What would be better for hotter climates, an AIO or an Air Cooler?

[GAME 55]

I don't know if this is the right place for this topic/thread, but if it's not, I am really sorry

I was kinda wondering which would be better for hotter climates, an AIO or an Air Cooler, since I live in Bahrain where the temperatures in the summer can easily reach 40°C and beyond, yeah...

I care less about the temperature of the room itself and more about which solution can kick more heat into an already heat saturated room, or are they both the same in terms of that? I don't really know, I am not that good at Physics.

But yeah, I reached some insane temperatures last summer when I was using my Air Cooler and I wonder if an AIO would make a difference, or I could just buy a better Air Cooler, I am in need for better cooling either way since my current Air Cooler is not good enough for the summer and I will have to compensate for that.

So yeah, what do you guys think?

[dizmo]

You have to care about the temperature of the room. It plays a direct part in the cooling capabilities. It'd help if you listed your current set up. Kind of hard to figure out if it's just a shitty cooler if we have no idea what you're running.

[Ralfi]

This is another interesting test I’d like to see tackled by Linus & co.

 

I’m in my first Summer with a new air-cooled PC & are still testing to see how it handles the higher temps.

 

Without knowing much about AIO’s before starting my build last year (first build in 10 years), I just presumed they’d be the better option over air, but many here have stated they may not be all they’re cracked up to be in both noise & performance compared to a quality air cooler.

 

I’m curious to know what people think.

[Chris Pratt]

What it boils down to is simply water transfers heat better than air. You still have to get the heat away from the CPU and dissipate it. That's where the rad of a liquid cooler comes in. It usually provides a bigger surface area for the heat transfer to air, and it's design to kick it out of the case rather than into it like an air cooler. That's where the majority of the extra cooling potential comes in.

 

If your ambient temps are high, that's going to hurt cooling across the board. There's nothing in particular about one solution or the other than solves that. A liquid cooler may be better simply because the rad fans push it immediately out of the case rather than having to rely on the case fans for an air cooler, but with a proper case fan setup, it would probably be about the same anyways.

[GAME 55]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You have to care about the temperature of the room. It plays a direct part in the cooling capabilities. It'd help if you listed your current set up. Kind of hard to figure out if it's just a shitty cooler if we have no idea what you're running.

My PC specs are as follows:
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
GPU - AMD Radeon RX Vega 11
RAM - 1x8GB Kingston HyperX Fury 3200MHz CL16 (I know, I am sorry, I will upgrade it as soon as possible)
CPU Cooler - AMD Wraith Stealth
Motherboard - ASUS EX-A320M-GAMING
Case - Mercury Rigel (Just a cheap, bad airflow case, maybe I need to upgrade it also)
Power Supply - Mercury KEZ-M200 300W (Yeah...)
Storage - 128GB TeamGroup GX2
             - 3.5" 1TB WD Blue 7200RPM 64MB Cache Hard Drive
             - 2.5" 500GB WD Blue 5400RPM 32MB Cache Hard Drive

So, the temperature of the room that time was 36°C, I wasn't even in the room back then, my PC was on folding and I just returned to my room to find that it turned into an oven, I don't think the 36°C is from the CPU, but actually just because it was the only room that didn't have the AC turned on

During my investigation, I ran the PC with the case open, and when the room is cold, like 18°C-20°C (With the AC on), it was way better! But when the room got hot again to around 36°C, I still got the same result, which was 95°C (Thermal Throttling)

[GAME 55]

16 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

This is another interesting test I’d like to see tackled by Linus & co.

 

I’m in my first Summer with a new air-cooled PC & are still testing to see how it handles the higher temps.

 

Without knowing much about AIO’s before starting my build last year (first build in 10 years), I just presumed they’d be the better option over air, but many here have stated they may not be all they’re cracked up to be in both noise & performance compared to a quality air cooler.

 

I’m curious to know what people think.

Yeah, it would be really interesting to see Linus test this!

[GAME 55]

7 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

What it boils down to is simply water transfers heat better than air. You still have to get the heat away from the CPU and dissipate it. That's where the rad of a liquid cooler comes in. It usually provides a bigger surface area for the heat transfer to air, and it's design to kick it out of the case rather than into it like an air cooler. That's where the majority of the extra cooling potential comes in.

 

If your ambient temps are high, that's going to hurt cooling across the board. There's nothing in particular about one solution or the other than solves that. A liquid cooler may be better simply because the rad fans push it immediately out of the case rather than having to rely on the case fans for an air cooler, but with a proper case fan setup, it would probably be about the same anyways.

I see, well since I was testing with the case open, I don't think a better case fan setup or a better airflow case would help me anyway, so I guess I will just go with the best cooler I can find that fits my budget, thanks a lot for the explanation!

[dizmo]

If you're using the stock cooler pretty much anything is better, but don't expect miracles. You're in a hot room. It won't really go lower than the air you're pushing through it, same with water.

[GAME 55]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

If you're using the stock cooler pretty much anything is better, but don't expect miracles. You're in a hot room. It won't really go lower than the air you're pushing through it, same with water.

Oh ok, yeah I was just hoping for any decent improvement, even if little.

Cooling the room a bit should probably be my priority though... It also helps to make my room inhabitable lol

Thanks a lot for the help!

[WoodenMarker]

20 minutes ago, GAME 55 said:

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
During my investigation, I ran the PC with the case open, and when the room is cold, like 18°C-20°C (With the AC on), it was way better! But when the room got hot again to around 36°C, I still got the same result, which was 95°C (Thermal Throttling)

Have you tried undervolting?

If the rear fan is exhaust, you can try flipping it to an intake to see if that helps. 

[freeagent]

Heat will accelerate permeation.