Best aio cooler

[Im_Ben]

I'm sure there's plenty of posts like this, but It would be nice to get some confirmation. So what's the best aio for the money you can get today?

[chckovsky]

Best AIO cooler you can buy for money?

OR

Best value AIO cooler?

 

Most companies use basically the same Asetek pumps and circuits. Corsair/NZXT/EVGA all use Asetek.

 

Anyways, most AIOs that aren't from no-name brands deliver very similar performance. The big (it's actaully not that big) performance difference lies in fan design and speeds, otherwise it's mostly RGB and looks.

 

GamersNexus has a TON of really useful videos on watercooling and AIOs, such as this one:

 

 

So what's your focus? Silence, performance, form factor, price?

 

[Im_Ben]

2 minutes ago, chckovsky said:

Best AIO cooler you can buy for money?

OR

Best value AIO cooler?

 

Most companies use basically the same Asetek pumps and circuits. Corsair/NZXT/EVGA all use Asetek.

 

Anyways, most AIOs that aren't from no-name brands deliver very similar performance. The big (it's actaully not that big) performance difference lies in fan design and speeds, otherwise it's mostly RGB and looks.

 

GamersNexus has a TON of really useful videos on watercooling and AIOs, such as this one:

 

 

So what's your focus? Silence, performance, form factor, price?

 

My main focus would be silence and performance

[Dschijn]

EK-MLC Phoenix

[chckovsky]

3 minutes ago, Dschijn said:

EK-MLC Phoenix

Is it really an AIO, though?

 

But yeah that'll likely perform better than others, but then again it is also twice-to-thrice the price of other, reasonable cooling solutions.

[Im_Ben]

Just now, chckovsky said:

Is it really an AIO, though?

 

But yeah that'll likely perform better than others, but then again it is also twice-to-thrice the price of other, reasonable cooling solutions.

What are other good alternatives?

[chckovsky]

6 minutes ago, Megabmin said:

What are other good alternatives?

What are you cooling? How extreme is it?

[Im_Ben]

Nothing extreme I haven't ordered the parts yet, but it would either be an i5-8600k or the i7-8700k.

[Mk7-Golf-R]

I would think a 360mm AIO. The brand I'm still undecided on. I'm leaning towards corsair.

[DarkSmith2]

I feel free to give you my thoughts on this, take it with a grain of salt. I dont want to trigger anyone but here is my experience with AiO's.

 

They are all pretty similar, how they are build, how much they cool, how loud they are. The only changing factors are Radiator size and Fans.

 

-most AiOs are using the same pump on different revisions without any real improvements in cooling performance or noise. (thx to aseteks patent rights)

-every AiO will get louder after some time and lose cooling performance, its always air trapped inside every AiO, which mostly cant be changed due to its sealing.

they are industrial manufactured this way. Impossible to change if you want it to be sealed and maintenance free. You can shake it like you want maybe you get the air out of your pump for quite some time but it will repeat over and over again because the air cant get out anywhere.

-none of them comes with really decent fans or IF it is as expansive as other AiO's including buying the fans of your choice seperate.

-every AiO with software has bad software.

 

Imho the best choice you can make is buying one of those expandable units. One way would be to buy a Alphacool Eisbaer variant and mod it. Clean it, change the hoses and fittings for higher flowrate, change the fans to something like Noctua Black.swap Chromax fans and bleed it with your own coolant, maybe even add a small reservoir to avoid air getting into the pump, it has a relatively weak pump compaired to Aseteks variant, but you can also change that if you are "unpleased". Only downsite would be a small maintenance once in a year (refilling) and a little bigger every second year (cleaning). But well you atleast get a real copper radiator..

 

Example Video:

Make sure to turn on subtitles (its in german)