Cooling

[Boinbo]

Alright, I used to think that water-cooling was better than air cooling. But me reading some threads on the forums, people would much rather reccomended a dark rock 4/ dy 15 over an AiO any day. Can someone explain to me why that is? Thanks in advance.

[Fasauceome]

Water just transfers heat, it still dissipates based on surface area. A 240mm radiator is all fine and good, but the dark rock pro 4 and NH-D15 are massive. 

 

Combine that with less maintenance cost and no risk of leak, it's not too shabby 

Edited June 28, 2019 by fasauceome

[Votivee]

See below reasons:

• Cheaper
• Cannot die (just replace a fan)
• No chance of leaks
• Often cooler
• No downtime
• Quieter

Basically, AIO's can and will die. Air coolers run forever. Keep in mind that we are talking about AIO's in most situations, and not custom liquid cooling.

---

[Boinbo]

Just now, fasauceome said:

Water just transfers heat, it still dissipates based on surface area. A 240mm radiator is all fine and good, but the dark rock pro 4 and NH-D15 are massive. 

 

Combine that with less maintenance cost and no risk of leak, it's not too shabby 

Got it, thanks. But also, I also saw they were better than water-cooling in some situations. If that's the case why do I see so many water-cooled builds for higher end desktops? And also, apparently they are quieter?

 

[Boinbo]

Just now, Votivee said:

See below reasons:

• Cheaper
• Cannot die (just replace a fan)
• No chance of leaks
• Often cooler
• No downtime
• Quieter

Basically, AIO's can and will die. Air coolers run forever. Keep in mind that we are talking about AIO's in most situations, and not custom liquid cooling.

---

Oh, could you explain the difference? Or link a source that would? Thanks.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

Got it, thanks. But also, I also saw they were better than water-cooling in some situations. If that's the case why do I see so many water-cooled builds for higher end desktops? And also, apparently they are quieter?

 

Like I said, they're huge, so they indeed can often cool better. Like you said, you assumed water coolers were just better, most other people seem to as well, so they also put water coolers in their high end builds.

[Votivee]

7 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

Got it, thanks. But also, I also saw they were better than water-cooling in some situations. If that's the case why do I see so many water-cooled builds for higher end desktops? And also, apparently they are quieter?

 

 

6 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

Oh, could you explain the difference? Or link a source that would? Thanks.

 

Air coolers are mostly quieter due to the lack of pump noise. This is mostly noticed at idle, where air coolers can run passively while AIO's always need the pump running.

 

High-end builds have water cooling because it is a widespread misconception that watercooling is better. High-end builds also have aesthetic purposes so the ram and motherboard can be seen. Air coolers block all view of ram and any motherboard RGB.

 

Again, talking about AIO's and not custom. Custom is a whole other league of its own.

 

https://www.topflightpc.com/blog/aio-vs-custom-loop

Edited June 28, 2019 by Votivee
Added link.

[Boinbo]

@Votivee and @fasauceome thank you for the information! I really appreciate it! One last question:

Wgat air coolers can be recommended in every price range, so I can help people out in the future of they ask for cooler recommendations?

[Votivee]

2 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

@Votivee and @fasauceome thank you for the information! I really appreciate it! One last question:

Wgat air coolers can be recommended in every price range, so I can help people out in the future of they ask for cooler recommendations?

Unless they have a specific use case or space restraints I usually just go-

Low end:

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

 

High end:

Noctua NH-D15

Dark Rock Pro 4

 

There are others but these are most popular and cool well.

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

Wgat air coolers can be recommended in every price range, so I can help people out in the future of they ask for cooler recommendations?

At the cheap end, Cooler Master made quite the comeback with their hyper 212 black edition, and the new dark rock slim performs quite well for only $60.

[Boinbo]

@Votivee @fasauceome thanks, is the Arctic freezer esports duo 34 (sorry if I butchered the name) a contender? Thanks.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Boinbo said:

@Votivee @fasauceome thanks, is the Arctic freezer esports duo 34 (sorry if I butchered the name) a contender? Thanks.

Yes, if you can buy it for close to $30 it's quite the cooler. Lately I've seen them closer to $40 though, depends on where you're buying from 

[Boinbo]

44 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Yes, if you can buy it for close to $30 it's quite the cooler. Lately I've seen them closer to $40 though, depends on where you're buying from 

Ahh ok. Thanks for your input guys!

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, Boinbo said:

Wgat air coolers can be recommended in every price range, so I can help people out in the future of they ask for cooler recommendations?

You can see relative performance here:

 

Pricing can vary heavily depending on where and when you're shopping. I usually just sort by price at whichever shops are applicable and see which good ones are currently cheap / on sale. There are plenty of great coolers but they're not always competitively priced. 

 

The only cooler which comes to mind that's currently consistently cheap worldwide is the Gammaxx 400. Previously, it was the Kotetsu although less widespread. 

[StarsMars]

Air vs liquid

7 hours ago, Boinbo said:

Oh, could you explain the difference? Or link a source that would? Thanks. 

Boom

 

Air vs liquid

 

[Boinbo]

1 minute ago, StarsMars said:

Air vs liquid

Bam

Air vs liquid

Thx