Air vs AIO vs Watercooling

Minibiker

Minibiker

Minibiker

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Bristolian living in Swindon
Hi all

I'm in two minds about trying Watercooling, I've been watching some videos and a few of them have been saying you could get just as good if not better results from Air coolers or AIO's...

So my questions are:

What would you go for?
Which Air or AIO would you choose?
What are the benefits of going with a watercooled loop over the other two?

Any information and recommendations much appreciated

Thank
 
Air for me having used both AIO and custom water before.

Air doesn't give that last few degrees of performance but by and large its quieter, more reliable, easier to upgrade and no maintenance. It's cheaper too.
 
For the benefit of a custom loop part

Also cools the gpu and no gpu fan noise
Aesthetics, looks much better
Can be set up with a backup pump for
More reliability than AIO
Higher quality parts than most AIO
AIO may under some circumstances match custom loop cpu temps
But usually at higher fan rpm/noise
Downside is of course the cost if buying all the parts from new
 
@Mcnumpty2323 @Minstadave

Both of you have gave good points on the options that I have... The only main thing that is putting me off a custom loop is the cost...

What Air cooler would be a good choice for Good performance and Quiet?

Budget doesn't matter at this moment just want to see what gets recommended
 
Noctua, deep cool assassin, dark rock, coolermaster master air, hyper 212 evo was always good for the cost too
Air coolers not really my subject though :)
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Noctua, deep cool assassin, dark rock, coolermaster master air, hyper 212 evo was always good for the cost too
Air coolers not really my subject though :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendations, I will take a look at some air coolers aswell as AIO... Maybe watch a few more videos on results etc
 
Minibiker said:
Hi all

I'm in two minds about trying Watercooling, I've been watching some videos and a few of them have been saying you could get just as good if not better results from Air coolers or AIO's...

So my questions are:

What would you go for?
Which Air or AIO would you choose?
What are the benefits of going with a watercooled loop over the other two?

Any information and recommendations much appreciated

Thank
Click to expand...
I'm in same boat mate looking to cool a 3700x cpu looking at dark rock 4 and 4 pro noctua black nd 15 or scythe mugan or water cool having done both air and water I'm stuck which way to go but leaning towards air due to price and reliability
 
Minibiker said:
Thanks for the recommendations, I will take a look at some air coolers aswell as AIO... Maybe watch a few more videos on results etc
Click to expand...
To be fair a good air cooler works for most people
But if overclocking then AIO and custom
Loops start to be better option
Lot of us started watercooling back in
The days when gpus really were very
Loud indeed
And were no AIO then lol
 
Custom loop gives you peak performance in terms of noise and thermals, as well as aesthetics as a bonus! Decent air and AIO's generally trade blows, but the best AIO's win overall.
 
alex h said:
I'm in same boat mate looking to cool a 3700x cpu looking at dark rock 4 and 4 pro noctua black nd 15 or scythe mugan or water cool having done both air and water I'm stuck which way to go but leaning towards air due to price and reliability
Click to expand...

I was just watching a video on all those coolers, it seems Noctua come out on top in most tests, Im looking for something that will be a bit quieter than my Cryorig M9 Plus but also something to do a good job with temps.

Mcnumpty2323 said:
To be fair a good air cooler works for most people
But if overclocking then AIO and custom
Loops start to be better option
Lot of us started watercooling back in
The days when gpus really were very
Loud indeed
And were no AIO then lol
Click to expand...

Tbh id love to have a watercooled system, It looks amazing and I imagine it can be pretty quiet.. I've seen a few posts lately regarding the noise some AIO's put out (pump noise mainly) and thats one thing I don't want :p
 
The limited overclocking of Zen 2 pushed me back to air. Yes you'll get a little more out of the boost algorithm if you can stay cool but it's nothing like the old days.
 
Minstadave said:
The limited overclocking of Zen 2 pushed me back to air. Yes you'll get a little more out of the boost algorithm if you can stay cool but it's nothing like the old days.
Click to expand...

I want a cooler that will do me for a while, whether that be AIO or Air but at this moment I'm leaning towards Air just because of a few pointers

Cheaper, Reliability and can sometimes be pretty quiet
 
alex h said:
I'm in same boat mate looking to cool a 3700x cpu looking at dark rock 4 and 4 pro noctua black nd 15 or scythe mugan or water cool having done both air and water I'm stuck which way to go but leaning towards air due to price and reliability
Click to expand...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £92.98 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​

Beats out the Mugen 5 and is very quiet.

You don't need to go to extremes for something like a 3700X, honestly I'd be happy running a 3900X on this HSF personally.

Minibiker said:
I want a cooler that will do me for a while, whether that be AIO or Air but at this moment I'm leaning towards Air just because of a few pointers

Cheaper, Reliability and can sometimes be pretty quiet
Click to expand...

As above. :p
 
Last edited:
Gray2233 said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £92.98 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

Beats out the Mugen 5 and is very quiet.

You don't need to go to extremes for something like a 3700X, honestly I'd be happy running a 3900X on this HSF personally.


As above. :p
Click to expand...

Cheers bud, do you know how they would compare to my Cryorig M9 Plus or is it a case of buy it and find out :p
 
Minibiker said:
Cheers bud, do you know how they would compare to my Cryorig M9 Plus or is it a case of buy it and find out :p
Click to expand...

I'd need to hunt reviews (which are sketchy in some cases tbh) to show specifics.

Honestly, I would say both are a good tier or two above your M9, they're closer to a D14 than they are the M9 if that helps.

The M9 should be good enough for your 2600 though, or are you just fancying a change?

There's a guy with a 2600 on here recently bought the Shadow Rock 3 and he's reporting max temps of 60C no matter what he does, I'll try and hunt the post down.

Edit: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/best-cpu-cooler-for-2600.18860798/page-2

Give the page 2-3 a read through in relation to the Shadow Rock 3 on a 2600 +.
 
Last edited:
Gray2233 said:
I'd need to hunt reviews (which are sketchy in some cases tbh) to show specifics.

Honestly, I would say both are a good tier or two above your M9, they're closer to a D14 than they are the M9 if that helps.

The M9 should be good enough for your 2600 though, or are you just fancying a change?

There's a guy with a 2600 on here recently bought the Shadow Rock 3 and he's reporting max temps of 60C no matter what he does, I'll try and hunt the post down.
Click to expand...

That's OK bud thank you... I just want a change tbh, the Cryorig does a decent job of cooling my 2600 but I feel I could get better results, I keep going back and forth between Air and AIO :p decisions decisions
 
Minibiker said:
That's OK bud thank you... I just want a change tbh, the Cryorig does a decent job of cooling my 2600 but I feel I could get better results, I keep going back and forth between Air and AIO :p decisions decisions
Click to expand...

Edited my post above bud, give that thread a check.

The Scythe I know little about but given the heatpipe count and double tower, plus their general quality we see from the company, I'd bet good money it's a solid improvement.
 
Gray2233 said:
Edited my post above bud, give that thread a check.

The Scythe I know little about but given the heatpipe count and double tower, plus their general quality we see from the company, I'd bet good money it's a solid improvement.
Click to expand...

Brilliant, I'll have a read through now mate :) thanks
 
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