2 ms·

I agree in general, liquid cooling loops are a lot of work for usually very little benefit for average users. Even for people who need to put a couple of GPUs t

I agree in general, liquid cooling loops are a lot of work for usually very little benefit for average users. Even for people who need to put a couple of GPUs together, it turns out that mining rig frames with 16x extenders are pretty effective, since unlike a datacenter, you don't really need to optimize for density. But, I think CPU AIOs are the one exception since giant heatsinks often interfere with other parts (overhanging ram slots or the first M.2 slot) and add a lot of weight to be hanging off the motherboard.

dangus 4y ago
I still really don't understand CPU AIOs from a value perspective. - I've gotten more than acceptable noise performance out of very small mini-ITX cases by using ITX-sized heatsinks with high quality fans/designs/materials (e.g., Noctua). You don't even really need a giant heatsink to get good noise performance in many instances, and in terms of price it’s very easy to beat an AIO to get a higher quality air setup. - I haven't seen many heatsink/board designs made in recent years that don't take RAM and slots into consideration, and I don't really care if I have to take a heatsink off to remove an M.2 card – by the time I want to do that, it's probably about time to re-apply thermal paste anyway. - In what world does "weight hanging off the motherboard" matter? I've never seen or heard of any motherboard issue caused by this. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 is massive, and it has been a budget staple for over a decade and nobody's had this problem with it to my knowledge. - Most gamers don't need anything above mid-range for their CPU (e.g., AMD 5600X at 65 watts), but you'll see YouTubers building rigs with crazy high end stuff that doesn't significantly impact gaming performance and requires better cooling. Unless you're trying to go from 300 to 350FPS in an eSports game at 1080p, there's no reason to go above mid-range, your money is better spent on the GPU (i.e., most people game in a way that's GPU-bound). - Case volume and well-engineered case thermal design is "free." If all you care about is reasonable cost, low noise, and performance per dollar, using an AIO setup is just about the worst way to spend your money when you can just get a larger case with good airflow design by perusing reviews. - If you're doing any kind of socializing while gaming (e.g., Discord), you should be on headphones anyway because otherwise you'll be feeding back into your microphone. As long as your computer doesn't sound like a PS4 Pro I'd say it's fine.

dangus 4y ago

I still really don't understand CPU AIOs from a value perspective. - I've gotten more than acceptable noise performance out of very small mini-ITX cases by using ITX-sized heatsinks with high quality fans/designs/materials (e.g., Noctua). You don't even really need a giant heatsink to get good noise performance in many instances, and in terms of price it’s very easy to beat an AIO to get a higher quality air setup. - I haven't seen many heatsink/board designs made in recent years that don't take RAM and slots into consideration, and I don't really care if I have to take a heatsink off to remove an M.2 card – by the time I want to do that, it's probably about time to re-apply thermal paste anyway. - In what world does "weight hanging off the motherboard" matter? I've never seen or heard of any motherboard issue caused by this. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 is massive, and it has been a budget staple for over a decade and nobody's had this problem with it to my knowledge. - Most gamers don't need anything above mid-range for their CPU (e.g., AMD 5600X at 65 watts), but you'll see YouTubers building rigs with crazy high end stuff that doesn't significantly impact gaming performance and requires better cooling. Unless you're trying to go from 300 to 350FPS in an eSports game at 1080p, there's no reason to go above mid-range, your money is better spent on the GPU (i.e., most people game in a way that's GPU-bound). - Case volume and well-engineered case thermal design is "free." If all you care about is reasonable cost, low noise, and performance per dollar, using an AIO setup is just about the worst way to spend your money when you can just get a larger case with good airflow design by perusing reviews. - If you're doing any kind of socializing while gaming (e.g., Discord), you should be on headphones anyway because otherwise you'll be feeding back into your microphone. As long as your computer doesn't sound like a PS4 Pro I'd say it's fine.