Air cooling is just better

Where there is a will, there is a way

It's definitely easier, simpler and cheaper.

Water cooling can be quieter, though. Some big radiators and you can cool a gaming PC with hardly any airflow.

Nothing like a gamer sandwich

I think it depends on the use case. Personally, I simply don't jive with the idea of conductive liquids swirling inside my expensive PC.

Remember kids, if you're ever feeling useless, you'll always be more useful than a 120mm AIO.

It's a fun thing to do. I like my setup (O11 dynamic XL, two 360mm rads, dual pumps, both CPU and GPU blocks), but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone. It's a lot of effort and expense for a little gain. But it's a hobby on top of a hobby, and that's fine if you want to go for it.

Technically, no, air is a much worse thermal conductor, and most liquids are significantly better. It's a pretty efficient thermal INSULATOR, however.

The practical applications, however, make the movement of air OUT of your system an efficient cooling method.

I like not having to worry about a leak destroying all my expensive hardware.

Not necessarily, but one, it's a lot cheaper, two, air leaks are not a problem.

Molten Salt cooling. That can handle CPU temperatures of several million degrees. Your CPU may not handle that, but that's not my problem.

A big ass CPU heat sync and fan like that is usually at least as good as most water cooling options. Often times it scores higher on performance tests. It depends on your exact hardware of course.

Quieter, less point's of failure, and in many cases taking up less space. I have compressed air for dust. In the consumer sphere and almost any enthusiast sphere, air cooling > > > water cooling

yea but whatercooling is a complete new space in the whole building process, when building alone gets boring it opens a whole new door to customization, dedication and „learning“ (its not a really usefull skill), but if its something that pleases you, its just freakin cool, even tho it sucks compared to air cooling its a huge subspace in the custom pc scene. its an enthusiast thing for people who are a bit freaky :) i love it and im always happy when i look at my machine

just admitting you dont know how cooling works. thats cool.

Yes thank you. I went through a water cooling phase, what a pain in the ass. Worrying about the pump, algae, topping off reservoir, leaks ruining your motherboard. The concept is nice, but the reality is high fucking maintenance for no added value.

Noctua master race

Just bought one of those brown monsters for a new build, can't wait to try it

Small form factor computers are a lot easier with water cooling. That way the GPU can be put right next to the motherboard, and the CPU radiator moved away from that area.

Cries in SFFPCs

Hard to tame a 5800X3D in a 8L case

I literally just installed an NHD-15 and it dropped my idle temps 10 degrees vs my old AIO. Load temps are about 5-10 degrees cooler, too.

Didn’t Linus tech tips do a video on this and find that water cooling doesn’t make much if any difference.

My GPU had a shitty blower cooler, switching to water-cooling made my system so much more quiet!

It's all fun and games until you want a beefy setup in an ITX form factor.

Like i give a fuck what cools best. I want my system to look awesome and the AIO sure looks better imo. At the end of the day: build the PC that makes you happy.

Unless you need extra gpu cooling. Which I don't so I'm a hurricane boy weeeeeeeeeeee

The problem with Noctua is that you need a lot of space...

The only reason I have water cooling is that I bought my pc used and it came with water cooling. I'm too lazy to change it. At least the RGB lights on the motherboard were switched off with a simple toggle in the BIOS.

I've got an FX era noctua still going strong on a 5900x. They even shipped me the adapter kit for free.

Water cooling feels unnecessary and expensive. Like most of my hobbies. I don't get this particular one, but I can appreciate why people might.

Eeeehhh it's about on par

Wait till they find out about the PA120SE

Welcome to brown town population cool

Yes this correct. I always use air cooling for my self and clients computer builds. With water cooling, you are asking for trouble.