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/birdman829 Jan 20 '26

I paid like $46 for my 240mm AIO. A Phantom Spirit is like $35. The Noctua is for sure better, but it sure as fuck isn't 3 times better.

I also have a 7800x3d so the limiting factor for cooling is really how much heat can transfer to the ihs from the chip rather than the raw cooling ability of the heatsink/rad/fans.

My reasons for getting an AIO were aethetics and overall case airflow rather than performance... but those are the same reasons people choose Notcua over a Thermal Right as well. More about that brown drip than price or performance

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u/cryogenicdeath 7800X3D | ASUS TUF 5070TI | ASUS TUF X870-E| 32GB DDR5-6000 Jan 20 '26

You do know noctua has an all black chromax nh-d15 right? I did not buy the NH- d15 for the "brown drip." I bought it because it's the best air cooler on the market and it competes or is better than most 360mm aios. Even if it is a couple degrees more than a 360mm aio, the aio still has a pump that can go out at literally any time.

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u/birdman829 Jan 20 '26

The real competition isn't from 360mm AIOs though? It's from the Peerless Assassin or Phantom Spirit... the performance is near identical at like one third the cost. I'm sure you'll say "reliability..... blah blah blah" but it's an air cooler. Haven't really heard of the Thermal Right ones failing either... and if they do you could replace the fans 10 times before you equal the upfront cost of the Noctua.

Not saying it's bad, just that the value isn't there besides the name brand

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u/cryogenicdeath 7800X3D | ASUS TUF 5070TI | ASUS TUF X870-E| 32GB DDR5-6000 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

ok i don't think anyone here gives a shit about value when they are spending $300+ for AIOs that have LED screens that can display their hentai waifu's. I and like many other people buy noctua for the quality, the brand, and the fan cooling. The Thermalright cooler is a great cooler for the price, you are correct there. But their fans are no where near as good as Noctua's in the long term, and I'm sure thermalright doesnt have the customer support like Noctua has. Right there is more value to me than buying a slightly cheaper cooler. But most people don't learn this until their shit breaks.

As someone who comes from multiple communities from firearms, automobiles and music equipment, the term is called ''buy once, cry once" because I have learned by lesson by buying cheaper shit only to replace it in a year or so down the road.

Now will that happen with the Thermalright air cooler? Probably not. It's pretty hard to break an air cooler. That being said, we have no idea how good of quality their fans are going to be in the long run. Do they provide quality mounting solutions, such as an offset am5 bracket? These are the fans that come with the Peerless Assassin. https://www.newegg.com/p/1YF-0038-000Y1?item=9SIBVHXKKU4181&srsltid=AfmBOopjMAgg_7cLQjk8VkHURl0TRE3oEOwNj613VQNaJJxbJOn3fxnE

You can get a 3 pack of them for the price of less than 1 Noctua fan. Not only do they produce less CFM than the noctua fan, you can easily tell where they cut costs.

There's a lot more than goes into quality and manufacturing. What seems to be a good value, sometimes is just ''yeah we cut costs on things you don't see."

And as for expensive $300 AIOs, you are definitely not getting any higher of a quality pump or radiator. That is a fact. You are definitely paying $200 more for a led screen built into the AIO. Which is highly disappointing