I’m a stock air cooler guy. I have never been a fan of giant ugly hoses everywhere. People spend way to much time and money on cooling imho.
zanas1000
Double tower air cooler like ak620 or peerless assassin 120
​
Why? Because you put it in and dont touch it ever again unless CPU upgrade is required in which case, you put it back again. Easy, cheap, reliable, long term
Thunderstorm-1
Air cooler cause I’m broke 🥲
If I had money I would definitely go for custom loops
Novel_Yam_1034
Air cooling, less hassle.
For2otious
I’ve been contemplating an Ice Giant thermosiphon.
C9_Alex
Air. Simple, good and reliable.
AppleTrees4
Would love an elaborately cooled rig. But until I have a large workspace and more free time air cooled it is.
Intelligent_League_1
I like normal fans but water cooled reminds me of the piston inline engines of old fighter aircraft, so it’s cool
visual-vomit
Air. Cleaning is as easy as unclipping some fans and vacuuming, no chance of leakage (i know it rarely happens but just the thought that it could kinda makes me paranoid).
GipsyRonin
AIO, easy and to me cleaner looking.
SunkenTemple
fan of fan.
Hot-Picture-6390
Бдыщ
BexroFPS
I like air coolers like the noctua nhd15 but it’s just bulky and a bit louder than an aio, currently rocking a arctic freezer ii 360 in a push pull config temps are low and it doesn’t get noisy at all
FurryBrony98
I’m an HVAC technician by trade so I’ve experimented a lot with cooling passive, air, AIO and now custom loop.
SpankyMcFlych
Air coolers. Because I don’t trust AIO water coolers and doing a custom loop is just waaaaay too much work.
Granted I’m old and don’t trust new fangled things and AIO’s have matured now and are perfectly fine. But get off my lawn you whippersnappers!
Toymachina
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4 that I own, or friend’s Noctua D15.
Love the reliability and safety of air cooling, loving also the value it provides, and due to extra slot for exhaust fans on top (that would otherwise double for AIO and exhausts) it actually outperforms virtually all 240 AIOs. But even isolated 1vs1 test it’s on the level of best 240 AIOs, only actually surpassed by 280-360 ones. Also it is more than sufficient for the CPU categories I am aiming for if not even overkill, which are i5 or i7 CPUs that I never overclock.
Of course, if I had i9 either the best possible 280 AIO or even a decent 360 would be a requirement
etfvidal
N0gh0st_
Air bc no water
Fangs_0ut
Air. It works, it’s cheap, it can’t leak.
Ok-Natural-634
Air. It’s cheaper, and effective if you don’t buy junk. Plus It doesn’t have a leakage risk unlike AIOs
Sure AIOs are less noisy but I don’t like the idea of running liquid over my expensive pc
kjbaran
liaminwales
I have computer’s from the 80’s with air coolers, they still work today. I suspect any water cooling wont work untouched for 30+ years, so air cooling just works.
Nonavailable21
Cola
Pinne_Pomme
An AIO 240 or 360 . Air coolers are more efficient tho
VulpesIncendium
For a high end desktop I wouldn’t go with anything less than custom open loop water cooling.
For a low budget build, the stock cooler is good enough.
For a medium budget build, a high end dual tower air cooler is best.
So where do AIOs fit in? They don’t. If you’re running a CPU that can’t adequately be cooled with air, quit half-assing things and just go full custom loop. Or just admit that you don’t really need a 14900k.
27 Comments
I’m a stock air cooler guy. I have never been a fan of giant ugly hoses everywhere. People spend way to much time and money on cooling imho.
Double tower air cooler like ak620 or peerless assassin 120
​
Why? Because you put it in and dont touch it ever again unless CPU upgrade is required in which case, you put it back again. Easy, cheap, reliable, long term
Air cooler cause I’m broke 🥲
If I had money I would definitely go for custom loops
Air cooling, less hassle.
I’ve been contemplating an Ice Giant thermosiphon.
Air. Simple, good and reliable.
Would love an elaborately cooled rig. But until I have a large workspace and more free time air cooled it is.
I like normal fans but water cooled reminds me of the piston inline engines of old fighter aircraft, so it’s cool
Air. Cleaning is as easy as unclipping some fans and vacuuming, no chance of leakage (i know it rarely happens but just the thought that it could kinda makes me paranoid).
AIO, easy and to me cleaner looking.
fan of fan.
Бдыщ
I like air coolers like the noctua nhd15 but it’s just bulky and a bit louder than an aio, currently rocking a arctic freezer ii 360 in a push pull config temps are low and it doesn’t get noisy at all
I’m an HVAC technician by trade so I’ve experimented a lot with cooling passive, air, AIO and now custom loop.
Air coolers. Because I don’t trust AIO water coolers and doing a custom loop is just waaaaay too much work.
Granted I’m old and don’t trust new fangled things and AIO’s have matured now and are perfectly fine. But get off my lawn you whippersnappers!
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4 that I own, or friend’s Noctua D15.
Love the reliability and safety of air cooling, loving also the value it provides, and due to extra slot for exhaust fans on top (that would otherwise double for AIO and exhausts) it actually outperforms virtually all 240 AIOs. But even isolated 1vs1 test it’s on the level of best 240 AIOs, only actually surpassed by 280-360 ones. Also it is more than sufficient for the CPU categories I am aiming for if not even overkill, which are i5 or i7 CPUs that I never overclock.
Of course, if I had i9 either the best possible 280 AIO or even a decent 360 would be a requirement
Air bc no water
Air. It works, it’s cheap, it can’t leak.
Air. It’s cheaper, and effective if you don’t buy junk. Plus It doesn’t have a leakage risk unlike AIOs
Sure AIOs are less noisy but I don’t like the idea of running liquid over my expensive pc
I have computer’s from the 80’s with air coolers, they still work today. I suspect any water cooling wont work untouched for 30+ years, so air cooling just works.
Cola
An AIO 240 or 360 . Air coolers are more efficient tho
For a high end desktop I wouldn’t go with anything less than custom open loop water cooling.
For a low budget build, the stock cooler is good enough.
For a medium budget build, a high end dual tower air cooler is best.
So where do AIOs fit in? They don’t. If you’re running a CPU that can’t adequately be cooled with air, quit half-assing things and just go full custom loop. Or just admit that you don’t really need a 14900k.
Air because simplicity and reliability
Noctua. Air.
Because Noctua Air.