Is water cooling better than air cooling?

[OcramBro]

Topic, then if so can you guys give me links to some decent 2 fan radiator ones. Budget is like $110 or less

[Guest]

In theory, yes, but some air coolers match up with aio's

[Br3tt96]

Corsair H100i 

 

NZXT Kraken x61

[UpsetPeck]

[Godlygamer23]

Technically, water cooling does allow for a greater capacity when transporting heat away from a component. However, you can get air coolers that match or at least compete with AIOs. Bear in mind one caveat: They end up being heavier and bigger in order to match them.

[Benergy]

It's quieter and maintains lower temperatures than air cooling.

 

However it is less reliable (more parts to fail) and if it has a fault, it can mean liquid getting on your components.

 

[Sam Z Man]

I would say no, high end air coolers can be just as good as 280mm AIOs, and its more common to kill a CPU because a AIO pump failed compared to a fan failing on a air cooler.

[Najuno]

Topic, then if so can you guys give me links to some decent 2 fan radiator ones. Budget is like $110 or less

You can get beefy air coolers, but they become bulky, heavy and you might get into trouble with you system memory if it isn´t low profile RAM. I personally like AIO or custom watercooling (out of the equation of course with your budget) better, because I get better OCing temps for high OCs and I just like the looks better.

[BrightCandle]

Watercooling does two things:

1) It allows the transport of the heat away from the CPU socket so it can be spread out across lots of very efficiently designed radiators. So you can cool a CPU with 10 120mm radiators if you want.

 

2) It is more efficient to transfer from the copper of a waterblock to water than to air, so the heat will leave the block the CPU faster ultimately cooling the CPU to a lower temperature.

 

1 and 2 play together to mean that given sufficient radiators you can cool a a much larger source of heat using watercooling than air. But small heat sources don't really get that much of an advantage from water because (2) doesn't matter and (1) has a small impact when the amount of heat moving isn't significant. My own personal feeling is that the cross over point is around 150W and below air is usually similar in performance. But once you get into the 220W range it makes quite a difference, ~20C at the same voltage and clockspeed and you can (given some luck) push voltages higher than on air.

 

But since Sandy bridge we have mostly been limited by voltages more than we have thermals because CPUs have been trying to get more efficient.

[AnonymousGuy]

I would say no, high end air coolers can be just as good as 280mm AIOs, and its more common to kill a CPU because a AIO pump failed compared to a fan failing on a air cooler.

A CPU is unlikely to die regardless of whether it has a functioning cooler on it or not.  We're long past the AMD Athlon days where there was no thermal shutdown.

[Sam Z Man]

A CPU is unlikely to die regardless of whether it has a functioning cooler on it or not.  We're long past the AMD Athlon days where there was no thermal shutdown.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people, I have seen some seriously dumb shit

[Benji_w]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people, I have seen some seriously dumb shit

 

Hmmmm getting that feeling right now...

 

 

Topic, then if so can you guys give me links to some decent 2 fan radiator ones. Budget is like $110 or less

 

Air coolers need to be big in order to cool more efficiently and quieter, my overclocking produces a lot of heat so watercooling was really my only option other than having a tornado on my desk.

 

Watercooling is great for moving heat but in terms of ease and air cooler simply can't be beaten. There are many pro's and con's to both and ultimately it's down to the user's needs to define which will work best.

 

With PC parts becoming more and more energy efficient and cooler, watercooling might actually be a thing of the past.

[Sam Z Man]

Hmmmm getting that feeling right now...

This comment brought back a few of said memories.

[Benji_w]

Hmmmm getting that feeling right now...

This comment brought back a few of said memories.

 

 You know you love me really! Not seen you post in a while hope all is well, btw a machine will shut off if the cpu is overheating to protect itself normally way before damage can take place, from experience. 

[Sam Z Man]

 You know you love me really! Not seen you post in a while hope all is well, btw a machine will shut off if the cpu is overheating to protect itself normally way before damage can take place, from experience. 

 

I have seen a few guys manage to kill them in attempting to power them on with a failed cooler over and over again, and yea haven't been on much since life got a little more busy.

[Benji_w]

I have seen a few guys manage to kill them in attempting to power them on with a failed cooler over and over again, and yea haven't been on much since life got a little more busy.

 

Hope all is well with you, and I dunno how? I've booted up the old thermal nuclear reactor that is my 8350 with my old Phanteks cooler without fans on before. Was grabbing some values out of my bios for a friend when I was switching to water. Ran fine, even booted to windows lol.

[Sam Z Man]

Hope all is well with you, and I dunno how? I've booted up the old thermal nuclear reactor that is my 8350 with my old Phanteks cooler without fans on before. Was grabbing some values out of my bios for a friend when I was switching to water. Ran fine, even booted to windows lol.

 

Oh yea man life got busy for the better.