Is water cooling better than air cooling?

[Belle Delphine Targaryen!]

Like the AIOs that are seen everywhere these days?

[Emrys]

You can't exclude one criterion for environmental destruction, you have to take everything into account. That's only done by lobbies for their respective areas (everyone is to blame, except me).

And CO2 is not the only dangerous greenhouse gas. Methane is much worse, which in turn affects our meat consumption. It's all connected, so solutions have to be considered in conjunction with each other.

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Originally posted by Dutchgamer1982:

not saturated at all..
set their fans at max... have a bigtower case with 9-12 high volume 140mm airflow fans. set those at max too..

Air coolers have a significantly lower maximum thermal capacity compared to either CLC or large AIO coolers. All air coolers reach their maximum thermal capacity in less time than liquid cooling (they heat up quite a lot faster than liquid cooling). It's basic physics.

You can argue all you want but you can't change how physics works.

[Mabi]

For some information gathered here and there, air coolers are better, today there are huge and not very noisy fans, they don't spin too fast and you can set the speed anyway, they are accompanied by quality passive material. They work straight away.

As for water, there are those who top up the liquid, color it, is it more for pastrunia?
Depending on the case and the wear, sediment and various things it is not immediate.

Theoretically you should have two PCs to remove the doubt :).

Today I recommend even better, industrial PC, n100 as processor, use the case as a heatsink, totally passive.

[_I_]

thermal capacity alone doesnt help, what does help is how well it can absorb heat and transfer then release it

if the rad is too small to release enough heat, then heated coolant is traveling back to the cpu or hot end

phase change coolers are very efficient (heat pipes use phase change)
all heat absorbed by the vaporized alcohol is released when the alcohol is cooled and turned back to liquid at the rad

as for lifespan, aio pump will be around 5 years
with an air cooler you will only need to replace fans in about that time

[D. Flame]

water might keep things cooler, but they are more expensive and more prone to failure. Basically go with a fan unless the chips run too hot for a fan to keep up with.

[Zygfryd]

Originally posted by _I_:

phase change coolers are very efficient (heat pipes use phase change)
all heat absorbed by the vaporized alcohol is released when the alcohol is cooled and turned back to liquid at the rad

Water. Heatpipes in consumer electronics use water. Alcohol vapor would be a fire risk.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Heat-pipes are lined with Copper Powder (baked on) and the heat is transferred using distilled water. Which takes the heat and transfers to the powder and then to the copper pipes. The air from fan cools it.... rinse and repeat.

This will not only show in detail, but explain in great detail the entire process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p71V6zLybig

I have no problems cooling a 14th Gen i7 or AMD 7800X3D just using a beefy air cooler; even when the ambient temp is 38*C (not normal, but it does happen sometimes).

I do my best (sometimes BIOS and/or Motherboard limit this) to under-volt the CPUs to help keep the power consumption and heat output more under control since defaults on all of these latest Motherboards for modern CPUs are all terrible at best.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Emrys:

I recommend that you continue to be so wasteful with your energy consumption so that climate change really gets going. Then when a flood hits your house and your PC is underwater, you'll have the perfect water cooling system.

oh man, this is some dark humour.

[tigerxs1]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900643712
when first built temps,air cooler,spec on profile.neva liked watercooling one leak and
as for ''be so wasteful with your energy consumption so that climate change really gets going''
im sure 100 years ago there was alot'' more trees to suck up pollution.were not to blame..land grab and greed

[Emrys]

Originally posted by Holografix:

oh man, this is some dark humour.

I know, but somehow you have to point out that there is a high price that we have to pay for all of this. (And I don't mean this expensive hardware.)

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Originally posted by _I_:

as for lifespan, aio pump will be around 5 years

Again with the false technical statements. In general we should try our best to just ignore everything this person says.

AIO's are not limited to 5 years at all. There is no actual limit on AIO's. And quality large water coolers are no more prone to failure than large air coolers are.

As I documented in this thread: I have people I have built computers for that have been using the same AIO water cooler for so far going on 15 years with zero problems and they work just as well today as they did when their computer was built.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Shaggin'Wagon:

Originally posted by _I_:

as for lifespan, aio pump will be around 5 years

Again with the false technical statements. In general we should try our best to just ignore everything this person says.

AIO's are not limited to 5 years at all. There is no actual limit on AIO's. And quality large water coolers are no more prone to failure than large air coolers are.

As I documented in this thread: I have people I have built computers for that have been using the same AIO water cooler for so far going on 15 years with zero problems and they work just as well today as they did when their computer was built.

Which model?
AIO LC weren't really a thing that far back. Youre tslking before 2010, LOL yea OK.

Not really a thing until around the time Intel 3rd/4th Gen came out.

[Dutchgamer1982]

Originally posted by Shaggin'Wagon:

Originally posted by _I_:

as for lifespan, aio pump will be around 5 years

Again with the false technical statements. In general we should try our best to just ignore everything this person says.

AIO's are not limited to 5 years at all. There is no actual limit on AIO's. And quality large water coolers are no more prone to failure than large air coolers are.

As I documented in this thread: I have people I have built computers for that have been using the same AIO water cooler for so far going on 15 years with zero problems and they work just as well today as they did when their computer was built.

in my experience absolutely.

I have NEVER EVER had an aircooler die on me EVER.. as in I have old Pentium 1 aircoolers and they still run..

I have had fans somewhat die on me.. but never high quality ones.. and if they died it was after over 5 years 24/7 running at max speed.

now every EVERY pump I had AIO or custom loop.. each A-brands and quite expensive.. died on me in less than 2 years.. most even in less than a year..
-> if 7 freaking pumpos of various brands and models die on you... in a row.. than you don't buy the "it's just bad luck" nonsense....

waterpumps die.. often..

sure if your the kind of user that only has your pc on like 4 hours a week it likely lives a lot longer..
but under 24/7 loan pumps die.. if not within a year.. than absolutely in less than 2 year.

and there is ZERO performance gain with an AIO.

again like stated and in many builds I also build for others..
a high quality 100-150 euro aircooler.. will perform JUST as well as an 300 euro 360mm AIO of a top brand.

in bigtowers the AIO often performs even a little worse.. due aitcoolers are assited by a large case with many fans delivering airflow.. while an aio always is limited to its one radiator.

the only situation where this is not true is in itx or other such extreme small form factor cases where airflow inside is really crappy...

so for any normal build AIO will only cost you more gives a higher chance of failute and will give ZERO gain.. unless you have a valid reason for an mini-itx build.. forget AIO.

now custom loop yes that DOES cool a LOT better like with enough radiators in the loop even a few degrees BELOW ambient temperature cool vs the 60-70 degrees of an AIO/aircooler..
but it costs an arm and a leg.. and the pump still will break every 1-2 years.. so consider if your willing to fork out the 600-1000 euro to build this loop.. and pay each year another 500-1000 euro to repair your loop when the pump is broken again..
**do note most stores will NOT do RMA's on custom loops so unless you are willing to build and rdo all repairs to your pc and your custol loop yourself.. do not go custom loop.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Dutchgamer1982:

Originally posted by Shaggin'Wagon:

Again with the false technical statements. In general we should try our best to just ignore everything this person says.

AIO's are not limited to 5 years at all. There is no actual limit on AIO's. And quality large water coolers are no more prone to failure than large air coolers are.

As I documented in this thread: I have people I have built computers for that have been using the same AIO water cooler for so far going on 15 years with zero problems and they work just as well today as they did when their computer was built.

in my experience absolutely.

I have NEVER EVER had an aircooler die on me EVER.. as in I have old Pentium 1 aircoolers and they still run..

I have had fans somewhat die on me.. but never high quality ones.. and if they died it was after over 5 years 24/7 running at max speed.

now every EVERY pump I had AIO or custom loop.. each A-brands and quite expensive.. died on me in less than 2 years.. most even in less than a year..
-> if 7 freaking pumpos of various brands and models die on you... in a row.. than you don't buy the "it's just bad luck" nonsense....

waterpumps die.. often..

sure if your the kind of user that only has your pc on like 4 hours a week it likely lives a lot longer..
but under 24/7 loan pumps die.. if not within a year.. than absolutely in less than 2 year.

and there is ZERO performance gain with an AIO.

again like stated and in many builds I also build for others..
a high quality 100-150 euro aircooler.. will perform JUST as well as an 300 euro 360mm AIO of a top brand.

in bigtowers the AIO often performs even a little worse.. due aitcoolers are assited by a large case with many fans delivering airflow.. while an aio always is limited to its one radiator.

the only situation where this is not true is in itx or other such extreme small form factor cases where airflow inside is really crappy...

so for any normal build AIO will only cost you more gives a higher chance of failute and will give ZERO gain.. unless you have a valid reason for an mini-itx build.. forget AIO.

now custom loop yes that DOES cool a LOT better like with enough radiators in the loop even a few degrees BELOW ambient temperature cool vs the 60-70 degrees of an AIO/aircooler..
but it costs an arm and a leg.. and the pump still will break every 1-2 years.. so consider if your willing to fork out the 600-1000 euro to build this loop.. and pay each year another 500-1000 euro to repair your loop when the pump is broken again..
**do note most stores will NOT do RMA's on custom loops so unless you are willing to build and rdo all repairs to your pc and your custol loop yourself.. do not go custom loop.

Air fans do die. The bearings on the fans go out.

[UserNotFound]

I've been running AIOs in my rigs since, well, my i7 4770K setup from a while back. Presently, my 2nd rig has a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE cooling it, and I must say, I'm impressed with how well it handles the 3900X (soon to be replaced with a 5900X). My main rig has a Thermaltake Water 3.0 cooling the 5900X (soon to be replaced with 5700X3D), when I get the new CPU, I'm gonna swap out 4+ years old AIO for a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO (which was quite well reviewed).

Why the swap from AIOs to air coolers? AIOs have pumps, and since these are internal, one may not realize that the pump is kaput till the system shuts down, my fear is that damage (whether legit or not, I want peace of mind) may be done to the CPU and I certainly don't want that. With air coolers, when the fan dies, I can see it and have it replaced easily enough...