AIO vs Air cooling

[EduarDoc]

Hello all, 

 

I have 100 dollar budget to spend upgrading cooling (small gift). My current set up is an ATX tower with three 120mm fans in the front (as intake), 1 120 mm in the back (exhaust) and the one that comes with the air cooler. 

 

Honestly I am pretty happy with my current temps (low 40s at IDLE and low 70s at full load), I am running on an AMD 5600X. But since I have that extra money I thought on 'upgrading' for aesthetics/ a little gain in temps (?) and my options are:

 

1) AIO: MSI MAG Coreliquid 240R liquid CPU cooler (https://www.newegg.com/msi-liquid-cooling-system/p/N82E16835846008?item=N82E16835846008&source=region&nm_mc=knc-googleadwords-pc&cm_mmc=knc-googleadwords-pc-_-pla-_-liquid+%2f+water+cooling-_-N82E16835846008&gclid=CjwKCAjw092IBhAwEiwAxR1lRumbj4D40OW-UQWv3zGth39qjAo0FiV2cBK2Dtq6DwwCJqsCY-YA3RoC4P4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) 

 

With this solution I would get rid of my current cooling tower... of course

 

2) Lian li Unifan SL120 RGB (https://www.newegg.com/lian-li-uf-sl120-3b-case-fan/p/1YF-005G-00015)

 

With this option I would replace the exhaust fan and I would add two exhaust fans at the top. My expectation is that both solutions would keep about the same temps but maybe option two can improve cooling to the rest of the components since it is exhausting heat from the whole case?

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thank you!

[Skiiwee29]

<-- Moved to Cooling -->

[Cyracus]

7 minutes ago, EduarDoc said:

My expectation is that both solutions would keep about the same temps but maybe option two can improve cooling to the rest of the components since it is exhausting heat from the whole case

A 240mm rad is about equivalent to an nh-d15 in performance, so option one would be the most cooling for your cpu.

And with all the fans you already have, your other components aren't going to get much better cooled unless you stick heat sinks to stuff, but even then more/different fans won't matter (functionally at least, visuals and noise are the areas changing fans will matter)

[Chris Pratt]

Depending on the air cooler you currently have, that 240mm AIO may not even be much of an upgrade cooling-wise. You really need 280mm or better before you start beating what an air cooler can achieve. It would mostly be about the "looks".

 

Also, bear in mind, that while AIO failures are pretty rare (at least on decent AIOs), they can still happen. It's always a calculated risk, and personally, I wouldn't take it if you're already doing fine with an air cooler.

 

The 120mm AIO would be completely useless. Don't even bother with that. Despite what air cooler you have currently, you're better off with that an a 120mm.

[Jurrunio]

120 and 140 rad ones have no place in ATX or micro ATX cases. They dont perform well with all the drawbacks of going liquid

[Cyracus]

@Chris PrattOP linked 240mm aio and a 3 pack of 120mm fans.