Is water cooling better than air cooling?

[Belle Delphine Targaryen!]

Like the AIOs that are seen everywhere these days?

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Postat inițial de r.linder:

Really doesn't matter because AIO loops don't run straight water, it's usually a mixture of water and additives and biological inhibitors to prevent corrosion, sediment buildup, etc. because it lasts a lot longer.

You're never supposed to run just distilled water without any kind of growth inhibitors or anti-corrosive additives because it won't last very long before face potential issues of the loop, that's why you have issues with some AIOs being recalled like MSI's Coreliquid xxxR series because they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up on the mixture which resulted in tons of units clogging with sediment within 6 months of installation.

It's exactly why they're primarily referred to as LIQUID coolers and not just WATER coolers, because it's not just water. AIOs wouldn't last between 2 to 10 years or more if it was just distilled water, growth and/or corrosion would see to it.

Actually that depends. If you're using "mixed metals" like alluminum and copper fittings in the same loop or alluminum radiators and copper water blocks, then yeah you have to run additives to prevent corrosion.

But if the custom loop is designed where all metals are "similar" on the galvanic corrosion table then we actually can use straight distilled water with no issues. Copper, Nickel, and Bronze are all similar metals for example. Yes corrosion could still occur with no additives but with similar metals it would typically take at least 10 (or more) years to ever see any sort of reaction and most people completely drain their CLC loops for maintenance far more often than that (some people do it twice a year for example) so typically it will never happen.

For example: I just a few days ago drained the CLC loop in my 5800X gaming computer after 3 years of not changing the water in it (and I use 100% pure distilled water in my loop). When I took the video card out after all that time the fins in the center of the water block were completely clean with no build up and no corrosion on the water block.

Additives are not always necessary in all situations. Only sometimes in some situations. Mostly they use heavy additives in AIO's because they commonly mix copper cold plates in the CPU with aluminum radiators. Which is also why some AIO's fail quickly too. Do some research and you can find some AIO's that use copper radiators and copper cold plates and those should (in theory) last a long, long, long time. Like 10-15 years long time.

[_I_]

its a bad idea to mix metals for custom loop

clc all use the same types, all aluminum or all copper for that the coolant contacts

[r.linder]

Postat inițial de _I_:

its a bad idea to mix metals for custom loop

clc all use the same types, all aluminum or all copper for that the coolant contacts

Not all, I've seen bad units with corrosion before, tends to be cheaper made units by companies that either didn't know or didn't care

[_I_]

ok, they *should use all same type of metals

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Postat inițial de _I_:

ok, they *should use all same type of metals

Good job on correcting yourself instead of leaving something to appear as a factual statement. That shows signs of improvement on your part. ❤️❤️

[The_Abortionator]

Postat inițial de _I_:

its a bad idea to mix metals for custom loop

clc all use the same types, all aluminum or all copper for that the coolant contacts

God when will you stop just making things up?

Almost ALLLLL CLCs use mixed metals.

[r.linder]

EVGA's AIOs are also literally called the "EVGA CLC" like the EVGA CLC 280. It's always stood for Closed-Loop Cooler.

[SHAZBOT]

why.

im trying to decide if i get noctua tattoo left arm or right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFE9wfAfudE&t=662s

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Postat inițial de The_Abortionator:

Postat inițial de _I_:

its a bad idea to mix metals for custom loop

clc all use the same types, all aluminum or all copper for that the coolant contacts

God when will you stop just making things up?

Almost ALLLLL CLCs use mixed metals.

He's not wrong, but it's not 100% accurate based on existing solutions.


When creating a liquid cooling loop system, avoid mixing different metals in the same loop. Mixing metals can lead to galvanic corrosion, which occurs due to an electrochemical process between dissimilar metals. For example, combining copper and aluminum components in a loop is not recommended because they can react and corrode. Stick to using similar metals (such as copper and nickel) to prevent issues12. If you’re concerned about corrosion, consider using a modern coolant or additive like EK-CryoFuel, which contains anti-corrosive agents and a biocide.

Having a cooper base on the pump does not really count if the inside of the Pump and Rad are all aluminum. AIO systems usually do not use any cooper that will be directly exposed to the liquid, As this metal can very easily get corroded in very short periods of time. But yes there are good coolant and/or additives you can buy that will help this issue. It won't 100% stop it, but greatly pro-long it.

So when brands release a certain model of AIO-LC (or CLC) for example; they would hopefully pick a warranty coverage period that makes sense; based on the pump design and overall expected life-span of that, along with being based on the additive used in the sealed liquid loop.

[Karumati]

water cooling has always been better than air cooling.

[smokerob79]

yeah just not the case anymore....real world the top 10 best air coolers are in 5C of the best water coolers on the market.....when something like a thermalright assassin 120 comes at 35 dollars is with in that spitting distance of a 300 dollar plus AIO its just not worth it to have water in the system at all....custom water loops are never worth the cost unless you are made of money and dont care......fanboys can cry about the truth all they want but right now air coolers are the better option

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Postat inițial de smokerob79:

custom water loops are never worth the cost unless you are made of money and dont care......fanboys can cry about the truth all they want but right now air coolers are the better option

Unless you can scour around and find sales and deals. Like a lot of my custom water stuff in my main computer I use daily: $275 pump and I found it on sale for $50, or the $300 radiator that I found on sale for $80, etc. Also custom water parts are a "buy once use forever" type of thing. The radiators inside of my main computer case I bought 12-14 years ago and have been in there unchanged for the past 4 computer upgrades I made. Custom water cooling parts don't change or get replaced unless they fail and if maintained properly that's rare.

[r.linder]

On the topic of air and liquid coolers, avoid buying from DeepCool if you live in North America right now because many users in NA have been completely ignored by customer support and a lot of their products have been pulled from stores. This has been the result of sanctions placed on DeepCool by the US because of continued business between DeepCool and Russia.

So right now if you're able to buy DeepCool products in the US and Canada, avoid doing so unless you're perfectly fine with having no customer support for potentially forever assuming that DeepCool decides to stay out of the North American market. They'll probably come back but that won't be until the sanctions stop.