3 ms·

I heard that AIO liquid coolers are not necessary too. I saw some YT videos saying that air coolers were equal or better in performance. For those who really w

I heard that AIO liquid coolers are not necessary too. I saw some YT videos saying that air coolers were equal or better in performance. For those who really want to live on the edge and take risks, I heard liquid metal was the what all the "cool kids" were into these days. Just be warned though, like a cool tattoo, some people regretted that decision.

faeriechangling 5y ago
I saw those videos too... a decade ago. Things have really changed. I could cite some benchmarks showing that 2x120mm Watercoolers these days trade blows with high end air, and 2x140mm or 3x120mm usually outperforms air, but consider the following: 1: Air is essentially limited to using two smallish radiators and a couple of ~140mm fans in the airpath of eachother with limited placement options. Water-cooling radiators allow you to run obnoxious amounts of fans with big heavy radiators and very flexible placement options. 2: Cars used to be air cooled and companies eventually gave up and started using radiators because they simply dissipate heat better, despite being extra expense and another point of failure. As component power draw is going up, and a1o radiators are getting economies of scale, water-cooling has become far more mainstream and easily dominates the >$100 cooling market. We're even seeing watercooling in the datacenter space, Google tensor chips are watercooled.
willis936 5y ago
Updated with references. What matters for thermal performance is thermal resistance at the cold plate. You'll find that the best air coolers end where mid-range AIO coolers begin in this metric. The NH-D15 sits pretty at about 0.11 degC/W but the Arctic Freezer II line is all sub 0.10 degC/W. Air coolers: https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16898/TRvsSPL.png https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16898/TRvsSPL.png AIO coolers: https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16427/TRSP.png https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16427/TRSP.png

faeriechangling 5y ago

I saw those videos too... a decade ago. Things have really changed. I could cite some benchmarks showing that 2x120mm Watercoolers these days trade blows with high end air, and 2x140mm or 3x120mm usually outperforms air, but consider the following: 1: Air is essentially limited to using two smallish radiators and a couple of ~140mm fans in the airpath of eachother with limited placement options. Water-cooling radiators allow you to run obnoxious amounts of fans with big heavy radiators and very flexible placement options. 2: Cars used to be air cooled and companies eventually gave up and started using radiators because they simply dissipate heat better, despite being extra expense and another point of failure. As component power draw is going up, and a1o radiators are getting economies of scale, water-cooling has become far more mainstream and easily dominates the >$100 cooling market. We're even seeing watercooling in the datacenter space, Google tensor chips are watercooled.

willis936 5y ago

Updated with references. What matters for thermal performance is thermal resistance at the cold plate. You'll find that the best air coolers end where mid-range AIO coolers begin in this metric. The NH-D15 sits pretty at about 0.11 degC/W but the Arctic Freezer II line is all sub 0.10 degC/W. Air coolers: https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16898/TRvsSPL.png https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16898/TRvsSPL.png AIO coolers: https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16427/TRSP.png https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16427/TRSP.png