I'm in the market to build my own gaming computer...

I'm in the market to build my own gaming computer, and I was wondering what are your thoughts on liquid cooled vs air cooled systems? After a bit of research I'm considering liquid cooling the processor only and air cooling the rest (I haven't decided on specific components yet, just in the market for high end gaming hardware) what do you guys think?

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Go air cooled so you have to do less maintenance.
And if you really want to overlock or some shit just buy one of those cheap AIO coolers from corsair or whatever and throw it in but remember every 2 or 3 years you gotta buy a new one because those pumps go bad all the time.

Pic related, cheap, in-between air and water cooling solution since you get somewhat decent temps but won't have to maintain the loop.
Don't expect blistering performance though.

It's expensive, but not nearly as difficult as anyone says if you have a case designed around radiator mounting and tube routing and you use flexible hosing. The AIO is much more bang for the buck, but also less reliable (depending on your competency) and fairly unattractive. Once you invest in it thought, most of the pieces can be reused, although of course socket and GPU or mobo specific blocks have to be replaced. There are usually hold down plates you can get for newer platforms to extend the life of your CPU block at the very least. Just give yourself a simple draining method, use distilled and something like Mayhems biocide and it's quite simple.

Total hobbyist waste of time and money

Also AIO coolers are loud and shit

An antec P180... that thing was so cool 10 years ago. I bought one and it was a POS but yeah, having a PC that looked like a mini fridge was cool for a time.

I think water cooling is a bit of a meme desu OP. Full fledged water coolers (I cant remember the term for them) are an utter waste of time these days for most people except for looks or extreme benchmarking. And AIO water coolers are in general no better than a heatsink with heatpipes, I think they're worse because theres more than can fail, pump, leaks etc.

Get a nice fat heatsink. Something noctua made, they're quality is pretty damn good. And they pioneered a mounting mechanism that wasent a 100% pain in the fucking testicles to install. Coolermaster 212 is a decent pick as well if you're a poorfag.

>Also AIO coolers are loud and shit
If you buy shit products you get shit performance, sure.

Just to add, those full fledge water coolers were a thing because in the past overclocking your CPU could net you noticeable gains in FPS etc. Nowadays an i5 6400 or whatever is fine for gaming, overclocking is more of a fun thing to do than something you do for any perceptual performance gains.

The days of shoving a water cooling on an AXP 2500+ and kicking the shit out of the top end P4 are long long gone.

An air cooler will typically outperform an aio of similar cost. So long as you've got the space, or aren't looking for that look, you're re better off on air. Custom loops are bare none the best cooling you can reasonably attain. Beyond that you're looking at phase change / tec. Both of which require a shit load of power, and phase change is loud as fuck. They also come with a lot of added preparation to insulate your components from condensation.

Not better have a thick ass rad if you want to oc on a 120.

Could just pay 5$ for a silver kill coil instead of biocide.

Pretty much this, op. Though I've never witnessed these loud ass aios everyone talks about. As long as they were filled properly from the get go, they'll be relatively quiet. Also, aios do suffer from evaporation over time. My experience is that the fluid will evaporate, losing cooling capacity before the pump will die. I this is also something that will make the pump loud as fuck as not having enough water will cause the umpeller to dry spin, or chop what little fluid it can get. Low fluid is also likely to be the leading cause of dead pumps, as they need the fluid to keep from overheating.

Basically, so long as you have the space, just go with a good air cooler and replace the fans if you feel the need. The only maintenance will be to clean it occasionally and change the thermal paste.

I think the term you're looking for is an open loop liquid cooler. Or custom loop.

yeah you can overclock any modern CPU as much as you can and still use a hyper 212 air cooler 99% of the time
Liquid cooling is just that extra $100 or extra three days of effort for the extra 5% of cooling ability.
A custom water loop looks cool and effectively cools your CPU and GPU with minimal heat sinks and fans, but heat sinks and fans are literally just as good

>losing cooling capacity before the pump will die
Wow, its almost like youre required to refill them. So much work, holy shit. Probably like 5 minutes tops. Cant handle it.

Components are creating less and less heat as w push mobile tech. Liquid offers no advantage only do it for fun.

And even if you want it all in one solutions are easy as fuck.

Most aios are closed loops, and cannot be refilled. Which is precisely what I was referring to.

Ah custom loop, yeah thats the term ive heard before.

You can open them then close them after. They put the thing together in the first place. Also that is only if you have a liquid problem which I have never seen even on the 5 year old loop that has been on my main machine cpu that whole time.

Thats why sometimes you have to pay a bit more for a good AiO. That thing will probably last you like forever, though. EKWB for example sells AiOs that might seem overpriced, but they also consist of separate parts and allows you to refill and exchange. If one thing breaks (which is unlikely to happen) you can just exchange that one part for a new one. And tests have shown that the AiOs actually perform better than the best heat-sinks out there. Of course, the price is in not comparable to a heat-sink. Performance per buck in minimal, but premium products that can be taken apart exist.

>Though I've never witnessed these loud ass aios everyone talks about
They're not deafeningly loud by any means but they tend to be ~10-12db louder than a normal heatsink/fan setup at full speed which is not insignificant.

>but they tend to be ~10-12db louder
What the fuck are you talking about?

guru3d.com/articles_pages/ek_predator_240_aio_liquid_cooling_review,11.html
Same db as the NHD15 yet also cools 6 degrees better under load.

wccftech.com/review/ek-predator-240-aio-liquid-cooler-review/
Using a 2011-3 processors its same noise level and 10 degrees cooler. Not even the Corsair trash products are 10-12db louder.

You'll always have an issue with them not functioning properly if you do that, but as said. Yes they do make ones designed to be refillable.

Those particular ones are also designed to be expandable, where you can use it as a basis for a custom loop later on down the road. It's not a bad deal if you plan on going that route, to be honest.

Typical aios are rated in 27-40db range from what I've seen. Usually your fan is the part making the most noise.

>Falling for the liquid cooling meme

>After a bit of research I'm considering liquid cooling the processor only and air cooling the rest
If you don't want to go full-on air cooling, this makes most sense. Custom water loops are vastly superior in terms of cooling capability compared to air coolers and on top of that come with the advantage of being able to exhaust hot air straight out, instead of in your case.

I've had literally the same CPU loop for 6-7 years, because Intel's cooler mounting system has remained the same, as such my waterblock is compatible with everything from 1st gen i5s/i7s up to the latest. Basically, it's more expensive but also lasts a long time while providing much better performance. A CPU-only loop with flexible tubing also isn't much of a hassle at all, you can change whatever you want in your PC (CPU and mobo included) without having to fuck with the loop.

Loops that include graphics cards and other shit (mobo components, but that makes no sense nowadays) are much more annoying. Large graphics cards can cover up various parts of the mobo you may want access to (various ports/pin headers, CMOS battery, jumpers, etc.). The loop also makes it impossible to remove graphics cards without draining and dismantling it first, so if you ever want to take it out to access something, or to upgrade, then you have a shitload of extra work.

GPU water blocks will most likely not be compatible with new cards either, so not only do you have much more work whenever you need to touch a PCI-E slot or a graphics card, but it's also more expensive since your WB may not be compatible when you upgrade. Graphics cards also need to be upgraded more often, so there's that too.

I've had literally the same CPU heatsink for 6-7 years, because Intel's cooler mounting system has remained the same, as such my heatsink is compatible with everything from 1st gen i5s/i7s up to the latest. Basically, it's more expensive but also lasts a long time while providing much better performance. A CPU-only heatsink with a good mounting system also isn't much of a hassle at all, you can change whatever you want in your PC (CPU and mobo included) without having to fuck with the mount.

>nh d14 master rice

>nh d14 master rice
That's like 20C shittier than a good loop though, at high CPU TDP.

They only liquid cooling I've ever had was on a prebuilt "gamur" shitter and the dam thing shit out 2 days after the 1 year warranty. Fucked the board ram processor whole nine yards.

Consider the following.

You'll still have to use fans (for the radiator for example) despite going for liquid cooling.

Ask yourself therefore the following; why bother?

that's what you get for buying prebuilt noob

and not leak testing a liquid cooled pc banging around a negro-powered ups van for 24 hours

smdh

you can use quieter fans numbnutz

Modern intel processors run dead cool and silent with a cheap 25$ after market cooler. Buy an aftermarket graphics card and you will be fine in that sense too

Quieter than fans without liquid cooling? Fans are fans, user.

Building your own custom cooling loop can be expensive but it's fun and the machine runs super quiet.
Buy big radiator and fans only need to be run at levels that aren't audible

>Buy big radiator
But muh mITX

Anyone want do do a part picker for me with $5000 CAD budget I was also wondering if it's worth waiting for the new Intel CPU as I'll probably buy my parts in a month or two. The system must be able to render/encode video, fold, and gaym simultaneously. Dual xeon is an option.

Nh-u12s with gentle typhoons on an e5-1650v2 at 4.2ghz doesn't break 60c under full load. You telling me a liquid loop would actually keep it below 40c indefinitely?

Tube cooling means setting yourself up for massive frustration due to leaks and general maintenance.

Gaming computers require a very mediocre amount of cooling; and taking time to map out your airflow will keep a decent gpu under 70C while under load and OC'd.

Apart from wanting to set up multiple 4k monitors, you won't need extreme cooling methods if all you plan to do is run some games on ultra settings.

If you are hellbent on liquid cooling, go balls out and make a submerged build.

just get a hyper 212 evo

>go balls out and make a submerged build.

One day, user.. One day. Chilled oil rig using TECs.

>Gaming computers require a very mediocre amount of cooling
At 60Hz with Vsync enabled, maybe. But with 120Hz both CPU as well as GPU will more often than not run at 100% in any remotely modern title.

>gaming computer
All computers are capable of playing games on. It's just that some are more capable of playing 3D titles than others. I hate the fucking term 'gaming computer'. A computer is a computer is a fucking computer!

Liquid cooling is too high maintenance.

This, I've got an 8350 4.5GHz on air and I max 59C.