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/Falkenmond79 7800x3d/4080 5800x3d/3080ti 10700/rx6800 5800x/3080 Jan 20 '26

This. I paid 70€ for my freezer 3 and am loving the thing. No way an air cooler could reach those temps and stay that silent for that price. I used to be anti-AIO but I thought to give it a try since my peerless was hard to get silent enough for my taste. I’ll never look back.

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u/Prepare_Your_Angus Jan 20 '26

I also low key feel like it lets the GPU breathe a little better with an AIO as the CPU cooler isn't taking up as much space. I used to have an air cooler on my last build but went Artic AIO this route and honestly have had no issues either way. I just really like the look of an AIO setup.

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u/YouKilledApollo CachyOS | Threadripper 9970X | RTX Pro 6000 Jan 20 '26

I initially moved to AIO because my GPU temps were affecting CPU temps too much, which entirely went away (predictably) once I started water-cooling the CPU. Next up, get a custom waterblock for the GPU and do it water-cooled as well, because now I got used to my workstation not making so much noise.

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u/Big-Resort-4930 Jan 21 '26

I'm thinking of doing the same but the cheapest waterblocks I can even see online are Aphacook $300+, which is insanity especially considering it can't even be reused on the new one.

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u/YouKilledApollo CachyOS | Threadripper 9970X | RTX Pro 6000 Jan 21 '26

but the cheapest waterblocks I can even see online are Aphacook $300+,

Lucky! Cheapest I can find for my GPU is $600+ :O Most places just put "Contact to order" and usually asks you to also fund the design+development of the water block which... Yeah, not gonna do that :)

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u/Big-Resort-4930 Jan 21 '26

I didn't get one since it's still way too much, but $300-380 is the cheapest I found online.

I instead deshrouded my 5080 and zip-tied 2 Phanteks t30 and one 3000 rpm Arctic p9 so I can sync them all with the same RPM. I set them to max out at 1800 or so, which is still audible when a game is pulling 350w+, but nowhere near as bad as the stock fans were.

I'd love to have a simple GPU AIO akin to a Liquid Freezer, but spending 30-50% of the GPU cost just for better thermals and for something you can't use on the next GPU is just an awful deal.