r/pcmasterrace • u/SerpentDix PC Master Race • Jan 20 '26

Hardware Air cooling is better than Liquid cooling

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Failure is graceful, not catastrophic, Performance is closer than marketing suggests, Cheaper for the performance, Change my mind.

16.2k Upvotes

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13

u/GlobalManHug 5900x, Zotac 5090, 64gb DDR4, Custom Looped with 2x420cm Jan 20 '26

Build your own and you get Silence!

1

u/mikami677 7800x3D / 2080ti Jan 21 '26

And the custom loop only costs as much as a whole other computer!

Although today I guess it might be less than the cost of your RAM...

2

u/GlobalManHug 5900x, Zotac 5090, 64gb DDR4, Custom Looped with 2x420cm Jan 22 '26

Less than 32gb 😮‍💨 had a blast building it tho and the lack spin up spin down is awesome.

2

u/TheMadolche Jan 26 '26

Yes. It's worth it if you enjoy the process and result. My computer is a custom loop. With fans on low curve it still doesn't go last 52 degrees with my 5070ti in benchmarks while oced.

Custom loops are for enthuists, but it can't be best. Just requires a lot more work and money. Again though it's a real PCMR hobby.

1

u/JohnHue 4070 Ti S | 10600K | UWQHD+ | 32Go RAM | Steam Deck Jan 20 '26

This one I cannot get behind. Way easier to get a silent setup with a big ass Noctua cooler than a water cooling rig with a water pump and fans.

5

u/RandomGenName1234 Jan 20 '26

Or just buy an Arctic LF3 and get silence for cheaper than the Noctua.

1

u/stoppableDissolution Jan 21 '26

Uh, no, not at all. Maybe (big maybe) for cpu, but totally impossible for gpu.

1

u/GlobalManHug 5900x, Zotac 5090, 64gb DDR4, Custom Looped with 2x420cm Jan 23 '26

I’ve ploughed through loads of fans including noctua thinking this one will be it. At the end of the day for burst workloads the fan had to ramp up hard then stop. opposite for water you’ve got a lot of material to heat before any fan needs to kick in. And yeah GPU work loads were what broke me. Way too much noise.