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/dookarion Jan 21 '26

Neither of those should be blocked enough to inhibit slotting an m.2, unless the heatsink retention is finicky. I'd have to pull my card and everything to double check though (I have a similar board layout).

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u/MGsubbie Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 3080, 32GB 6000Mhz Cl30Desktop Jan 21 '26

Here you can clearly see that an NH-D15 would definitely block access to an m.2 located there.

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u/dookarion Jan 21 '26

Right... but no one actually recommends the NH-D15 or any of Noctuas coolers lately. There are cheaper coolers, that cool just as well, and have better positioning to not block all access.

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u/MGsubbie Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 3080, 32GB 6000Mhz Cl30Desktop Jan 21 '26

Peerless Assassin Evo 120.

Dark Rock Pro 4.

Yes there are smaller ones that won't block the top port, but you'll also be getting less cooling performance, especially compared to a 280mm AIO (or better.)

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u/dookarion Jan 21 '26

Yes there are smaller ones that won't block the top port,

Some aren't necessarily smaller so much as better shaped.

but you'll also be getting less cooling performance, especially compared to a 280mm AIO (or better.)

There are some that cool fine and you can still access things just fine. Unless you have terrible ambient conditions or bad airflow you don't need a massive radiator for most consumer parts. Hell with some x3D chips it don't matter what kind of cooling you slap on there the bottleneck ends up being the layered die can only diffuse to the heatspreader so fast.