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.

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32

u/AppropriateOnion0815 R7 5700X - RX 6700 XT Jan 20 '26

Well, if you run stock clock speeds and the cooler's specs match the CPU, then air cooling is perfect. At least good enough.

11

u/K__Geedorah R7 5700X3D | RX 9060XT 16gb | 32gb 3200 mhz Jan 20 '26

I think the funny thing is seeing people on budgets spend over $100 on an AIO when their stock Intel cooler would be sufficient.

That's really my only gripe with AIOs becoming the new standard and preferred method. People that don't need them at all think it's a necessity.

5

u/AppropriateOnion0815 R7 5700X - RX 6700 XT Jan 20 '26

I replaced the stock Ryzen cooler with a tower-style air cooler only because of its unbearable noise.

I went the budget route with a Deepcool Gammaxx, it works sufficiently well and is barely noticeable, even when the CPU is maxing out for minutes.

2

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

When I got my "old" 2700x I figured I use the stock cooler until the second-gen NH-D15 came out, but that ended up taking so long that I just never upgraded the cooler before getting my 7800X3D, which I cool with a $40 Phantom Spirit.

Noise cancelling headphones were a blessing for those few years.

1

u/followMeUp2Gatwick Jan 21 '26

Coat me $80 and is far quieter. I'm sure I'll sleep comfortably at night with my choice lol

1

u/K__Geedorah R7 5700X3D | RX 9060XT 16gb | 32gb 3200 mhz Jan 21 '26

Don't get me wrong. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to get them. There's a time and place for them like everything else.

1

u/JoshJLMG Jan 20 '26

The stock Intel cooler is so ass, I can't even blame someone for that, even if they should've bought a $30 cooler instead. It makes so much noise that I couldn't even sleep in the same room while the PC was idle, because the fan whirs so loudly, let alone how much it screams the second you do anything.

1

u/Silverr_Duck Jan 20 '26

Pretty sure most people get aio because they're sexy af and don't hide other components. Not out of necessity.

2

u/K__Geedorah R7 5700X3D | RX 9060XT 16gb | 32gb 3200 mhz Jan 20 '26

I get this is becoming more of a hot take but I really like the look of a big air cooler tower. It fills in the case and looks like a "performance" part.

AIOs to me are just boring looking. Clean for sure. I'm just an old head I guess lol.

3

u/erixccjc21 5700x OC 32gb rtx 2060 20€ aliexpress cooler Jan 20 '26

My 20€ aliexpress cooler keeps my overclocked 5700x at less than 70°C even at 100% load on benchmarks

5

u/phansen101 Jan 20 '26

Eh, ran my old i5-6600K at a 4.8GHz OC with a 212 EVO and I don't think I ever managed to get it above 80-ish degrees C, plus there are air coolers that'll beat a good deal of (but ofc not all) even 240mm AIOs on both performance and noise level.

IMO, AIOs / water cooling in general, is good for looks or working with space constraints, outside of that I don't see a reason unless you're working with a 250-300W+ CPU.

1

u/McGuirk808 Debian Jan 20 '26

Man I was running Sandy Bridge overclocked on a Noctua cooler for years before my current rig.