Air Cooling vs AIO cooling vs Water cooling

[SyedHamed]

Read the thread and quote me about your thoughts

 

For someone who has a

• Low end cpu(i3 or ryzen 3) - Definitely air cooling
• Mid tier cpu (i5 or ryzen 5) - Air cooling
• High end cpu (i7,i9 or ryzen 7, 9, Threadripper) but with no intention to overclock - Air cooling
• High end cpu (like above) with slight overclock ( like +200-300 mhz)- A good air cooler like nh-d15 or DRP4
• Mid and High end cpu (like above) with highest overclocks- AIO cooling
• High end cpu (like above) with highest oc and also long term use- Water Cooling

[TrigrH]

Low end cpu - Stock cooling.

Mid tier cpu intel - Consider non stock air cooling

Mid tier cpu ryzen - Stock cooling.

High end cpu desktop intel - Air cooling

High end cpu ryzen - Consider non stock air cooling or AIO.

High end cpu HEDT - AIO/Custom Loop

 

OC? increase cooling 1-2 tiers.

[SyedHamed]

7 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

Low end cpu - Stock cooling.

Mid tier cpu intel - Consider non stock air cooling

Mid tier cpu ryzen - Stock cooling.

High end cpu desktop intel - Air cooling

High end cpu ryzen - Consider non stock air cooling or AIO.

High end cpu HEDT - AIO/Custom Loop

 

OC? increase cooling 1-2 tiers.

for a i5-9600k overclocked at 5 ghz, AIO still stands?

[TrigrH]

Just now, SyedHamed said:

for a i5-9600k overclocked at 5 ghz, AIO still stands?

I got an i7-8086k 1.4v 5.225ghz running off a 360mm aio no problems. 

[SyedHamed]

Just now, TrigrH said:

I got an i7-8086k 1.4v 5.225ghz running off a 360mm aio no problems. 

I got mine at 1.3v only

[Enderman]

Or you could build a custom loop for an i3 if you wanted, and prefer looks over performance.

It's up to the builder.

[SyedHamed]

 

Just now, Enderman said:

Or you could build a custom loop for an i3 if you wanted, and prefer looks over performance.

It's up to the builder.

Complete EK build for Pentium
Would be nice lol

[Enderman]

Just now, SyedHamed said:

 

Complete EK build for Pentium
Would be nice lol

Great temps too!

[PEagle]

Depends on a lot of things and especially what you are looking for.

I currently am on a stock cooler for ryzen 3700X coming from a Nepton 240M on a 4790K and a Corsair 240mm (don't have the ref) on a first gen i7.

My Ryzen cooler is louder and less efficient than both AIOs.

But both my AIO began to make noise after more than a year due to air in the loop, but not having a tank or something to refill, there has been a rattling noise on both of them.

 

Next step for me will be a custom loop (my first one) to go back to silent gaming

[boggy77]

also the only aios worthwile are 280mm and 360mm. good air cooler (nh-d15) beat 240mm and smaller aios.

[For Science!]

This is only a "sensible" recommendation for when there is a big chassis at play. In smaller form factors where you cannot fit even medium aircoolers, AIOs (120 mm) and Custom Loops (120 mm) also come to play at a much lower heat output tier.