Air Cooler vs AIO CPU Cooler

LukeMurtagh1995 · 27 Aug 2019 at 10:09

Hello all,

I am looking to get a new PC case and with it a new CPU cooler. I have always gone with air cooling in the past and currently have a Noctua NH-D15. I initially thought of swapping it out for a beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 as I think I will prefer the all-black aesthetics of the beQuiet! cooler when compared to the Noctua. I have however recently been thinking about AIOs. The Corsair H150i PRO and the CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R have both caught my attention. I am however new to watercooling and so I have a few questions. What maintenance if any do AIOs require? All I do with my current air CPU cooler is just clean the fans and the heatsinks every now and then. Secondly what is the failure rate of modern AIOs? I imagine the worst case scenario would be the coolant leaking and damaging other components such as the GPU. Thirdly what would be your own personal suggestion? Is it worth going for AIOs because they are aesthetically better, or is it safer and easier to just go with a high end air cooled for the CPU?

Thanks!

Specs: CPU: i7-9700K overclocked to 4.7GHz.
CPU Cooler: See above.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero (WiFi).
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD and Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080TI 11GB FTW 3 Ultra
PSU: Corsair RM1000i 1000W 80+ Gold
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2

adidan · 27 Aug 2019 at 10:12

I personally don't see the point of AIOs unless you're really stuck for space.

LukeMurtagh1995 · 27 Aug 2019 at 10:15

adidan said:
I personally don't see the point of AIOs unless you're really stuck for space.

Yeah, considering even the best AIOs only seem to take away a couple of degrees of heat when compared to air coolers it does seem silly to go for an AIO when an air cooler will do. It's the introduction of new failure states which is putting me off AIOs for the time being.

alexakasloth · 27 Aug 2019 at 11:40

Will have to agree with adidan, unless you're going custom loop then air cooling is the safest way forward, and usually costs less if a mid range cooler suits your needs.

LukeMurtagh1995 · 27 Aug 2019 at 11:44

alexakasloth said:
Will have to agree with adidan, unless you're going custom loop then air cooling is the safest way forward, and usually costs less if a mid range cooler suits your needs.

Even the Dark Rock Pro 4 costs less than the AIOs I was looking at. On Overclockers the Pro 4 is £84.95 whereas the MasterCooler MasterLiquid ML360R is £149.99 which is only £20 off being double the price of the Pro 4. From what I gather the very minimal improvement in temperature is not nearly worth the extra cost or the extra hassle an AIO could cause vs an air cooler.

Zeebedy · 27 Aug 2019 at 17:55

Thinking of going to an AIO. Will there be much of a difference cooling a 8700K with a NZXT Krakken M22 120mm against a Noctua NH-U9S cooler, with 2 Noctua 92mm fans?

Meddling-Monk · 27 Aug 2019 at 18:22

rip-the-jacker said:
Thinking of going to an AIO. Will there be much of a difference cooling a 8700K with a NZXT Krakken M22 120mm against a Noctua NH-U9S cooler, with 2 Noctua 92mm fans?

There might not be that major a difference overall. However, if you have a hefty GPU generating plenty of heat (upwards, towards the CPU, ie, a non-blower GPU or non watercooled GPU), then the AIO may (depending on where you locate its rad) provide easier fan cooling options for the case overall by taking the extra generated heat from the CPU and moving it to a different location of the case to cool before reaching the GPU/CPU area. So, quite a few conditions to meet before you'll likely see a noticable difference from it I feel.

Zeebedy · 27 Aug 2019 at 19:05

Meddling-Monk said:
There might not be that major a difference overall. However, if you have a hefty GPU generating plenty of heat (upwards, towards the CPU, ie, a non-blower GPU or non watercooled GPU), then the AIO may (depending on where you locate its rad) provide easier fan cooling options for the case overall by taking the extra generated heat from the CPU and moving it to a different location of the case to cool before reaching the GPU/CPU area. So, quite a few conditions to meet before you'll likely see a noticable difference from it I feel.

Yeah, I have a MSI Gaming Trio-x 2080, so it does distrubute heat back into my case..

Ross Thomson · 27 Aug 2019 at 19:09

Given the current prices of AIO's I wouldn't bother with one.

Zeebedy · 27 Aug 2019 at 19:40

Yeah, it appears that im not getting much more from that, as they say, if it aint broke...

doyll · 28 Aug 2019 at 18:37

rip-the-jacker said:
Yeah, I have a MSI Gaming Trio-x 2080, so it does distrubute heat back into my case..

What case and case fans are you using? Most decent cases with a couple good intake fans can move GPU heat back and out of case, especially if you remove all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear venting around GPU and thus improve airflow and lower both CPU and GPU temps.

Zeebedy · 28 Aug 2019 at 18:57

doyll said:
What case and case fans are you using? Most decent cases with a couple good intake fans can move GPU heat back and out of case, especially if you remove all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear venting around GPU and thus improve airflow and lower both CPU and GPU temps.

Im using a NZXT H500 case, with 120mm Noctua fans..

MartinPrince · 28 Aug 2019 at 22:44

rip-the-jacker said:
Im using a NZXT H500 case, with 120mm Noctua fans..

That case can take a larger cooler than the NH-U9S can't it? Those 92mm fans will make more moise and push less air than the ones on say a D15.

Devrij · 29 Aug 2019 at 06:20

I have a 280mm cryorig AIO and really the performance difference over my ancient thermaltake frio was fairly minimal. It does look nice and makes working in my case a lot easier though. It runs a bit quieter at heavy loads too. That's about it though. Up to you if that's worth it to you, but high end air will often match performance for less money

Oblivion007 · 29 Aug 2019 at 10:21

Devrij said:
I have a 280mm cryorig AIO and really the performance difference over my ancient thermaltake frio was fairly minimal. It does look nice and makes working in my case a lot easier though. It runs a bit quieter at heavy loads too. That's about it though. Up to you if that's worth it to you, but high end air will often match performance for less money

I agree with this. I've got a NZXT Kraken x72 - whilst its cooling performance is only slightly better than the top of the range air cooler, I prefer it for the looks. I've never liked the look of a massive air cooler in the middle of the case taking up a lot of space and making it hard to work around. However, from a purely performance to price basis the air cooler is the better option.

doyll · 29 Aug 2019 at 12:50

rip-the-jacker said:
Im using a NZXT H500 case, with 120mm Noctua fans..

NZXT H500 has 165mm CPU clearance, so there are many coolers that will fit.

LukeMurtagh1995 said:
Hello all,

I am looking to get a new PC case and with it a new CPU cooler. I have always gone with air cooling in the past and currently have a Noctua NH-D15. I initially thought of swapping it out for a beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 as I think I will prefer the all-black aesthetics of the beQuiet! cooler when compared to the Noctua. I have however recently been thinking about AIOs. The Corsair H150i PRO and the CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R have both caught my attention. I am however new to watercooling and so I have a few questions. What maintenance if any do AIOs require? All I do with my current air CPU cooler is just clean the fans and the heatsinks every now and then. Secondly what is the failure rate of modern AIOs? I imagine the worst case scenario would be the coolant leaking and damaging other components such as the GPU. Thirdly what would be your own personal suggestion? Is it worth going for AIOs because they are aesthetically better, or is it safer and easier to just go with a high end air cooled for the CPU?

Thanks!

Specs: CPU: i7-9700K overclocked to 4.7GHz.
CPU Cooler: See above.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero (WiFi).
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD and Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080TI 11GB FTW 3 Ultra
PSU: Corsair RM1000i 1000W 80+ Gold
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2

I apologizefor not answering you here sooner. My bad.

Meshify S2 has 185mm CPU clearance
Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero has

53mm center CPU to near side of RAM sockets
90.3mm center CPU to near sice x16 socket
7.14mm to little PCIe socket 22mm closer to to CPU than x16 that you probably will not use.

Corsiar Vengeance LPX is only 31mm tall.

If you can find Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Power, it is if not the very best one of the very best coolers made and is less than 2/3rd the price of D15 (£84.95) and others with similar cooling. If you want one and can't find it feel free to drop me a trust email.