Quick Question

[YedZed]

Am I wrong in believing that, excluding stuff like phase change, PC air and water coolers cannot cool past the actual ambient temperature, since the only air that can cool it can also heat it back up?

[MrMcMuffinJr]

My h100i cools down to 20Cish and thats a around room temp so yes. it makes sense

[NowThatsDamp]

True

[Windows7ge]

Yeah, unless you use something like a refrigerator compressor or convert a liquid to a gas like Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Carbon Dioxide ontop of your CPU then air & liquid cooling will only bring you down to room temp.

 

I'd say though unless you're doing serious overclocking there's no real benefit to going sub-ambient temps. Actually it becomes problematic as the moisture in the air will condense on the colder than ambient surface which is bad for computer hardware.

[YedZed]

Just now, NowThatsDamp said:

True

Oops wrong rate  

[YedZed]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

Yeah, unless you use something like a refrigerator compressor or convert a liquid to a gas like Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Carbon Dioxide ontop of your CPU then air & liquid cooling will only bring you down to room temp.

 

I'd say though unless you're doing serious overclocking there's no real benefit to going sub-ambient temps. Actually it becomes problematic as the moisture in the air will condense on the colder than ambient surface which is bad for computer hardware.

Right, so in theory, gaming at 20c will be better than 30c, barrring any condensation issues.

[Windows7ge]

10 minutes ago, YedZed said:

Right, so in theory, gaming at 20c will be better than 30c, barrring any condensation issues.

So long as the CPU is = or > ambient then moisture isn't an issue. I'd argue that you could push the limits and go just a few degrees below ambient but not by much before moisture notably starts to form. Gaming performance difference @ 20°C vs 30°C would be negligible. 20°C vs 80°C gaming difference would still be fairly negligible. The only difference would be how long the CPU's lifespan is and even then at 80°C the CPU would most likely live longer than you would plan to use it. 

[YedZed]

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

So long as the CPU is = or > ambient then moisture isn't an issue. I'd argue that you could push the limits and go just a few degrees below ambient but not by much before moisture notably starts to form. Gaming performance difference @ 20°C vs 30°C would be negligible. 20°C vs 80°C gaming difference would still be fairly negligible. The only difference would be how long the CPU's lifespan is and even then at 80°C the CPU would most likely live longer than you would plan to use it. 

Well I meant ambient 20c vs ambient 30c, but I think we understand eachother. Thanks!