, especially cheaper aio's.
fluid evaporates/sweats out etc etc.
aircoolers are known to last way longer, but both would work.
just depends on what you want / need

[LukeSavenije]

that aio is meh imo. maybe an artic freezer esports (one) is something for you?

[knightslugger]

Aircoolers don't leak. Both require the same amount of dust maintenance.

[Ic3d]

ok so basically at this price it is just personal choice and there is a decent chance that a low end liquid cooler such as the masterliquid lite 240 would leak, thanks for the help\;0

[Peskanova]

with a noctua nhd15 I achieve such great temps on my 4790k that when I've switched to a 8600k I kept my cooler. 

Playing PUBG with my nhd15 (last year)

[Princess Luna]

Nope, worse performance than their Air cooler counter-parts while costing the double and adding a lot more points of failure and the potential of leaking kill other components that would never be refunded? Double nope.

[SolarNova]

Short answer: No

 

Long Answer: No becouse AIO add in points of failure, are usualy louder, and dont perform any better than good high end aircoolers.

 

Exception: In small form factor builds, like M-ATX and M-ITX, an AIO may be required due to cooler height restrictions caused by the case. This is the only time an AIO is recommended.

 

[Princess Luna]

7 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

This is the only time an AIO is recommended.

Even then I'd go for one of these:

 

Superb

[SolarNova]

2 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Even then I'd go for one of these:

 

 

Superb

Oh indeed, BUT if the case has room for a 240mm AIO, that will perform better, and if ur building a small form factor PC but stil lwant to do some overclocking over and above what a low prifile cooler, even one as good as Noctuas, can handle then an AIO is the only way to go.

[Tristerin]

Been air cooling my whole life.  Been PC gaming since I was 12 am now 34.  Went AIO last year.  Kind of like SSD for me personally.  Once I went AIO I wont go back (maybe I will when the Unicorn everyone keeps mentioning here happens to me, and that's the AIO causing an issue cause its an AIO - but its a Unicorn.  Everyone here says they fail, yet I bet no one who has said it here likely has had one fail and take things with it - a lot of folks just regurgitate, not give you their experience with the item.  Its a LARGE market for a reason, if they sucked they wouldn't last on the Market - plain and simple).

 

My Corsair 240 AIO keeps my FX 8350 space heater, after 1 hour of Prime 95 @ 50c.  I have the kind of case that can fit the biggest Noctua's, Thermalrights - Ive debated giving one a whirl on my next build over buying the next bracket need for my current AIO - but I doubt I will unless failure.

[AngryBeaver]

Ok a few points of information. There is nothing wrong with wanting an AIO. They do have more points of failure, but that doesn't mean they WILL fail. They all will go bad after about 3-5 years as the liquid evaporates.

 

As to leaks, the CM website is down for me atm so I can't look up their warranty, but I think they also cover components damaged if it leaks.

 

Here is a benchmark of a DH15 vs a handful of AIO's. The ml240 will be very similar in performance to the Captain. Now the benchmark I am linking is a little deceptive. It does show the NH-D15 being very similar to the AIO's, but this is an open air test. This all changes once you drop these in an enclosed environment like a case. In that scenario the AIO can either take in fresh outside air giving it a few C advantage or dump the hot air directly outside the case reducing the internal case temps which also results in a few C advantage.

 

With the price of these the only real competitors are the high end air coolers like the NH-D15, which won't fit in some cases even still it is slightly more expensive than this AIO. So the main question for the OP is whether he has the room for a big air cooler and if so then does he want BIG air or an AIO for aesthetics.

[SolarNova]

Asuming you have a properly ventalited case, and Air cooler shouldnt be hindered.

[AngryBeaver]

1 hour ago, SolarNova said:

Short answer: No

 

Long Answer: No becouse AIO add in points of failure, are usualy louder, and dont perform any better than good high end aircoolers.

 

Exception: In small form factor builds, like M-ATX and M-ITX, an AIO may be required due to cooler height restrictions caused by the case. This is the only time an AIO is recommended.

 

This is a lot of poop in a single post.

 

Yes they are good for small form factors, but they aren't out performed by air coolers once you go 240+. There are a very small number of BIG air coolers than do put up similar numbers in benchmarks, but these benchmarks are pretty much all done on open air rigs which completely takes away one of the advantages of an AIO.

 

Now to mention the fact that as the TDP goes up an AIO can still cope. So as the heat of a loop or your coolers fins increased above ambient temp the more efficiently it can remove heat from the system. So while having a DeltaT of 20 is not that great for component temps compared to say a DeltaT of 10... it can still get the job done.

 

So lets say you have an AIO and air cooler rated for 300 watts of heat. However, we are pushing 500 watts of heat in them. The AIO will have the water temps increase which will raise component temps at a equal rate, but the AIO will level out thanks to the ability to take in fresh air, or exhaust the air straight from the case.

 

Now the Air cooler isn't going to have that same luck. As the temps increase on it, it will also raise the temps inside the case (even with great case flow) which will reduce the effectiveness of it being able to transfer heat from the fins to the surrounding air... which will cause the temps to spiral out of control to a much higher point until it equalizes.

 

Those same benefits above are had for an AIO at any temp though regardless of whether it is above or below the recommended TDP. The point is that as the TDP rises the benefits of an AIO become more and more useful.

[AngryBeaver]

7 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Asuming you have a properly ventalited case, and Air cooler shouldnt be hindered.

This is also false. The temperature inside your case will never be at ambient even with great flow (within reason noone is going to use 50k fans at 120dbi). Your case temp will always be 3+ C higher than ambient... most of the time it is more than that, but I am giving pretty much an extreme best case estimate. I would guess most cases are 5-10C above ambient.

[Tristerin]

5 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

This is also false. The temperature inside your case will never be at ambient even with great flow (within reason noone is going to use 50k fans at 120dbi). Your case temp will always be 3+ C higher than ambient... most of the time it is more than that, but I am giving pretty much an extreme best case estimate. I would guess most cases are 5-10C above ambient.

I have AMAZEBALLS airflow (see sig, I mastered the airflow in that Cooler Master HAF through MANY configurations) and the average off the top of my head inside my PC temp I can keep with an ambient temp in room of 21-22c is GPU0 sitting at 40c idle, GPU1 sitting at 26c (more room to breathe, its on bottom and its not doing anything at idle), 22-28c idle (with 240mm AIO), SSD/HDDs sitting at 28c after the case warms up for a minute (ambient at boot up, as they are away from most of the hot parts in the PC, and have their own fans blowing on them).  For me, and my case - I cant achieve better temps than that without a full blown loop and hundreds of dollars spent.  And the reason my PC parts inside the case are at such great temps after hours of gaming...my CPU heat is being directly exhausted out of the case very efficiently.

[AngryBeaver]

3 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I have AMAZEBALLS airflow (see sig, I mastered the airflow in that Cooler Master HAF through MANY configurations) and the average off the top of my head inside my PC temp I can keep with an ambient temp in room of 21-22c is GPU0 sitting at 40c idle, GPU1 sitting at 26c (more room to breathe, its on bottom and its not doing anything at idle), 22-28c idle (with 240mm AIO), SSD/HDDs sitting at 28c after the case warms up for a minute (ambient at boot up, as they are away from most of the hot parts in the PC, and have their own fans blowing on them).  For me, and my case - I cant achieve better temps than that without a full blown loop and hundreds of dollars spent.  And the reason my PC parts inside the case are at such great temps after hours of gaming...my CPU heat is being directly exhausted out of the case very efficiently.

Which from your sig looks to be thanks to an AIO that allows you to direct that heat where you want it.

[Tristerin]

5 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Which from your sig looks to be thanks to an AIO that allows you to direct that heat where you want it.

I couldn't imagine swirling that Space Heaters air around in my case and respinning it through all the other hot parts before its allowed to exit (even a smidge of that heat!) - Im trying to justify spending $$$ on a GPU for my wife and I, and likely after holiday season I will be doing just that its going to be an AIO GPU for sure (will be a first for me on the GPU scene...Im excited for my temps).  Eyeballing the EVGA 1070ti hybrids atm.

[AngryBeaver]

1 minute ago, Tristerin said:

I couldn't imagine swirling that Space Heaters air around in my case and respinning it through all the other hot parts before its allowed to exit (even a smidge of that heat!) - Im trying to justify spending $$$ on a GPU for my wife and I, and likely after holiday season I will be doing just that its going to be an AIO GPU for sure (will be a first for me on the GPU scene...Im excited for my temps).  Eyeballing the EVGA 1070ti hybrids atm.

Might consider an expandable aio for your next build. Then you can just add a rad, some tubing, and a block for a full loop for a fraction of what it costs for a normal custom loop. Seeing your GPU temps sit under 40C at 100% load is good stuff

[Tristerin]

Just now, AngryBeaver said:

Might consider an expandable aio for your next build. Then you can just add a rad, some tubing, and a block for a full loop for a fraction of what it costs for a normal custom loop. Seeing your GPU temps sit under 40C at 100% load is good stuff

Ive actually not seen one (other than folks frankensteining) Ill have to look into that.  Mind pointing me in a direction to start looking (brand wise?)

[AngryBeaver]

Swiftech is now that EK has stopped making theirs from what I remember.