Air cooler or AIO for gaming pcs?

>>715422257 (OP)
Air cooler is just fine, let alone NH-D15.

>>715422257 (OP)
Depends on your chassis limit and thermal requirements. Go to /g/.

>>715422257 (OP)
Only poors don't get AIO

>>715422857
The one on the left costs more than the one on the right.

>>715422257 (OP)
>AIO needs to be fully replaced once in a while
>can leak
>is overkill in most cases
Meanwhile, air coolers just work. You will need to swap the fans at some point, but it takes just a few minutes.

>>715422257 (OP)
Air unless you're on a 16+ core 200 W-ish CPU that actually needs a 360 AIO. Smaller AIOs are purely a choice to favor aesthetics over practicality. You can get a Thermalright air cooler for $35 that can handle everything but a 9950X(3D)/9900X(3D)/14900K.

>>715422257 (OP)
AiO is for people who can't into plumbing.
It's a cheap bundle of components with some Rgaybehs to make it look classier.
It's not that hard to put together a custom loop and distilled water means you don't need to give too much of a shit about initial leaks.
Aircooling is just polishing a turd, trying to somehow finagle airflow into a mostly closed box. You end up with monstrosities that block your RAM and barely fit into your case.

Just route some tubes out of your case to an external rad.

>>715423504
Which is better, 9950X or 9950X3D?

>>715423253
You only need to change the liquid really
>>715423543
Aio is good if you're only using it for a processor, custom loops are good if you're also cooling your gpu

>>715422257 (OP)
if you're running amd, air is fine and you wont see a difference with an aio
if you must get an aio, get one that is serviceable with a fill port so you can refill the coolant because it will diffuse eventually and running an aio with any air bubbles inside will kill it extremely fast

>>715423584
>9950X
Primarily production workloads (Video editing, etc.). Gaming only on the side.
>9800X3D
Primarily gaming. Production only on the side.
>9950X3D
Both equally and willing to pay for the privilege.

9800X3D and 9950X3D have more or less the same gaming performance because of core parking and how the 3D cache is allocated.

>>715423835
Wasn't the 7950X3D worse than the 7800X3D for gaming?

>>715422257 (OP)
Air for gaming because you're wearing a headset and can't hear loud fans.

Liquid for work PC so you can work in silence.

>>715422257 (OP)
I had a NH-D15 on my 3700x (now a 5700x3d), but switched to a 240 AIO. NH-D15 is just too fucking huge, making maintenance of my ATX mobo needlessly difficult. I had to use a screwdriver to unlock gpu ffs.
With AIO everything is neate, access is unrestricted and maintenance is ezpz. That said, I never, not even once in 5 years properly serviced AIO. I dust it and vaccum it often, but I imagine I need to check the state of cooling liquid too.

>>715424092
>5700x3d

Why not a 5800X3D or 5950X?

>>715423631
You're not going to service an AIO

>>715423543
>thinking airflow is complicated
It's literally 1 fan on a heat sink and 1 to blow heat out of the case. You are absolutely retarded if you can't figure that out. I can tell you don't use a full tower if you think fans cramp the space.

*slaps a peerless assassin in every PC*

>>715422257 (OP)
AIO if you plan on overclocking
Air cooler if you don't plan on overclocking

i can put a gif of a dancing moonkin on my cpu so i went with that

>>715424454
this but with this big fucking brick

>>715424152
>5800X3D
I fell for "it doesn't offer noticeably better performance in vidya, buy it if you want to donate money to amd" meme.
>5950X
It was over my budget at the time.

>>715424540
i kinda like this borg lookin ass shit

>>715422257 (OP)
Air coolers are literally a fan connected to a large aluminum hunk with a clip, it doesn't get simpler or more reliable than that. AIOs have too many failure points, only use them if you're either doing heavy overclocking or using something like an i9 15th gen.

>>715424454
>peerless assassin
We use the Phantom Spirit now unc

>>715422257 (OP)
Games worth playing that require liquid cooling solutions haven't made yet
It's just nerds arguing about aesthetics and whether or not they should spend an extra $50 for 10 fps when overclocking even though they're already above 60 fps
Pc building culture is so pointless and stupid

>>715423890
Yes. But they fixed that with core parking. When the 9950X3D sees it is playing a game it turns off the non-3D V-Cache half of its cores and basically operates just like a 9800X3D.

>>715424152
Nta but 5800x3d cost over double the 5700x3d for me. $500+ Australian shekels vs. $250. For what, 10% more performance?
5950x ain't x3d and I'm playing games on my machine. It's also more expensive at $400 AUD.

>>715422257 (OP)
>AIO
what is this, 2010?

I bought my air cooler in 2008 and still use it. It's been in four PCs and has always been solid. Those crappy AIOs will die within three years.

>>715422257 (OP)
Air Cooler for sure. This is my qt3.14

>>715424092
>making maintenance of my ATX mobo needlessly difficult
What do you mean maintenance? I never did anything with my mobo ever

>>715422857
Only retards keep making dumbass posts like this

>>715423718
>if you're running amd, air is fine
Its not because their fans are loud as fuck. I got a Nvidia card recently and rarely hear it.

>>715422257 (OP)
I live in a humid hot shithole and I only use air cooling. My PC never goes of 50.

AIO is for idiots.

>>715422257 (OP)
Watercooling for a gaming CPU is absolutely worthless. If you put a nice big air cooler on that thing it will be virtually silent 99% of the time. If you actually have need for that 1% use case of serious heavy CPU load, which you probably won't, then your GPU fan will still be louder than your CPU fan and you won't notice it anyway.

>>715422257 (OP)
Liquid cooler on an i3 and a hyte case clone

>>715424418
>full tower
With the size of modern GPUs that's just exchanging plumbing for structural engineering to avoid your GPU ripping the socket off.
I'm not taking up 5-6U of space for an air-cooler.

>>715422515
I had a NH-D15, I thought the box was just big, I didn't expect a cooler the size of a FUCKING SOCCER BALL

AIOs are too loud

>>715422257 (OP)
do you even need either? cpus are rated at over 90c these days. your pc case is never gonna get that hot

>>715423543
>Aircooling is just polishing a turd, trying to somehow finagle airflow into a mostly closed box
Bitch, what? There is absolutely no shortage of room for an air cooler in the average PC case. The fuck are you on about?

>>715430972
He fell for the micro ATX meme.
He probably has a 60% keyboard too.

>>715424540
If I ever need to upgrade I'm getting one of these, I fucking love BRICC aesthetic

>>715424092
You don't need an aio for a 5700x3d, I use an air cooler on mine with negative offset of 20 and it goes in the 60's-70's during intense gaming but it's fine
My fans are set to the lowest minimum for cooling/noise though I'm sure I could get some °c with a higher fan curve

AIO with 140mm fans

Wait are there actual retards here that throw away their AIO when the pump dies?

Anyone know if a Phantom Spirit 120 SE is sufficient for a 9950x3D and encoding 4k video?

>no stock coolers
You did not build a pc.

My Fuma 2 rev B with hysteresis is good enough for my 5900X. Can't get much out of PBO though. EDC at 115A almost touches 90c in cinebench.

>>715431908
Shit I meant TDC.

>>715422257 (OP)
aio is just better both thermally and acoustically
you can get liquid freezer 3 for like $80

>>715422515
NH-D15 is an outdated meme
it was unmatched like 5 years ago, since then better options were introduced which don't like like $150

>>715430595
>had a Scythe Mugen 3 or something in my PC over a decade ago
>fucker was already needlessly huge and weighted like 1kg
>look up the D15
>it's even bigger and weighs over 2kg
lmao
What the fuck

AIO is for faggots that want faggot lights running all through their PC

I'm totally new to building PCs but I opened up my 2011 PC yesterday and... it has zero fans in it apart from a small (92mm?) CPU cooler. No wonder it always sounds like an aeroplane taking off. I'm gonna put in an exhaust fan today just to see if I'm not totally retarded, it looks easy

High end ryzens can be air cooled but AIO do a better job keeping them cool especially in summer or in general hotter environments.

>>715422257 (OP)
I was on team air cooler till I got an AIO and now that my computer is silent I dont know how I was ever team air cooler.

>>715432442
aircoolers are for faggots who think that rattling pc is ok in big 2025

>>715422257 (OP)
air cooler is fine but they take up space

AIO's have an inherent expiry date because of the coolant inside that you can't replace

>>715433770
>the coolant will evaporate after 7 years!
and I'll get a new PC by then, you're not reusing your air cooler for every single build to save 30 bucks are you?

>>715434197
you're the reason everything is being sold at 300% MSRP

Low budget? Air cooler.
High budget? AIO cooler.

The TDW of the last 3 gens or so of CPUs are outrageous and aircooling can't handle the temperatures for long, you'll get throttling.

My 7950x cooled by a liquid freezer iii 420mm, it can go all day in a 25c room at high loads. It's such an amazing cooler.

>>715433770
you do know that the air coolers contain liquid too, right?

>>715434687
AMBOTTA SAAAAAAAAAAAAAG
AAAAAAAAAAUOOGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

>>715434928
the water used in heatpipes will not permeate through the copper in your lifetime.
AIO pipes are made of various kinds of plastics that will allow coolant evaporation through at a very slow pace. though honestly i don't think i've ever heard of someone having a radiator actually dry out on them or anything and i doubt performance is actually affected much even if you manage to lose a lot of it somehow.

>>715422257 (OP)
If you're going to get an aio smaller than 360 just buy an air cooler instead. There is literally no benefit in a 240 mm aio over an air cooler, just the added risk of the pump failing or coolant leaking, for zero extra cooling performance.

>>715422257 (OP)
I've gone back to fans forever I think. Eventually the water cooled thing will break and you cant tell if its poorly circulating the water or hear if the pump is on. Mold or other growth inside the liquid can turn it to jelly like consistency and it doesnt move. And then you only notice after your computer starts overheating and randomly shutting down which coincidentally can also be several other things, confounding variables and making it hard to diagnose.

But a fan does good enough and you can immediately tell if it stops.

>>715435135
Premium cases get you premium features, such as a hidden anti-sag bracket.

>>715435628
You aren't monitoring your CPU temperature?

>>715435793
i just use a disposable chopstick cut to length to prop up my GPU at the corner, not sure why people would pay money for something so stupidly simple.

the pump is literally louder than a noctua fan

>>715433253
Do you mean it's silent idle or under load? Because idle, my PC with 3 case fans (2 intake, 1 exhaust), 2 CPU fans (phantom spirit) and 3 GPU fans is so silent that I couldn't tell you if it's on or off based on the sound alone.
Under load it definitely makes noise, but most of that is the tiny GPU that aren't affected by an AIO.

>>715432339
It doesn't weigh anywhere as much as 2 kegs.

>>715435891
Why would you? Once you've properly installed your cooler you should never have to worry about the temperatures ever again. They shouldn't really change that much to bother monitoring them.

>>715422257 (OP)
Air cooler, AIOs are a meme ricer product akin to that of gamer chairs.

>>715431697
>buying a CPU that includes a cooler
You didn't build a PC.

>>715436491
Oh yeah. Apparently it's just 1.3kg. For some reason the first search result I got was some vendor specifying the weight as 2.25kg.

>>715436503
How are you so horribly retarded

I have an NH-D15 on my 9800X3D and it sounds like a fucking jet engine under heavy load. Couldn't imagine using this machine without noise cancelling headphones on.

>>715436814
I bet you reapply thermal paste too, faggot

I like AIOs because they're easier to work with. Fuck modern air coolers that block half the motherboard so you have to rip the thing out if you want to plug/unplug ram or stick in a 4 pin header or swap a drive in an M.2 slot.

>>715437106
If the air cooler fits in first place. Clearance can be a real issue.

>>715437106
>build PC
>use it for a year
>throw it out
>spend $8k to build another
Simple as.

>>715437106

This is exactly why I say "Just buy Arctic Freezer". Even poorfagging is not an excuse when B-stock on eBay from Arctic is $50 - $60. They have to refill the coolant before they sell them.

You should spend money on your gpu not the stupid cooler or a cpu lmao

>>715437602

For your dollar store CPU, even toothpaste would probably be fine.