What should I choose, big air cooler or 240mm AIO?

[almog]

Do you all think that going with the AIO would increase GPU temperatures too much?
I guess the air cooler would perform better in that regard.

Front mounted 240mm radiator with 2 intake fans, 1x120mm cooler for intake and 1x120mm for exhaust.

[almog]

3 minutes ago, KaitouX said:

If you can keep your current for a bit, a Thermalright PA120 on Aliexpress is a good option, it costs about R$270 currently, so probably not worth it, but it was going for R$180 with the black friday sales and coupons. Those prices already includes the taxes.

Other alternative is the Deepcool AG620, which is going for R$309(Pix)+shipping on GKInfoStore, or wait for it to go on sale somewhere else, once in a while it appears under R$350 on other shops.

If you want something cheaper, I would probably look into the AG400 over the Pichau cooler, you can find in multiple shops for under R$150(Pix).

Good to know. Thanks

I got the Pichau Cooler for R$150 and 2 Cooler Master PWM fans for R$80... plus shipping. But anyways... I'll take that into consideration.

[RevGAM]

Here's the thing... no matter which cooler you get, you're still going to feel the heat because heat doesn't stop being produced because of a great cooler - it just gets moved away from the source more efficiently, so the computer can increase its computing power of the CPU and GPU. More power still results in more heat, but your work gets done faster. However,  you can undervolt them both in order to decrease the heat produced. 

 

You should be putting the graphics load on the GPU, not the CPU, because that's what it's there for, and it does a much better job of it. Make sure there's good airflow going to the GC, of course.

 

Which cooler are you using now and how does it compare to the other(s)?

[almog]

On 12/3/2023 at 7:25 AM, RevGAM said:

Here's the thing... no matter which cooler you get, you're still going to feel the heat because heat doesn't stop being produced because of a great cooler - it just gets moved away from the source more efficiently, so the computer can increase its computing power of the CPU and GPU. More power still results in more heat, but your work gets done faster. However,  you can undervolt them both in order to decrease the heat produced. 

 

You should be putting the graphics load on the GPU, not the CPU, because that's what it's there for, and it does a much better job of it. Make sure there's good airflow going to the GC, of course.

 

Which cooler are you using now and how does it compare to the other(s)?

I ended up checking some other stuff and probably will keep the AIO.

I have found the Peerless Assassin for under $50 so taxes and duties wouldn't be an issue here, but dimensions would be not compatible. It would be my choice as I rather have a lower noise when idle.

I use 4 8gb sticks with around 45-46mm in total height and the PA has a clearance of only 37mm (157mm total height minus the 120mm for the fans). My case is rated for 170mm in total height for the coolers, it would barelly fit if I had to pull the fans close to the side panel glass.

Trying to find some videos to check compatibility.

When I say that I do CPU renderings it's because they are made that way,... it's just like Cinebench, Vray, Corona, or any other CPU bound image rendering engine.

Thank you for the help.

[almog]

Maybe the option would be to use fans as pull and not Push... maybe that would fit, but I'd have to check the motherboard dimensions.

[RevGAM]

49 minutes ago, almog said:

Maybe the option would be to use fans as pull and not Push... maybe that would fit, but I'd have to check the motherboard dimensions.

If the cooler's got no leak points such as on the side, pull will be OK but otherwise air takes the shortest path so near the fan it'll be cooler and in some parts hot. 

[almog]

Guys, one last questino... was calculating compatibility here.

Case: up to 170mm of cooler height
My memory sticks: 46mm tall

PA120 - 157mm tall

How tall are CPU socket plus CPU to the motherboard base? Is there anywhere I can find that?
How much height does the DIMM slot occupies?

Meaning...

IF CPU+socket = 10mm total height for processor + maximum tolerance for the case would be 10+170 = 180mm
IF dimm slot takes 1mm + DIMM height would be in my case 1 + 46mm = 47mm

Considering that I'd be able to fit the PA 120 as 47mm (memory total height) + 3mm gap + 120mm for the fan = 170mm and there would be still 10mm left.

Can I calculate like that?

Still trying to find a way to get the PA 120 instead of the AIO

[RevGAM]

10 hours ago, almog said:

Guys, one last questino... was calculating compatibility here.

Case: up to 170mm of cooler height
My memory sticks: 46mm tall

PA120 - 157mm tall

How tall are CPU socket plus CPU to the motherboard base? Is there anywhere I can find that?
How much height does the DIMM slot occupies?

Meaning...

IF CPU+socket = 10mm total height for processor + maximum tolerance for the case would be 10+170 = 180mm
IF dimm slot takes 1mm + DIMM height would be in my case 1 + 46mm = 47mm

Considering that I'd be able to fit the PA 120 as 47mm (memory total height) + 3mm gap + 120mm for the fan = 170mm and there would be still 10mm left.

Can I calculate like that?

Still trying to find a way to get the PA 120 instead of the AIO

When I was looking for a cooler, I already knew that most of them would fit in my case because of the listed clearance. I didn't, however, know if it would clear everything else: the VRM, capacitors near the socket, RAM, M.2_1 slot, etc. As Asus doesn't have that clearance info anywhere that I saw, I was forced to manually measure everything to determine what would fit. I then had to look at coolers to determine what their dimensions were. Many companies don't even provide diagrams, let alone detailed schematics of their coolers, so I was left to assume that diagrams that I COULD find were drawn to scale and so I used the values that were stated in order to estimate the rest of them by breaking things down per scale and comparing those results to the measurements I'd taken. When in doubt, aside from asking the mobo and cooler makers (which won't always works since they don't compare every cooler to every mobo), the only other solution is to ask online something like: "Do you have the PA120 on the x mobo?" and see if you get any responses. The people who have the answer may (or not) respond assuming they even see the post. I ended up going with measurements because I was given several options and they couldn't determine if they would fit. I eliminated some, like the D15, because of clashing measurements, and others because I determined they lacked the level of power I wanted in a cooler in terms of the non-moving parts (fewer heatpipes, heat transfer from coldplate to pipes, heatsink fins and spacing, etc.). I'm afraid you're probably going to have to whip out your measuring tools and do the same to get a definitive answer. You can always ask cooler manufacturers to give their measurements for areas you don't know.

[almog]

On 12/5/2023 at 6:26 AM, RevGAM said:

When I was looking for a cooler, I already knew that most of them would fit in my case because of the listed clearance. I didn't, however, know if it would clear everything else: the VRM, capacitors near the socket, RAM, M.2_1 slot, etc. As Asus doesn't have that clearance info anywhere that I saw, I was forced to manually measure everything to determine what would fit. I then had to look at coolers to determine what their dimensions were. Many companies don't even provide diagrams, let alone detailed schematics of their coolers, so I was left to assume that diagrams that I COULD find were drawn to scale and so I used the values that were stated in order to estimate the rest of them by breaking things down per scale and comparing those results to the measurements I'd taken. When in doubt, aside from asking the mobo and cooler makers (which won't always works since they don't compare every cooler to every mobo), the only other solution is to ask online something like: "Do you have the PA120 on the x mobo?" and see if you get any responses. The people who have the answer may (or not) respond assuming they even see the post. I ended up going with measurements because I was given several options and they couldn't determine if they would fit. I eliminated some, like the D15, because of clashing measurements, and others because I determined they lacked the level of power I wanted in a cooler in terms of the non-moving parts (fewer heatpipes, heat transfer from coldplate to pipes, heatsink fins and spacing, etc.). I'm afraid you're probably going to have to whip out your measuring tools and do the same to get a definitive answer. You can always ask cooler manufacturers to give their measurements for areas you don't know.

Hey, ended up buying nothing yet.

But fast question here, as you helped a lot last year.

PA120 with one fan (middle) only (case does not support the front fan with 4 dimm sticks) vs Cooler Master ML240L v2.?

Any comments would help.

Thank you.

[RevGAM]

15 hours ago, almog said:

Hey, ended up buying nothing yet.

But fast question here, as you helped a lot last year.

PA120 with one fan (middle) only (case does not support the front fan with 4 dimm sticks) vs Cooler Master ML240L v2.?

Any comments would help.

Thank you.

So the CM has better fans except for the crappy bearings. Unfortunately, there's no data on the pump that actually helps except for the electricity consumption, so I cannot say much other than that if you're going to go with a 240, get a better one, either a regular MasterLiquid (not Lite or one of the other inferior varieties), or go with a better brand, like the Arctic LF3, Endorfy Navis, Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance, DC Mystique, SilverStone IceMyst, etc.

If you're struggling with runaway heat, the PA120 is always a safe bet until it gets to a certain temperature, after which it will be vanquished. If there's space, look at the Phantom Spirit 120 or the Frost Spirit 140, but do not remove the 2nd fan. If you cannot accommodate any of these coolers without removing the fans, I'd say you should look at fans that ARE powerful AND fit.

The alternatives are that you replace the fan(s) with something far more powerful, or get a single-tower instead of dual, which will take up space. That's why I chose the Noctua U12A. If space really is an issue, though, I'd say get a water cooler. If the pump isn't strong and the fans aren't, either (a common issue), then get much stronger fans. If the pump IS strong (like my Frozen Notte @5,300 RPM), you won't get much benefit from stronger fans.

And, of course, don't forget that room temperature is the final arbiter of the temperature minimums you'll get.