Should I go for an air cooler or aio?

[Bryan2375]

Once I get my pc assembled the first thing I want to do is overclock my cpu but I don’t know if the stock cooler will be good enough keep it at a good temperature . The cpu I have is the ryzen 5 2600 . Should I go for an air cooler or aio , which will give me better cpu temperatures?

[Slottr]

Air imo

 

You avoid all the complications of a water cooler like a broken pump and leaks while getting the same performance if you get a decent tower cooler like the D15 or Dark Rock Pro 4

 

The ryzen stock cooler is pretty good, even fine for a moderate overclock. But if you want a better OC I'd definitely go to one of the coolers I mentioned 

 

[Azerafel]

The stock cooler will be sufficient for moderate overclocks. Honestly it depends heavily on which AIO or air cooler you get for what temps you'll get.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

bare in mind how much you are spending on cooler and cpu vs a faster cpu.

if you want a water cooled system on mid range cpu why not get a beefy cpu at stock in the first place

[8==D]

Air cooler because you don't have to worry pump failure or leak. 

[corrado33]

Air cooler:

 

Pros: More reliable, no worrying about leaks, etc. Dual fans provide redundancy.

Cons: Big, can block ram slots, can possibly not fit in smaller cases. Potentially louder than AIOs (heavily dependent on the cooler/fans you get.) 

 

Water cooler (AIO):

 

Pros: Quieter. Much smaller, can fit in smaller cases, "prettier"? You can use cool RGB fans on the rad and you can actually see them?

Cons: SPOF (single point of failure) in the pump. Pump + 2 fans (for a 240 mm AIO) will use more power than just the 2 fans on a typical air cooler. Leaks = possible gpu damage or mobo damage. Eventually the pump will get clogged, and AIOs are not meant to be cleaned. 

 

Personally, I go big with air coolers. I don't want to be mixing water with my multi thousand dollar computer no thank you. 

 

As for performance. The highest end air coolers (noctua DH-15, Dark Rock Pro, etc.) are about equal (or better) than most 240mm AIO setups. 

 

Other things to consider: 

 

Air coolers have a very short "equilibrium" time. If you run a stress test the CPU temp will stabilize in a few minutes. On a water cooler, the CPU temp will initially be lower... but it will slowly creep up over time as the rad gets heat soaked. So if you have a long gaming session, it's going to get warm. But if you only play for 30 minuets, you'll probably end up seeing lower temps than an air cooler. However, this comes with a downside. Once the water inside the water cooler is warm, it takes a while to cool back down. Where as an air cooler cools down almost immediately. (Within a few minutes.) 

[dizmo]

My vote goes for the air cooler.

@corrado33 How do you figure the AIO is quieter? It's not. Not only do you have fan noise, you also have pump noise.

[corrado33]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

My vote goes for the air cooler.

@corrado33 How do you figure the AIO is quieter? It's not. Not only do you have fan noise, you also have pump noise.

Eh, that's what the water cooling crowd always says. You can technically run the fans a lot slower on an AIO, and if you buy a nice one I'm sure the pump is all but silent from more than a foot away. 

 

EDIT: Also, it's like the #1 thing that the water cooling people hang on to. I was on a "intro to water cooling" site once and like literally the first thing that it said was "Water cooling isn't just about temperatures, it's about noise. Water coolers are much quieter than air coolers.) 

[Bryan2375]

32 minutes ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

bare in mind how much you are spending on cooler and cpu vs a faster cpu.

if you want a water cooled system on mid range cpu why not get a beefy cpu at stock in the first place

I see your point but having the fact that I already purchased the cpu and going by what most of the replies have said , I might as well stay either with the stock air cooler or maybe get one that’s a little better .

[BigDamn]

I vote the AIO water cooler. I own a couple of Corsair units that have never seen failure and I don't expect them to any time soon. The major (yet overlooked) benefit to a water cooler is bringing the case temps down. An air cooler will just blow hot air all around the inside of your rig. A water cooler carries the heat directly to the radiator and out of the case, thus bringing your overall system temperature down. In addition, water coolers are quieter, more effective, and easier to install.

[corrado33]

3 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

I vote the AIO water cooler. I own a couple of Corsair units that have never seen failure and I don't expect them to any time soon. The major (yet overlooked) benefit to a water cooler is bringing the case temps down. An air cooler will just blow hot air all around the inside of your rig. A water cooler carries the heat directly to the radiator and out of the case, thus bringing your overall system temperature down. In addition, water coolers are quieter, more effective, and easier to install.

I'll disagree on one point. They definitely aren't easier to install. 

 

Fans first? Rad first? Block first? Oh shit you forgot the fans? Which way do I want the block to face to have the tubes in the right direction? Oh the tubes won't reach unless the logo is upside down, well screw you deal with it. Air coolers, on the other hand, are generally just like "hey, install the backplate (4 nuts) and then just screw the air cooler to it (2 screws)." Boom, done. Admittedly attaching and detaching the fans can be... interesting at times, but I wouldn't call it... hard. 

[BigDamn]

5 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

I'll disagree on one point. They definitely aren't easier to install. 

 

Fans first? Rad first? Block first? Oh shit you forgot the fans? Which way do I want the block to face to have the tubes in the right direction? Oh the tubes won't reach unless the logo is upside down, well screw you deal with it. Air coolers, on the other hand, are generally just like "hey, install the backplate (4 nuts) and then just screw the air cooler to it (2 screws)." Boom, done. Admittedly attaching and detaching the fans can be... interesting at times, but I wouldn't call it... hard. 

My perspective may be a little skewed as I like to purchase spacious cases, therefore making it very easy to install a big water cooler. I've used large air coolers and always have a hell of a time screwing it down with that big ass heatsink in my way.

[corrado33]

1 minute ago, BigDamn said:

My perspective may be a little skewed as I like to purchase spacious cases, therefore making it very easy to install a big water cooler. I've used large air coolers and always have a hell of a time screwing it down with that big ass heatsink in my way.

Ah, you need a long screwdriver young padawan. I will agree, using a typical length #2 phillips does make screwing in the large coolers difficult. But if you have a long one it's super easy.  

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

hey why is "installation process" a consideration here?

it comes to cooler manufacturer design, you just have to use right tool and steps by following the manual, its may take more step for air / aio, so what.