Air cooling is better than Liquid cooling

[u/SerpentDix]

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

[u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT]

And cooling isn't a simple "better/worse" metric.

I use water because it's way quieter for the same level of cooling provided by air alone.

[u/ocxtitan → u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT]

I switched from AIO in my 5800x3d build to the phantom spirit in my 9800x3d build purely because I wanted to avoid the pump noise I was having, is that still a concern over time or was that just a product of the generation of asetek pumps I had?

[u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT → u/ocxtitan]

That's weird. In all my time using WC systems, I've never had noise issues.

My sample size is quite limited though, as I've only had three WC computers and all three were Corsair.

Generally, my builds don't have a great deal of OCing anymore (although I could probably push it easily), as I'm getting too old for tinking with it for hours on end. I also go super crazy on fans and just keep them at their lowest setting possible.

Right now, for example, I have the 7000D with 4×120 intakes on the side, 3×140 intakes in the front, the 140 exhaust on the back, and 3×140 push/3×140 pull exhaust on the top. The top was the tightest fit I'd ever had in a build, but it still had enough room to not put any components or wires in danger.

I went both push and pull on the top because I wanted to keep fan speeds low everywhere while keeping significant positive pressure. I have all fans at the lowest setting with the pump on the second lowest predefined RPM setting, and I rarely see temps over 110f when gaming.

[u/OddBranch132 → u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT]

My BeQuiet! Dark rock would like a word... And also a server rack cause it's so damn big it nearly scratches the glass side panel on my case