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Thread: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by atomicWAR View Post
    Sort of not true. As a single purchase or AIO setup you are correct...but you go with a custom setup things change. Especially over time in terms of cost.

    A good water custom water cooling loop isn't as quiet as an air cooler...it destroys it with nearly no noise what-so ever. It's cooling capacity, when properly built, is far superior to air cooling in every way. Now price for a custom loop setup that will do all those things properly is not cheaper then air cooling as a single purchase. I cannot argue that. However when using a custom loop you can carry over everything, with the sometimes exception of the water block. So once invested in a good custom loop set up, your costs go down considerably.

    I have made the investment into water cooling a long time ago. With 2 120mm x 3 (360mm) with a thickness of 80mm I have all the cooling capacity one could ask for even in a tropical environment like Hawaii. For these reasons I will continue to liquid cool both my CPU and GPU for the foreseeable future.
    While I do not doubt your performance claims a good noctua cooler is less than £60. You can't possibly tell me they you can build a custom loop for that. Even allowing for reuse between systems don't they need regular additives, draining etc?

    In 10 years it's possible I might get through 2 coolers if I change the case or noctua don't do a plate for a new socket. That's £120 at today's prices. Would a custom loop genuinely be price competitive over that timespan?

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by spacein_vader View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by atomicWAR View Post
    Sort of not true. As a single purchase or AIO setup you are correct...but you go with a custom setup things change. Especially over time in terms of cost.

    A good water custom water cooling loop isn't as quiet as an air cooler...it destroys it with nearly no noise what-so ever. It's cooling capacity, when properly built, is far superior to air cooling in every way. Now price for a custom loop setup that will do all those things properly is not cheaper then air cooling as a single purchase. I cannot argue that. However when using a custom loop you can carry over everything, with the sometimes exception of the water block. So once invested in a good custom loop set up, your costs go down considerably.

    I have made the investment into water cooling a long time ago. With 2 120mm x 3 (360mm) with a thickness of 80mm I have all the cooling capacity one could ask for even in a tropical environment like Hawaii. For these reasons I will continue to liquid cool both my CPU and GPU for the foreseeable future.
    While I do not doubt your performance claims a good noctua cooler is less than £60. You can't possibly tell me they you can build a custom loop for that. Even allowing for reuse between systems don't they need regular additives, draining etc?

    In 10 years it's possible I might get through 2 coolers if I change the case or noctua don't do a plate for a new socket. That's £120 at today's prices. Would a custom loop genuinely be price competitive over that timespan?
    Over several builds yes the cost do come down considerably. As for additives...that's more of a choice then a requirement but yes it will take away from cost effectiveness or reverse it. Personally I use just distilled water (always have in the last 15 years I have been water cooling) which cost hardly anything and if properly motivated can be made yourself using two clear jugs, tap water, a bit of brass/copper piping you can make your own for free. IF you want to go all in on color/preservative additives you can but me I don't feel right flushing all that crap down the sink or feeding it to my grass/plants. So I don't use them. If you use just distilled water over a long time frame like your talking then yes a custom loop can be that competitive. If two builds doesn't do it, three certainly will. One thing I can't argue though is...there is more hassle with drains. No question even if your only doing them 1-3 times a year.
    Last edited by atomicWAR; 09-09-2019 at 06:53 AM.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Seem to be missing a point here that it can also be *better* at the first two, rather than just "as good"

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Water cooling only when you need to be in a hardware pissing contest or you are some fancy gamer toy boy spending somebody else's money (usually Mum's) who needs all that bling.

    For what? Just to get a couple of degrees of temperature difference but with heat lag issues, cost, higher noise and ultimately still a need for a big radiator fan anyway? Sheesh...

    Water cooling develops leaks over time due to the wear and tear on the seals, exacerbated by repeated heating/cooling cycles that cause huge hydraulic pressure changes. For an idea of the pressure involved, think of a hydraulic jack. I don't like the stupid idea of liquids in my mission critical computing devices where my mission critical data resides!

    I don't have time for games.... but stupid game boys should realise that its not a few degrees of temperature that make a difference in games. Its (1) network/internet connection speed/latency; and (2) skill, in that order, that matters most in games!

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by spncrmoo View Post
    Seem to be missing a point here that it can also be *better* at the first two, rather than just "as good"
    I'll concede the point on those individually, I remain to be convinced it can be quieter and cooler at the same time and it certainly can't be as cheap and do all those.

    I see water-cooling a bit like aftermarket exhausts, air intakes etc on cars. They can improve performance on a high end machine tuned for speed above everything and they can be purchased becaude they look appealing to the end user. But most people don't bother on either count.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by moshpit View Post
    Over a decade of liquid cooling and never seen a single leak, or heard a single pump, and NONE of the radiator fans can be heard over the rest of the system, ever. Air cooling of high end processors will NEVER be as quiet as a properly setup liquid cooled machine. I can hear everything ELSE in my system, but my CPU cooling is absolutely as close to silent as a barely spinning fan can be, and this is at 5Ghz and full load across all cores on a 7700K, a known heat monster. Near silence. Beat that air coolers. Literally, when the GPU fans turns off, the ONLY sound coming from my tower is a 80mm case fan spinning at such low RPMs that unless your ear is pressed to the tower, you cannot hear it. Silence is golden.

    Oh yeah, radiators don't make noise, in response to the ignorant comment above. Crappy quality pumps CAN make noise, but radiators have no moving parts, it's literally a hollow hunk of metal. Pump noise is non-existent on quality pumps, and radiators make no noise. Fans attached to the radiator spin slower than air cooled heatsinks, so those are quieter as well. And unlike aircoolers can actually run much slower the more of them you add. A 360mm radiator with 3 fans WILL be quieter than a dual fan heatsink on a high end processor. And cool as well or better.
    That's the dumbest justification for water cooling. In all my time with water sports, we ALWAYS do preventive/pre-emptive maintenance of all our gear - such as changing the o-rings & assorted seals way before their time. That is the case for all flashlights, scuba gear, pumps, cases etc. etc.

    To claim that you have never seen any leaks is plain ridiculous. Lots of us have. And if you claim that you have never seen any leaks WITHOUT ever changing any O-rings or seals whatsoever, that would be even more irresponsible and ridiculous. And if you never do any routine inspections and tests it would only say everything about you.

    Look at all the accounts of leaks by folks doing water cooling. Some get it when they do it wrong. Some do it right but encounter it over time due to wear and tear. It happens. It will happen with all things liquid based and especially involving hydraulic pressure. Look at your car... the brake fluids, engine coolants, transmission fluids etc. all need topping up for a reason.

    Generally, I ALWAYS see 3 main arguments for water cooling.

    (1) Fallacy #1 - Fun. Enough said about being impractical. Fools shouldn't mix/confuse a time-wasting leisure activity as being a superior technical solution option. They are not the same. But at least these guys owning up to doing it for aimless fun are being honest!

    (2) Fallacy #2 - Quietness.
    To say that using a quiet hydraulic pump and a quiet fan for the water radiator leads to a quieter solution does not even make any cow sense. Water cooling has way more moving parts - pumps for the liquid and air fans blowing cool air against the radiator and out of the casing. The mathematics/physics of it is that ultimately there is a net amount of heat that must be TRANSFERRED OUT of the casing, which is no different from an air-cooled solution. Factor in the fact that you have the extra hydraulic pump which generates its own heat... plus the hydraulic pressures that generate further inefficiencies, plus the fact that everything draws more power from the power supply which in turn generates more heat in the casing... there is always MUCH MORE HEAT in the system that ends up needing to be removed overall from a water cooled solution's casing.

    (3) Fallacy #3 - Lower temperature. The only reason the air fan for the water-cooling radiator spins at a lower speed isn't because it will always achieve/maintain a lower temperature, its just that the heat capacity of the liquid in a huge radiator is higher than air. Therefore due to the sheer mass of the liquid and the sheer surface area of the radiator, the temperature rises more slowly. Therefore the fan usually does not need to turn as fast at an earlier stage of initial use. But use it long enough and it will reach the same temperature as an air-cooled solution IF the amount of heat expelled out of a casing is the same! It also stays hotter longer after you power off the system due to the higher heat capacity, remember that! There is no such thing as a free lunch!

    Ultimately, thermodynamics says that if your water radiator's total surface area is the same as the air-cooler's heat pipes (assuming same material too like copper) and you are using the same fan to expel heat from both - then the total heat removing CAPACITY is the same! With the latter, you don't have to waste fanciful money paying the guys profiting from your hobby and you'll have a more reliable system!

    I'll even go as far as to say that water-cooling solutions, especially custom whatever stuff with massive radiator pipes are a con job targetted at fanboys. Some of the best air-coolers (eg. Noctua NH-D15? Noctua’s ‘Fanless CPU Cooler'? be quiet? NoFan CR-95C IcePipe Fanless CPU Cooler?) perform better than liquid cooling solutions and are quieter - With lower or about similar initial purchase cost but infinitely lower operating costs (electricity consumption, maintenance etc.), not to mention ease of mind - simply by removing the intermediate water stage.

    After that its really up to you what kind of fan you want to use to EXPEL the hot air from the casing, which any cooling solution, even water cooled ones also need!!!

    Really, whichever way you cut it, its still about drawing in cool air to blow against water radiator pipes or the passive heatpipes (in an air-cooled system) and outwards! In fact, the latter's air-cooled copper heatpipes are also a form of water-cooling. In fact, they are arguably even better and more efficient by using passive latent heat transfer principles of phase transition (liquid-vapour-liquid) utilising capillary action, centrifugal force, or gravity! Cheaper and maintenance free without the need for failure prone electric pumps and leaking joints!
    Last edited by preter_s; 09-09-2019 at 10:08 PM.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    "atomicWAR
    Sort of not true. As a single purchase or AIO setup you are correct…but you go with a custom setup things change. Especially over time in terms of cost.

    A good water custom water cooling loop isn't as quiet as an air cooler…it destroys it with nearly no noise what-so ever. It's cooling capacity, when properly built, is far superior to air cooling in every way. Now price for a custom loop setup that will do all those things properly is not cheaper then air cooling as a single purchase. I cannot argue that. However when using a custom loop you can carry over everything, with the sometimes exception of the water block. So once invested in a good custom loop set up, your costs go down considerably.

    I have made the investment into water cooling a long time ago. With 2 120mm x 3 (360mm) with a thickness of 80mm I have all the cooling capacity one could ask for even in a tropical environment like Hawaii. For these reasons I will continue to liquid cool both my CPU and GPU for the foreseeable future."

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @atomicWAR - Your argument is typical of water-cooling fan-boys ignorance that needs to be debunked once and for all.

    See my reply to another one just like you - @moshpit. Your water cooled solution consumes more power due to the hydraulic pump, the inefficiencies caused by the hydraulic fluid flow (go study fluid dynamics for heaven's sakes). This already means that it already produces more heat that needs to be removed from the system!

    Thermodynamics in physics also tells us that to prevent a proverbial melt-down of your motherboard (not that it will happen due to CPU/GPU throttling), the TOTAL HEAT to be removed from the casing must EQUAL the heat output from all the components in it to prevent a never ending temperature rise (again in the absence of throttling).

    Your arguments that a water-cooled solution is quieter than an air-cooled one is misguided and a common misperception of water cooling fanboys. It is merely premised on the basis that the higher specific heat capacity of the liquid coolant leads to a higher total heat capacity of the water-cooling solution (heat pipes, radiator, metallic mass, liquid mass) and therefore a seemingly lower initial temperature and slower fan speeds. But in truth, a water cooling solution merely DELAYS the temperature rise. However, you guys conveniently ignore (or don't know) the thermodynamics physics of heat transfer OUT OF THE THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEM (i.e. the casing) that is ultimately necessary. Else the water cooling soution will still reach the same critical melt-down temperatures (in the absence of throttling) if it runs long enough (like a few hours of gaming). This is the notorious heat lag issue that fanboys talk about in the absence of any understanding about the physics. The whole system gets hot more slowly BUT stays hot for much longer too after powering down. In fact, that's how cars work too... they remain hot long after you have switched off the engine due to the huge amount of boiling hot water in the radiator! Try touching the engine bonnet! That is why often times, their radiator fans have to keep running on battery power for a while after engine shut off! There is simply no free lunch in life!

    A water-cooled solution (like that in a car) merely increases the total heat capacity of the system (car/PC casing as the case may be), because water has a higher "specific heat capacity" than air. It helps with sudden spikes in temperature as the "system" has a total heat capacitance that can passively absorb more heat energy in joules before displaying a temperature rise. Its essential for ICE (internal combustion engines) vehicles where the mini-explosions in the combustion engine produce lots of heat upon the instant of engine ignition which therefore requires a big bulky water cooled radiator solution. Without which, the engine oils will combust and turn to carbon black goo and the metal parts may suffer metal fatigue or even melt. However, this solution is precisely why ICE (internal combustion engines) vehicles are so inefficient! The hydraulic pump and fluid dynamics inefficiencies needed to move that big mass of fluids, make it one hell of an energy guzzler! BUT - All water-based cooling solutions are just intermediate cooling measures that ultimately need an air-cooler to transfer the heat EXTERNALLY - that is the point!

    A water-cooled system is hardly necessary for computers since the heat builds up more slowly and levels off at about 100 degrees celsius anyway (with throttling)!

    The quietest air-cooled solutions will always be quieter than any water-cooled solution, with less vibrations too. Simply because there will be FEWER moving parts. In its simplest form, a passively cooled fan-less setup is unbeatable in terms of gross heat output, running cost, total silence, total vibration-free operation.

    Even in an active air-cooled system, any good air-cooler with quiet bearingless fans from any reputable brand (be quiet!, Arctic, Noctua) will REMOVE HEAT FROM a casing just as well and as silently as the radiator's fan in a water-cooled system! In fact, to make an apple-apple comparison, if the surface area (and material, say copper) of the radiator of a water-cooled solution is the same as the copper heatpipes in an air-cooled solution, and they use the same exact fan, the total heat transfer capability OUT of the casing will be the same! With lower cost, weight, and complexity in the latter!
    Last edited by preter_s; 09-09-2019 at 11:32 AM.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    The bigger slower fans sound a great idea for cutting down noise.

    Having used a Corsair sealed water cooling system for several years I'll be looking for more of the same. Undoubtedly with a larger fan area.

    It really annoys me the way they advertise say a unit with 2 X 120mm fans as 240mm. It feels intentionally misleading.

    If leaking water cooled units were a real problem, I'm sure there would be loads of irate posting on the subject.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by raygdunn View Post
    If leaking water cooled units were a real problem, I'm sure there would be loads of irate posting on the subject.
    Fill your boots https://www.google.com/search?q=redd...ling+leaks&aqs

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Funny story about air and water cooling...

    When I was planning what to use as cooling for my Threadripper setup, I decided that I should probably go for some AIO water cooling kit. But I couldn't decide so fast, and I got all my parts already.

    So I decided to buy some cheap AIR cooler as a temporary solution. I went for Arctic Freezer 33 TR cooler, as it was just 35 bucks.

    That thing was so good, that I after a month I stopped looking for water cooling.
    It is quiet, keeps TR temperature well in check (I do not remember when I hit 80'C the last time, even on 100% all cores on tasks that run for more than 40mins). Also, even when RPMs go up, it makes this lovely sounds (it's more like a hum, not some high pitch noise). I love it.

    So to all of you, try some nice AIR cooler first, and if that doesn't work for you, consider water cooling.
    The more you live, less you die. More you play, more you die. Isn't it great.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    No point in liquid cooling if the only way to actually achieve better performance than air cooling is by spending rivers of money on a custom loop. So at least for the foreseeable future I'll always be air cooling my systems.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Air, less things that can go wrong.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Thinking about building another HTCP, which would just be air... but my main rig will always be custom liquid cooled, not so much for performance reasons (it is nice having temps so low but still so quiet) but because tinkering with the liquid cooling setup is a hobby, in an of itself. It's certainly not worth the $500+ worth of components I've put into it, from a performance stand point!

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    Quote Originally Posted by preter_s View Post
    "atomicWAR
    Sort of not true. As a single purchase or AIO setup you are correct…but you go with a custom setup things change. Especially over time in terms of cost.

    A good water custom water cooling loop isn't as quiet as an air cooler…it destroys it with nearly no noise what-so ever. It's cooling capacity, when properly built, is far superior to air cooling in every way. Now price for a custom loop setup that will do all those things properly is not cheaper then air cooling as a single purchase. I cannot argue that. However when using a custom loop you can carry over everything, with the sometimes exception of the water block. So once invested in a good custom loop set up, your costs go down considerably.

    I have made the investment into water cooling a long time ago. With 2 120mm x 3 (360mm) with a thickness of 80mm I have all the cooling capacity one could ask for even in a tropical environment like Hawaii. For these reasons I will continue to liquid cool both my CPU and GPU for the foreseeable future."

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @atomicWAR - Your argument is typical of water-cooling fan-boys ignorance that needs to be debunked once and for all.

    See my reply to another one just like you - @moshpit. Your water cooled solution consumes more power due to the hydraulic pump, the inefficiencies caused by the hydraulic fluid flow (go study fluid dynamics for heaven's sakes). This already means that it already produces more heat that needs to be removed from the system!

    Thermodynamics in physics also tells us that to prevent a proverbial melt-down of your motherboard (not that it will happen due to CPU/GPU throttling), the TOTAL HEAT to be removed from the casing must EQUAL the heat output from all the components in it to prevent a never ending temperature rise (again in the absence of throttling).

    Your arguments that a water-cooled solution is quieter than an air-cooled one is misguided and a common misperception of water cooling fanboys. It is merely premised on the basis that the higher specific heat capacity of the liquid coolant leads to a higher total heat capacity of the water-cooling solution (heat pipes, radiator, metallic mass, liquid mass) and therefore a seemingly lower initial temperature and slower fan speeds. But in truth, a water cooling solution merely DELAYS the temperature rise. However, you guys conveniently ignore (or don't know) the thermodynamics physics of heat transfer OUT OF THE THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEM (i.e. the casing) that is ultimately necessary. Else the water cooling soution will still reach the same critical melt-down temperatures (in the absence of throttling) if it runs long enough (like a few hours of gaming). This is the notorious heat lag issue that fanboys talk about in the absence of any understanding about the physics. The whole system gets hot more slowly BUT stays hot for much longer too after powering down. In fact, that's how cars work too... they remain hot long after you have switched off the engine due to the huge amount of boiling hot water in the radiator! Try touching the engine bonnet! That is why often times, their radiator fans have to keep running on battery power for a while after engine shut off! There is simply no free lunch in life!

    A water-cooled solution (like that in a car) merely increases the total heat capacity of the system (car/PC casing as the case may be), because water has a higher "specific heat capacity" than air. It helps with sudden spikes in temperature as the "system" has a total heat capacitance that can passively absorb more heat energy in joules before displaying a temperature rise. Its essential for ICE (internal combustion engines) vehicles where the mini-explosions in the combustion engine produce lots of heat upon the instant of engine ignition which therefore requires a big bulky water cooled radiator solution. Without which, the engine oils will combust and turn to carbon black goo and the metal parts may suffer metal fatigue or even melt. However, this solution is precisely why ICE (internal combustion engines) vehicles are so inefficient! The hydraulic pump and fluid dynamics inefficiencies needed to move that big mass of fluids, make it one hell of an energy guzzler! BUT - All water-based cooling solutions are just intermediate cooling measures that ultimately need an air-cooler to transfer the heat EXTERNALLY - that is the point!

    A water-cooled system is hardly necessary for computers since the heat builds up more slowly and levels off at about 100 degrees celsius anyway (with throttling)!

    The quietest air-cooled solutions will always be quieter than any water-cooled solution, with less vibrations too. Simply because there will be FEWER moving parts. In its simplest form, a passively cooled fan-less setup is unbeatable in terms of gross heat output, running cost, total silence, total vibration-free operation.

    Even in an active air-cooled system, any good air-cooler with quiet bearingless fans from any reputable brand (be quiet!, Arctic, Noctua) will REMOVE HEAT FROM a casing just as well and as silently as the radiator's fan in a water-cooled system! In fact, to make an apple-apple comparison, if the surface area (and material, say copper) of the radiator of a water-cooled solution is the same as the copper heatpipes in an air-cooled solution, and they use the same exact fan, the total heat transfer capability OUT of the casing will be the same! With lower cost, weight, and complexity in the latter!

    WOW that is fairly laughable for a host of reasons. First off a properly built water cooling setup IS quieter...period. No question. If you mount your pumps properly to minimize vibration and fill your reservoir when it is even a little low sound is not an issue. If it is, you did it wrong.

    Yes water heats up over time and will continue to do so unless the heat dissipation of the radiator exceeds the heat added to the system (CPU/ram/GPU pumps)...anything in the loop. Yes the heat needs to be expelled from the system or your motherboard and other components will suffer. Funny thing my radiators are all OUTSIDE of my case...so that heat has ZERO effect on my components in the case. I urge all water cooled loops to do the same but that's just me. I am not arguing air cooling is insufficient, it is but in most cases it just isn't as good at maintaining lower temps when overclocking. I can game for HOURS and HOURs with my components staying cool. My CPU even running for 24 straight hours under full load never exceeds 70C (that bit where you check you CPU stability when OCing with things like burn test, OCCT, etc ...so clearly my loop is more then sufficient despite living in a tropical environment where air cooling does not work well when overclocking (ambient temps is typically 80F+). I did not exclusively water cool until I moved to Hawaii because of the maintenance involved. I use to have 6 PCs running full tilt before getting married/moving out here for and the cost became a concern. Only 2 were water cooled back then.

    My air cooled OC secondary rig fried within 6 months of moving to Hawaii. It had smoke fire the whole nine. Since going to water cooling exclusively, haven't lost a CPU or motherboard since. I only recently started cooling GPUs with water after having many problems with throttling and blowing caps (RIP GTX 1080/670)

    While I do love a good physics based argument as a physics fanboy, your argument falls short IF the loop is properly built for the heat and environment it is running in (ie you know physics like myself and science the heck out of it). When living in California my Rad's were only 40mm thick and typically with only one or two 120mm fans (ie 120mm or 240mm Rad). It was much cooler and wasn't an issue when the indoor temp was only 70F at most. Here in Hawaii a loop like that would do exactly like you describe and have heat lag spikes after long gaming sessions unless I had the fans running full tilt which I hate. One of the other reasons imoved to water cooling was I was tired of my PC sounding like a jet engine when exclusively air cooling. This is not an issue I have running 3x120mm at 80mm thick for just my CPU...my GPU gets a whole other rad just like it, though that is admittedly overkill but i had the parts lying around so I used them. Point being my water cooling setup is inaudible when properly maintained.

    Now one thing you might notice i said a lot of was properly built and properly maintained. Now If you don't do those things your argument is dead on the money. I won't disagree BUT if someone actually knows what they are doing and knows a fair bit about physics..heck even a little bit...then your argument falls apart very very quickly. Now there is one point in your argument that I cannot tear apart no matter how much I wish I could and that is complexity. There you have me dead to rights. Water cooling with a custom loop does by it's very nature increase complexity. Your right about that. Another spot you have some legs with your argument would be electricity used. Pumps and fans do take more juice to run then just a fan for air cooling. And yes you still relay on air for the radiator to finish expelling heat from the system. The rest however just leaves me chuckling. I'll agree there are plenty of water cooling "fanboys" out there that do not build their loops correctly and do have many of the issues you speak of. However with a little research and preparation there is zero reason for those mistakes to happen. One last thing, before you claim someone doesn't understand or ignores thermodynamics, you might want to make sure they didn't study to be an engineer in college, just saying...It was the very first thing i was considering when building my loop!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2SIrV_4-dM&t=429s

    Completely overbuilt water cooling set-up but it makes my point well enough...kind of like how i over built mine, though not to that extreme.

    At the end of the day all cooling setups have rheir strengths and weaknesses. Water cooling is complex, has potential for leaks and requires maintance. But when done properly has superior cooling capacity and is silent. Air cooling with large raditators can damage motherboards due to their weight (Noctua D15 for example) hanging from the CPU socket. This is a well known issue btw. And like all forms of cooling it requires you make sure the thermal capacity rating exceeds your thermal output. And then there's the size issue. Large air coolers frequently block or make ram slots hard to access. Not to mention they can have difficulty fitting in a case, a short coming custom liquid cooling can slso share. On the plus side air cooling is easier to install and maintain only needing new thermal compound ever few years. Most importantly air cooling doesn't suffer leaks or have near the complexity water cooling has. It comes down to comfort and use case as to which solution works best for you.

    I don't know that I'd call myself a water cooling fanboy. I am a person who believes ever job has the proper tool. For where I live, the temps I deal with and my aversion to noise...water cooling suits my needs far better than strictly air. Yes yes air is still needed to pull heat from the rad but IMHO you are just splitting hairs with that argument. Air is needed in all types of PC cooling in one way or another. I am happy for you air cooling suffices for your build but it doesn't mean it's for everyone or that because I water cool I am ignorant of the physics behind it. Some users may well be....no some users are ignorant. I am just not one of them. Math and sciences are very much my thing!
    Last edited by atomicWAR; 09-09-2019 at 10:33 PM.

  15. #63
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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    All pc's are air cooled!
    It's just that some people insist in putting water in the way.

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    Re: QOTW: Will your next PC be air- or liquid-cooled?

    water cooled now, its reliable, next system also going to be either water or oil cooled.

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