Expensive AIOs worth the money? Water vs Air cooling?

PaulW

PaulW

PaulW

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Hi All,

i am planning on a brand new expensive build (my first in 10 years) toward the end of the year. i am super excited to finally be in a position to build a new rig after all this time.
At the moment i am looking at where i need to spend a lot and where i can save a bit to bump up components that really matter.
i have really wanted a Kraken AIO for a while but i looked at the price of the 360 rad and my eyes watered. Going air cooled would save hundreds of pounds so im tempted to go Air again.

So is a AIO worth the cash?
Noise is important (although good fans are very silent these days) what about noise between the two?
Case airflow is also important and a AIO would help that and involve less dust cleaning.
How long do they last?

Thanks

P
 
That's a good shout! will deffo put this on the alternate list. many thanks!
how noisy are they in terms of pumps and motors. i was going to fill the case with P12's anyway.
 
If you're putting P12 in your case you'll hear them over any pump if you go for a AIO as they have a very unique hum pitch that people don't enjoy
 
Glanza said:
If you're putting P12 in your case you'll hear them over any pump if you go for a AIO as they have a very unique hum pitch that people don't enjoy
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What fans would you reccomend instead? i'd go Noctua but the colour drives me nuts. why cant they make a black one?
 
I do not have the best hearing but I cannot hear the pump on the Arctic Freezer I have. The fans that came with it are pretty good and make more of a whoosh noise which is ok for me. I would just use the standard fans that come with it and not change them. Almost all current 360 AIOs are perfectly capable of cooling all current cpus without going to extreme fan and push/pull configurations so I think you are creating a problem that does not exist.

The Kraken coolers are very pretty but also on the expensive side. Lots of alternatives to look at and they are not much more expensive than the very best Air coolers.
 
The Arctic Freezer II can be made virtually silent. From quite few AIO I’ve used, its pump can be tuned to be the quietest. The sweet spot varies from unity to unit, but once in the BIOS, you can adjust to your liking. You can’t control only the pump, as the fans and the pump shares a 4pin connector. Between 50 and 70% may be your target.
I can recommend the EK Basic. This one you can control the pump and the fans independently. Performance is quite good, only lack the tiny VRM fan which does work on the Arctic.
Tried Corsair and BeQuiet AIO and the high pitch was noticeable. The Corsair I was able to hear from the other room, even on quiet mode.
 
Audioboxer said:
The AF 12x25 is now available in black. Great fans, but RIP to the wallet.
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yeah i just saw these as well, i watched a video comparing the noise the these make compare to the rest. no contest! but as you say they are super pricey but i dare say worth the money for something good and reliable.
 
Drumroll said:
The Corsair I was able to hear from the other room, even on quiet mode.
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i am no fan of Corsair tbh, especially when my RAM from them died. the Freezer II looks good. but may only need the 240 AIO. ATM I'm under budget with my next build so may splash out on a Kraken as my case will have a Glass panel. will keep the Freezer II im mind though if things shoot up over the next 6 months
 
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Personally and from what the Youtube content creators state, AIO's do not last as long as a decent air cooler.

That said, my lads CM Nepton 240m does a great job, is very quiet apart from a slight gurgle when powered on, and his temps are kept low.

Small pumps and therefor moving parts with liquids sloshing through different materials simply means paying attention to noise and temps more frequently.


I am not a fan of RGB and it puts me off most of the higher priced AIO's, where I feel its around half the price of a basic custom loop, and that inflated cost is simply for an 80's disco in yer PC case.


I am quite into Noctua, my lad uses a low profile on his mini itx and loves it, daughter has a 92mm fan Noctua tower, and i also use a Noctua with a spare 92mm and 140mm coolers in spares.


The support and service and products are simply superb.


I am tempted with the latest Artic or a basic EK loop though. But I know those small pumps are not infinite life and a loop needs maintenance I just dont know if I want the responsibility.
 
May not last as long as a solid air cooler where there's literally nothing to break except easily replaced fans, but the Arctic Liquid Freezer AIOs have a 6 year warranty which is pretty good imo.
 
well first off i would wait to see where the hot spots on the new cpu's are going to be .. smaller die so an aoi might not be that good .. your going to need a lot of coolant movement .. buy your rads second-hand loads out there .. i'm investing in 2 new pumps .. and a 1500w psu :P
 
GreatAuk said:
May not last as long as a solid air cooler.......
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That is just relative in terms of what do you mean by how long ? Air Cooler could last 20 years but AIO only 16 ? Has anyone really kept an AIO that long it stopped working due to wear and tare (not just a fault) ! ;)
Saying that I've got one in my sons that I've had 7 years now and its cooling a 9600k CPU fine. There was another thread on here recently where plenty of people piped up with AIO coolers lasting quite a few years. Chances are you will change your CPU and buy a new one before it actually packs in altogether and just sell on the old AIO.

I recently bought the Artic Freezer 2 280mm due to all the good reviews. The only downside is you cant control the fans independently its all or nothing with the pump due to the simple cabling system. Less cables but a slight downside. Only way you could would be to plug the fan cables into motherboard headers and run it that way. With it set as the instructions I just have it running 100% so the pump RPM reports as around 1450rpm and the fans even though at 100% are not that loud. My 5800x3D idles at 29c.

Definitely an AIO for people who are not bothered about RGB bling.
 
I can recommend the EK aio's I've currently got a 280 that's doing a damn fine job cooling my 5800x, I do have a 240 version arriving today as having fitment issues with the 280 rad in my new case
 
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