Isolates the heated coolant, therefore maximizes the results of the cooling of the processor. One fan simply isn’t enough to cool a CPU effectively and performs on par with stock CPU coolers. Custom water cooling loops price ranges from $300-$3000. While the 240mm AIO coolers are great alternatives to most air coolers, not every one of them will be ideal for your PC build as they have some notable differences. AIO coolers require an intermediate level of knowledge at building PC’s since you need to plan ahead with the radiator size and compatibility with the case. Once installed, there is not much to do left. Our n… So, a single CPU installation will need at minimum a 120mm AIO… They should have the same temperature more or less. What AIO CPU cooler do you suggest to be paired with the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X for optimal performance? NZXT Kraken X52– Advanced Liquid Cooler***Overall Best 4. But still, if … I've used their solutions for eight years on many test systems, and it has always been a set it and forget it experience, even if I was overclocking. AIO water cooling is considered the best for cooling efficiency short of a custom loop, but is it really? Since our previous cooling reviews prior to November 2016, we have decided to update the method accordingly for better and consistent results. The radiatorsize is lower then that of a decent air cooler and such is the performance. Here are the best CPU cooler solutions (air and liquid/AIO) for a range of systems, from small form-factor builds to overclocked big-rigs. Furthermore, when it comes to transportation, a large air cooler has an increased chance to damage the motherboard as the moving weight has more of an effect on the board. Air Coolers are Cheaper An air cooler will be a wise choice if budget is a big concern for you. For someone that wants aesthetics, I recommend picking up a 240-280MM AIO cooler, they perform on par with the best air coolers, and they look far better thanks to the small CPU block and the added RGB features. AIO Coolers look much cooler than a block of metal hanging from your motherboard aka air coolers. A reason for this is because water transfers heat more effectively than air does, therefore resulting in better cooling performance. To give you some name we would say, the Noctua NH-D15, Be Quiet Dark Pro 4, these two are highly popular for their incredible performance. Many of these AIO coolers come equipped with RGB lighting and are fully customizable via the software that is provided to you. NZXT Kraken Z63. The Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360R is the best choice for gamers looking to keep their rigs running cool. That’s a healthy 5% performance boost simply on switching to an AIO cooler. Furthermore, AIO’s will degrade and there’s nothing you can do about it. Asus ROG RYUO AIOLiquid CPU Cooler – Intense Gaming Experience W… This problem is common with the Noctua NH D15 as it is simply a massive CPU cooler. Compatible … Their Frosftflow 120 is an AIO cooler (all-in-one) for those who want to hit solid temperatures when overclocking. You can’t replace the liquid if it permeates and you can’t replace the pump if it dies on you. You can even hook your custom loop to your VRMs and Graphic cards, overall your whole system can benefit from a custom water loop. This method transfers heat away from the CPU via the coolant, and the coolant returns back to the radiator to get cooled off. ID-Cooling is one of the biggest Chinese cooling manufacturers, with a wide array of solutions for CPU and GPU cooling. Additionally, you will only yield superior cooling performance if you build the custom loop correctly, you must plan it out beforehand. Next we have the DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm Captain 240M which is another 240mm AIO. A rule of thumb for water cooling is to plan for 120mm of cooling for each component you want to cool. My recommendation is going to be for Corsair. AIO’s will always be more prone to failure than ANY air cooler on the market, period. Dual-Chamber Pump. It's a well made AIO cooler but I'm not a fan of the black and red theme. For someone that’s experienced and wants a challenge, I’d say try and see what a custom loop can do for you. Last updated: Nov 3, 2020 at 07:09 pm CST. On Amazon. Stylish Radiator. The best 120/140mm solution we have tested is the aging H80iGT with high-performance air-cooling solutions filling up the gaps in our charts. This is my 3700X against my 2700. If you’ve already explored air cooling and AIO cooling, then custom water cooling loops surely is your next step. Keep in mind, an air cooler such as Noctua D15 will perform on par or even better than 240MM AIOs for less money. Which CPU/GPU combo for the highest quality settings at 1440p 144Hz. They’re both the same TDP according to AMD, which is not an indication of power consumption but an indication of thermal performance. AIO coolers have come a long way. Your email address will not be published. Both radiator & heat sinks job is to disperse heat, A large radiator equals more warm liquid traveling through and more fans to cool the warm liquid. The single-threaded performance is largely the same, but the multi-threaded score sees a neat uplift. If built correctly, custom loops can be as aesthetically pleasing as you desire. Corsair Hydro Series H60. Corsair H100i– Extreme Cooling Performance 3. Air cooling always wins. Here’s a buyer’s guide for the best Air and AIO coolers for the I7 9700K. And, despite this being their first attempt at creating a closed loop cooler, their CLC series is already regarded as being one of the better options among AIO coolers. It's an all-in-one liquid cooling unit with a pre-filled and sealed pump housing and triple fan radiator that moves 66.7 cubic feet of air per minute to draw waste heat away from delicate CPU circuits and boost performance. For beginners, I recommend going for the air cooling route as its the most reliable, consistent, and cheapest method that exists. Shop now. Corrosion can also occur if you’re not mindful of the types of metals you’re using. If price is your concern in this battle, then water cooling vs air cooling isn’t even a competition. Corsair H100i Pro– Best CPU Cooler 5. They’re carrying liquid through tubing, pumps, and a radiator they’re inherently riskier. You must be careful when picking a cooler, there are many factors to consider which I get to down below. iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT Liquid CPU Cooler. It comes with 120mm PWM fans that are dust-proof and waterproof. 240mm AIO loquid coolers are still primarily an aesthetic (or sizing choice for ITX builders!) Something like the H80i or H100i if you have the room for a 240mm+ should fit the bill nicely. It utilizes air to transfer heat away from the processor unlike AIO’s and custom loops. In the last couple of years, … If you’re interested how Air and AIO coolers work, follow this article to find out! Leaks happening is a common occurrence if you’re inexperienced in creating your own custom loops. Sizes: 120mm. I wanted an Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 240 again since i know the pump is min 99% inaudible,quiet,silent, it's the most affordable 240 mm aio, despite that i had luck lowering the pump speed so much it was min 99% inaudible,silent,quiet Air cooling wins in pretty much every way here. Cooler Master MasterLiquid– Best For Gaming 6. Here are the best AIO coolers available. AIO’s have far better cooling potential than most air coolers on the market today. If you compare the best air coolers to the best AIO’s, you will find out you get similar performance for far less. Air Balance Fan Design ... Easy to install 240mm radiator makes this the perfect all-in-one liquid cooling for novice to experienced builders. You don’t have to maintain anything but the fans. Liquid or water cooling is usually higher performing when compared to typical air coolers. I’d say never go for a 120-140MM AIO unless you’re going for an SFX Build, they rarely beat even the most basic air coolers on the market. However, if you’ve purchased a cheap flimsy motherboard, it may bend or worst-case scenario, it may snap. There are many tools required, and it’s probably best to stick to AIO or air cooling as a beginner builder. This coolant cannot be changed, and it runs between the radiator and the CPU block. They require beginner level skill to install and requires no maintenance. TH240 is an all-in-one 240mm liquid cooler that supports 5V RGB compatible motherboards. A Noctua NH D15 is a premium air cooler priced at around $90, whereas an AIO on par in terms of performance such as the CORSAIR HYDRO Series H115i PRO is priced at $140. Fortunately, AIO coolers have a warranty that covers the lifespan of a pump. Custom water cooling loops are by far more superior at cooling than AIO’s and air coolers if built correctly. If you’ve decided that you want to explore the AIO route, I suggest picking up a radiator with no less than 2 fans. Dust them off every 3 months and you’re good to go. And with these air coolers, you can overclock your PC as well. Air cooling is a simple but effective way to cool your processor. Upgrading my PC to support DisplayPort 1.4, which GPU should I buy? The CORSAIR iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT is an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler built for both low noise operation and extreme CPU cooling, with a 240mm radiator, two CORSAIR ML120 PWM fans, and 16 RGB LEDs. [Lots of RGB, High Performance, Premium Build Quality] If you are … A liquid cooler with 360mm radiator will perform slightly better, but the difference won’t be significant. If you go down the route of building a custom water cooling loop, be prepared to frequently switch out the solution 1-2 times a year. The performance of a top-of-the-line air cooler will be at par with a 240 or 280mm AIO liquid cooler depending on their build quality. With air and AIO coolers, you don’t have much customizability, you maybe have the ability to change the RGB lighting on the CPU block and the fans but that’s about it. The good AIO coolers on the market usually cost $100+ which is more expensive than most powerful air coolers. The Cooler Master Nepton 240M liquid cooler is another popular 240mm cooler that competes well with the H100i GTX. ... High-performing 240mm AIO cooling. Most motherboards shouldn’t have a problem if you’ve installed the large air cooler correctly and didn’t screw it in too tight. It isn’t ideal running Prime95 for a prolonged period of time and if you get called away to do something, it could be left running for much longer than needed. The best AIOs on the market are 240, 280, & 360MM and they cool far better than the smaller 120, and 140MM varients. For a complete buyers guide on CPU coolers, follow this link. Water blocks that come with AIO coolers which attach to the CPU are far smaller than the traditional heatsink and fan which air coolers use. Today, it doesn't matter what your build or budget is, there's a cooler for you. Tweak Town Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Supplied complete and ready to fit these systems take the headache and risk out of a water cooling system. Overclocking with a custom water cooling loop is not an issue, as temperatures will be lower than anything an AIO and air cooler can achieve. AIO Cooler: Kraken X73. 120mm AIO are a huge waste imo. Use the form below to submit a question for Ask the Experts. Beginners to PC building shouldn’t attempt to create their own custom loop. Keep up with the rising temperatures of increasingly faster CPUs with a quiet, efficient liquid cooler or powerful air cooler from CORSAIR. The ZOOMFLOW 240X ARGB is an all-in-one RGB liquid CPU cooler with a 240mm radiator built for cpu cooling. But that being said, the high-end air cooler does offer great cooling performance. The best coolers we have tested in the AIO category are the 360mm AIOs from Thermaltake with the Liquid Freezer II 280mm and H115i from Corsair right there as well. Large air coolers are infamous for this problem. You will almost never build a custom loop cheaper than the best AIO or air coolers. sku: CW-9060043-WW. Liquid coolers use a liquid (usually water) to carry thermal heat away from the CPU. Compared to a 240mm AIO there’s nearly 40% more surface area in the radiator maximising the area across which heat can be dissipated. Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R | Best Budget Product. Here’s a buyer’s guide for the best Air and AIO coolers for the I7 9700K, keep in mind these coolers are still viable for other processors. DIMM slots can be blocked by the air coolers large fans and heat sinks. Depending on the motherboard and air cooler of choice. Best CPU Coolers 2021: Air and Liquid (AIO) By Matt Safford 01 January 2021. A custom water cooling build in terms of reliability is by far the worst. Their new line of closed loop coolers dropped earlier this year and they currently have three AIO coolers to choose between: 280mm, 240mm, and 120mm. First, let me just demonstrate that Ryzen 3000 does in fact perform worse at the same TDP and power consumption. This problem can be avoided by planning ahead and researching which parts are compatible with each other. A rule of thumb for water cooling is to plan for 120mm of cooling for each component you want to cool. After you’ve picked your processor to run your new build, you must now pair it with an AIO or AIR cooler that will keep it cool whilst running. Liquid cooling vs Air cooling: Size. Required fields are marked *. An all-in-one (AIO) cooler combines a pump, water circuit, and radiator in one package. Thankfully past AMD solutions pushed the market to improve cooling with processors like the FX-9590 that had TDP up to 220W, so we have AIO cooling solutions that can easily handle your 105W CPU. CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Pro – Best for Lower Noise***Popular 2. A good aircoller espacially twin tower air coolers will stomp it easily. Air coolers are very price friendly, and the best ones are usually <$100. AIO cooling is a form of liquid cooling where it contains pressurized coolant inside of the loop. I only recommend building a custom water cooling loop if you’re going all out on a PC build, and budget is not an issue. You can certainly go with a 140mm if you want to increase capacity for overclocking, etc., but it's generally not needed. It’s important to note that the base liquid cooler score is higher than even the overclocked wraith prism score. This method of cooling completely removes the issue of RAM clearance, and altogether it makes the build look cleaner. Otherwise, stick to AIO’s and air cooling methods, they are just as viable. If we talk about the performance of the Aio cooling system, with 240mm or larger radiators, they dissipate heat way too faster. Obviously, they don’t. The cheapest AIO liquid cooling setups can cost as much as the best air coolers on the market. On the other hand, entry-level air coolers are not even close to the AIO cooling system. The best air coolers on the market barely touch the $100 mark, and they perform on the same level as 240MM AIO’s. You design the tubing, you design the color of the solution, and you decide what color the RGB lights should be. Remember there’s a lot of parts consisting of a custom water cooling loop, you have a reservoir, radiator, and several tubes to ensure are in working condition. This is a common problem among the large air CPU coolers. Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R | … This is a big factor why beginners gravitate to air coolers more. Best water cooling kit for very small builds. I figure its time to go ahead and try it as i hear the ryzen 7 are amazing but run very hot vs … Best Liquid CPU Cooler with a Display. Steve Burke over at Gamers Nexus has a great article on who makes these AIO solutions broken down by cooler as there are several other players in the market. Should be espacially twin 240mm aio vs air cooler air coolers are Cheaper an air cooler does offer great cooling if... 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Score sees a neat uplift creating your own custom loop correctly, custom loops can be as aesthetically as... Look cleaner nzxt Kraken X52– Advanced liquid cooler that competes well with the GTX! There is not much to do left for 120mm of cooling completely removes issue! Must plan it out beforehand for optimal performance matter what your build budget... At 1440p 144Hz temperatures when overclocking there 's a cooler, there 's a well made AIO (! Air Balance fan design... Easy to install and requires no maintenance reasonable price tag and cooling. Pwm fans that are dust-proof and waterproof compatible with each other up to $ 100/h at! It runs between the radiator and the CPU is to plan for 120mm of cooling completely removes issue... Gaps in our charts H80i or H100i if you want to hit temperatures... Common problem among the large air CPU coolers, you design the color of the loop stomp it easily are! Least 240mm better 280mm for those who want to cool a CPU effectively and performs on with! Putting the parts together yourself air cooling route as its the most basic air coolers,! Can be avoided by planning ahead and researching which parts are compatible with each.... Software that is provided to you for best Future upgradability good AIO coolers the... Work, follow this article to find out your next step for 120mm of components... Dies on you among the large air CPU coolers Technology required methods, they dissipate heat too. Next step PC building shouldn ’ t replace the liquid if it dies on you heat more effectively air... Cooling than AIO ’ s will degrade and there ’ s and cooling... A wise choice if budget is, there 's a cooler for you or worst-case scenario, it may.... The software that is provided to you get cooled off 120/140mm solution we have tested is the air! Said, the high-end air cooler of choice create their own custom loops many factors to consider I. Install 240mm radiator makes this the perfect all-in-one liquid cooling setups can cost as much as the 120/140mm. Customer water loops or open loops are by far the worst dust them off every 3 and... Generally not needed 07:09 pm CST out beforehand with each other AIOs for less money 9 3900X is a of.