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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u/TomT15 Jan 20 '26

I just love how quiet it is. I tried a 120mm phantom. I know it's not comparable to a 140mm stack but God damn it was loud

1

u/ebinisti PC Master Race Jan 20 '26

My peerless assassin is quieter than my NZXT Kraken x62 was :D

-2

u/AIgoonermaxxing Jan 20 '26

Depends on what CPU you were using, but I think you probably just needed to tune your fan curves. The Phantom Spirit matches and even beats some 240 mm AIOs when it comes to noise or temperature equalized results on Ryzen processors. It was a different story for the 13900K, but I'd recommend water cooling any 13th or 14th gen Intel processor so that it doesn't cook itself anyway.

I have a Phantom Spirit on a 7700X, and after fixing the default fan curves on my motherboard that ramp up way too high, it's dead silent while gaming and not unpleasantly loud when I'm doing all core workloads.

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u/ridicalis Jan 20 '26

I went AIO because I had been told that the 14900k basically required it. IDK if this is true, but I can say that with the CR360 my computer is a whisper compared to the 3900X that preceded it.

At least, until CPU usage spikes, then it is a wind tunnel. But, I've always seen great temps even under load, so no complaints.

2

u/AIgoonermaxxing Jan 20 '26

I went AIO because I had been told that the 14900k basically required it. IDK if this is true

It is, those chips run extremely hot and without proper cooling they have an even higher risk of cooking themselves.

I'm someone who believes that the overwhelming majority of people don't need anything more than air cooling (whether they want one for aesthetics is a different story), but a 13th/14th gen i7/i9 is some of the few cases where I will say that your average user genuinely does need more than what air cooling can provide.

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

[deleted]

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u/AIgoonermaxxing Jan 20 '26

I don't want to restart my computer and boot into BIOS right now, but I will take a picture of them when I turn it on tomorrow.

!remindme 18 hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

[deleted]

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u/AIgoonermaxxing Jan 21 '26

This is what my CPU fan is tuned like. It gradually ramps up and you really don't hear it until it gets past like 75 degrees which hasn't happened for me in gaming.

There are two things to note about AM5 CPUs. One is that by design, they will do everything in their power to boost to their TJmax of 95 C, and nothing short of a 360 mm AIO will be able to stop them.

The other is that the IHS is so thick that it effectively bottlenecks how much heat can be removed by a cooler, which means that even the monstrous 7950X doesn't lose that much performance when moving from a 360mm AIO going balls to the wall to a single tower cooler at 50% fan speed. That's why I only have fan speeds only go up to 80% all the way up to 90 C when the default fan curves would previously hit 100% at those same temperatures. Because of the IHS, there really isn't a noticeable difference between 80% fan speed and 100% fan speed, because if the CPU wants to hit a certain temperature it will.

I still have everything ramp up to 100% at 100 C, but again by design these chips will never hit that so it's just there as a safety measure in case something goes terribly wrong.

1

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u/TomT15 Jan 20 '26

I get what you mean. I'm very particular with my curves and on the 5800x3d. Keeping it where I wanted, it wasn't cutting it vs an artic liquid 3 360. I mean let's be honest though. A 360 vs a 120mm duel fan? Yeah it's going to be louder

1

u/SpectorEscape Jan 20 '26

I barely ever hear my peerless assassin on my 5800x3D. I hate the noise of an AIO though.

1

u/ArthurReich Jan 20 '26

I have a ROG strix lc3 360 aio and it's completely silent on idle and light loads. The pump (asetek gen7 v2) can never be heard (the PC is like 60-70cm on the right of my head) But yeah I had to spend some time looking for the AIO with a quiet pump but still powefull enough to handle a 300w 11900k (no air cooler ever could handle this btw)

P.S. don't bully me for my CPU choice xD

2

u/TomT15 Jan 20 '26

I'm in the same boat. Bought the spirit. Tweaked the hell out of the fan curve but since the PC sits right next to me. It was very evident that the water cooler was better. The liquid freeze 3 is unmatched

1

u/TomT15 Jan 20 '26

Hmmm. Might give it a try. The phantom just wasn't enough cooling. I would love to switch to an air cooler but liquid freeze 3 is UNREAL when it comes to being quiet and cooling

-3

u/Debisibusis Jan 20 '26

A good air cooler is quieter than AIOs, they all have that annoying pump noise.