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I went with an AIO (all-in-one) water cooler for the first time in my latest PC build. Many PC cases today have an area in the front or at the top for a radiato

I went with an AIO (all-in-one) water cooler for the first time in my latest PC build. Many PC cases today have an area in the front or at the top for a radiator and its fans. Mine is in the front and has 2x120mm fans that suck air in. I have the same amount of fans blowing air out (back+top). All four fans are running on very low RPM so it's very quiet. I really recommend this setup. I think 2x120mm is a sweet-spot for price/performance when it comes to radiator size. Smaller will require a louder fan. Bigger is obviously better but more expensive and might not fit your case. I used to have a big air cooler. One benefit that I didn't plan for is that I'm no longer worried about the stress on the motherboard mount from the heavy piece of metal hanging from it. Another is less stuff in the way since the bulk of the cooler is the radiator and fans off to the side.

bestham 5y ago
I never understood why one would like to place the radiator at the inlet, thus heating the air inside the case. The hottest part is still the GPU (even if Intel tries their hardest to change that), and by placing the radiator at the inlet you are heating the air to cool the gpu with an additional 50-150 watt.
- deleted 5y ago
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- RamRodification 5y ago
  I actually placed it up top first, blowing out. But then I looked up some tests and recommendations and apparently front blowing inward is better. Can't remember the exact reasoning but I remember being convinced enough to move the whole thing. Temps are great now but I never did a comparison. I assume my way results in better cooling for the CPU because the radiator gets fresh air instead of GPU-heated air. Maybe it's just about prioritizing CPU over GPU (or having more headroom for a few extra degrees on the GPU).
formerly_proven 5y ago
AIOs don't seem to me like they're worth it, because most CPUs can be cooled by a good tower cooler just fine, and those that don't really only thrive on a custom loop instead of a 240 mm rad. For gaming - well CPU thermal load tends to be modest, so it doesn't matter. AIOs for GPUs largely don't exist, and that's the component I'd watercool first, not the CPU. So we're back to custom loop there.
- RamRodification 5y ago
  > most CPUs can be cooled by a good tower cooler just fine Water coolers are definitely still an enthusiast part in my opinion. If you're satisfied with "just fine" then no, it's probably not worth it. It will give you better cooling per decibel but probably worse per dollar, at least on stock clocks. If you want to mess around with overclocking the advantage seems to become a bit bigger for AIOs as you crank up fan speeds.
- jrockway 5y ago
  Every AIO I've ever owned has stopped working not too far into its life. I remember being shocked and dismayed the first time I had one fail, and simply upset when the second one failed. After the second failure, I bought a Noctua NH-D15S and that heatsink has happily survived 4 builds. (Only getting replaced after I switched to Threadripper, which required a different Noctua heatsink. But don't worry, the NH-D15S still lives on in a friend's PC.) In my opinion, there are two viable cooling solutions: a high-quality heatsink and fan, or a custom water loop. AIOs just don't have the performance to make the failure rate acceptable.

bestham 5y ago

I never understood why one would like to place the radiator at the inlet, thus heating the air inside the case. The hottest part is still the GPU (even if Intel tries their hardest to change that), and by placing the radiator at the inlet you are heating the air to cool the gpu with an additional 50-150 watt.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
RamRodification 5y ago
I actually placed it up top first, blowing out. But then I looked up some tests and recommendations and apparently front blowing inward is better. Can't remember the exact reasoning but I remember being convinced enough to move the whole thing. Temps are great now but I never did a comparison. I assume my way results in better cooling for the CPU because the radiator gets fresh air instead of GPU-heated air. Maybe it's just about prioritizing CPU over GPU (or having more headroom for a few extra degrees on the GPU).

formerly_proven 5y ago

AIOs don't seem to me like they're worth it, because most CPUs can be cooled by a good tower cooler just fine, and those that don't really only thrive on a custom loop instead of a 240 mm rad. For gaming - well CPU thermal load tends to be modest, so it doesn't matter. AIOs for GPUs largely don't exist, and that's the component I'd watercool first, not the CPU. So we're back to custom loop there.

RamRodification 5y ago
> most CPUs can be cooled by a good tower cooler just fine Water coolers are definitely still an enthusiast part in my opinion. If you're satisfied with "just fine" then no, it's probably not worth it. It will give you better cooling per decibel but probably worse per dollar, at least on stock clocks. If you want to mess around with overclocking the advantage seems to become a bit bigger for AIOs as you crank up fan speeds.
jrockway 5y ago
Every AIO I've ever owned has stopped working not too far into its life. I remember being shocked and dismayed the first time I had one fail, and simply upset when the second one failed. After the second failure, I bought a Noctua NH-D15S and that heatsink has happily survived 4 builds. (Only getting replaced after I switched to Threadripper, which required a different Noctua heatsink. But don't worry, the NH-D15S still lives on in a friend's PC.) In my opinion, there are two viable cooling solutions: a high-quality heatsink and fan, or a custom water loop. AIOs just don't have the performance to make the failure rate acceptable.