Have AIOs killed custom loops?

[xtreemchaos]

No aio's are a stage to custom loops in my view, something to try before we go full on. i dont think aio's are any better than loops or air cooling its more for making my riggs more-
"dam i cannot think of the word for it " but you all know what i mean.

 

[AusWolf]

No aio's are a stage to custom loops in my view, something to try before we go full on. i dont think aio's are any better than loops or air cooling its more for making my riggs more-
"dam i cannot think of the word for it " but you all know what i mean.

I'd say high-end AIOs are on par with high-end air cooling, but their selling point is mostly the aesthetics, and the supposedly silent operation that you also get with a good air cooler, so... pure marketing, maybe? For me personally, their advantage is not putting too much pressure on the motherboard mounting, but their disadvantage is the price and the cable mess you usually get with RGB.

People think that small (120-140 mm) AIOs are on par with big air coolers (which was probably true when the Hyper 212 was considered a big cooler), when in fact, they're more on par with high-performance LP coolers, like this one. I'm not even sure why they exist, to be fair.

Custom loop is an entirely different cattle of fish, in my opinion.

 

[xtreemchaos]

i must confess bud i do custom loops mainly for the looks on my own riggs, being quite is a bonus, my cruncher has 2 480s and i cannot hear it when crunching. yes im not keen on those 120mm aio's there a waste of time your right about them akin to those low pro air coolers for sure.

 

[AusWolf]

i must confess bud i do custom loops mainly for the looks on my own riggs, being quite is a bonus, my cruncher has 2 480s and i cannot here it when crunching. yes im not keen on those 120mm aio's there a waste of time your right about them akin to those low pro air coolers for sure.

Custom loops must be great if you've got the hands and patience to make them. To me personally, they're not worth the investment and hassle, but I do appreciate a good-looking and silent system.

I actually have one of those low-profile coolers that I linked above. It can take my i7-11700 up to about 120-130 W without throttling, which is kind of the limit of a 120 mm AIO as well. The difference is that the LP cooler costs about £40 and fits into any chassis, while an AIO is at least double of that, and comes with a lot more cable mess and potentially software control, which I can't stand.

 

[xtreemchaos]

i just put one of these Thermaltake 360mm TH360 ARGB Snow Edition All In One CPU Water Cooler LN116102 - CL-W302-PL12SW-A | SCAN UK in a xeon rigg ive put together for image stacking and im well chuffed with it i got it for £10 less in the Christmas sale. cons- it has the longest fan cables ive ever seen.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Custom loops must be great if you've got the hands and patience to make them. To me personally, they're not worth the investment and hassle, but I do appreciate a good-looking and silent system.

I have parts that are carried over like for more than 10 years... well a rad is a rad, ain't it? So the starting investment is high, especially now, but if you do it slowly... My last Gentle Typhoons are also around 10 years old. But I have replaced them slowly, because at last there is something really better to have them replaced. Their only drawback is bearing noise. But those spun only under high water temps. So very rarely during long gaming or compiling sessions.

In recent years I do only bykski GPU blocks as those are two times cheaper than EK or anything else and perform more or less the same... unlike EK block on my 980ti, it didn't loose nickel plating lol. My current EK monoblock developed a crack due to crap design, but EK replaced in warranty. I've put some washers now, EK doesn't do such design anymore also, where screws are on the top with a V groove.

Filling out and in the loop is done in seconds, many moons ago modded a cheap car brake system filling hand pump with a G1/4 fitting. So I suck the water in a few seconds. Also acts as a good leak tester.

The only caveat is still if you need to take apart the system. But really... how many times you do it? When you get bored of the PC case looks and swap a new one?

 

[Zach_01]

Got my first AIO 6.5+years ago and carried over to next current AM4 system.

Corsair Hydro H110i 280mm
Still going without issues after 45+k (maybe 50k) hours of work.
Tested recently on my 5900X at 200+W and keeps it around low 70s.
It can keep it around 60C at 130-140W with low pump speed ~2340rpm (max 2850) and fans 1400-1500rpm (max 2150).
I can make it a lot quieter and still not exceed 70C

if I’m not gaming or doing something intense CPU sits at 35-40C with fans at 750-850rpm and pump always on low speed (high speed used only for some testing)
Can’t ask for more from AIO on this CPU right now.
Always kept rad above block/pump and slightly tilted (I don’t have case) so if any air is inside it stays in rad (opposite side of pipes)
Liquid never exceeded 37-39C (typical 27-34C) so helped with pump and fittings longevity.
No sign of leak, ever.

I will never go back to air cooling cause I don’t want a big bulky cooler.
I will probably never go to custom loop because I’m too lazy to put the effort and work needed to get it done (I’m getting old). It’s not about expenses.

So yeah for me AIOs killed the need for a custom loop. I’m missing the extra cooling capacity, and everything else involved but personally I’m satisfied by performance, noise and everything I can think of.
Most likely my next will be a 420mm AIO.

 

[gurusmi]

1. I am aware of what can be cooled with custom, I just don't see the point of water cooling RAM and SSDs, seems like a lot of added cost and little to no benefit.

That migh be your problem that you don't understand why one should.

I'm building my new rig with SSD's and Ram cooled with water. Thereby i can define where the heat hits the ambient air. I don't want to have that hot air inside the case. But also i don't want to have everything throttled only because i'm too dumb to have a cooling philosophy. All over i have the CPU, GPU, 4* SSD and 2 Rambars cooled by water. I use 2 internal radiators and also 2 pumps. I paid more than 3k€ only for the cooling system. And to shock you: I do not OC anything.

2. Alpha Cool GPU AIOs seem too expensive. I wouldn't pay $200+ when it might not work on the GPU I upgrade to next year...

One can always integrate a GPU Cooler into a Alphacool AIO loop. Because of the price: If one builds a pool he should not forget that he also has to pay the water bill.

I'll stick with my less than $60 280mm AIO for the foreseeable future.

I'm not interested to sell you anything. If you want you can also stick on a 120mm AIO and won't hear anything negative out of my mouth. I would not by that cheap trash for a higher priced CPU. But everybody can do as he wants. It's like buying a 200k€ sportscar and then taking the cheapest chinese tyres.

I tried to read few pages... I can't get about what people argue here...

It's all about personal preferences and thoughts about topics they even don't know about anything. It's like the silly discussion if a porsche or a corvette is the better sportscar. They haven't ever driven one but discuss about that like small childs.

 

[Kapone33]

One of the biggest examples of Water cooling being fine is how Corsair have joined the ecosystem at the retail level. That means you can buy a Copper 360 Rad for $99 from the store. Indeed the thing that makes Water cooling more costly are the fittings. Air coolers have become monster sized to try to match AIOs. I mean the recommended cooler for 7000 CPUs is a 360 rad.

 

[Dragam1337]

Having my CPU and GPU hotspot at 50 C while pulling 80 and 400 W is a perk that AIO users can't understand.

2GHz+ locked Ampere without hearing it.

BCLK OC to 5.3 GHz and 55ns memory due to consistently cool memory controller.

You're not getting a good deal on cheap AIOs, you're just renting cooling for a few years. Rents due when your coolant evaporates and the overworked pump fails. Enjoy your ewaste. Time to pay rent again.

At least air cooler enjoyers aren't creating a cycle of ewaste.

I wonder how many pcs are silently (or not so silently, have a look at the AIO reviews on TPU and check out the noise when brand new, you're talking 50-60+ dBA) throttling because the AIO can't keep up anymore and the user is not savvy enough to notice. Hey, at least they're "watercooling", that's cool like RGB right?

I remember rebuilding a pc where the user installed a 120mm AIO with the push/pull fans pointed in opposite direction. Wondering why bad temps. Switched him to a D15 and he never looked back. If you're not savvy or financially comfortable enough to build a loop, use air. Better in the long run.

I agree that the vast majority of people are better off with an aircooler, as that significantly reduces the chance of fack ups... BUT... you're entirely incorrect that using an aio can't be quiet AND effective. Noise is after all down to the pump and fanspeed, and if both are running at low rpm, it will be quiet.

Well technically in some games even the 4090 is slow....... Poor wording the majority I see are non flagship which never made sense to me but to each their own.

I absolutely agree with you... "let me buy a midrange gpu due to budget constraints, and then use 200 usd on custom water cooling... because reasons"...

I'd say it's the oppersite of being intelligent.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

... then use 200 usd on custom water cooling... because reasons"... I'd say it's the opposite of being intelligent.

Do you know that people actualy like to build things? And play with things? What would you say to all those adult people buying lego sets? That they are stupid???

 

[Dragam1337]

Do you know that people actualy like to build things? And play with things? What would you say to all those adult people buying lego sets? That they are stupid???

People who buy weaker hardware so that they can spend alot of money on custom watercooling are substantially reducing the amount of performance that they could have gotten for said money, which really is the oppersite of being smart.

As for you comparing it to buying lego... /facepalm

 

[xtreemchaos]

it all going a bit Pete Tong.

 

[Night]

I wouldn't say "kiled", but perhaps overtaken on market due to big price differences, as demand for mainstream cooling is way bigger. Since I'm not so enthusiastic I can't see myself spending 400 euros or more on waterblocks, radiator, tubes and everything else required, I would rather invest that money into a better CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

I believe some time ago, I read a press release for RTX 4080's EK waterblock, the waterblock alone was around 250€. you could've just literally used that money, added maybe a litlle more and bought a 4090 instead.

For a typical consumer, obvious solution would be an AIO or air cooling. Way cheaper, does the job well, less risk, and probably most important: no maintenance.

 

[Dragam1337]

I wouldn't say "kiled", but perhaps overtaken on market due to big price differences, as demand for mainstream cooling is way bigger. Since I'm not so enthusiastic I can't see myself spending 400 euros or more on waterblocks, radiator, tubes and everything else required, I would rather invest that money into a better CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

I believe some time ago, I read a press release for RTX 4080's EK waterblock, the waterblock alone was around 250€. you could've just literally used that money, added maybe a litlle more and bought a 4090 instead.

For a typical consumer, obvious solution would be an AIO or air cooling. Way cheaper, does the job well, less risk, and probably most important: no maintenance.

Exactly, a smart person would have gotten a faster gpu instead of using the money on custom water cooling.

Only exception where it semi makes sense is if you are buying the very best hardware, and then want to overclock it to the max - but that's not what you see in the majority of cases. It's people buying x70 / x80 tier gpus and taking the money that could have gotten them a tier higher gpu and instead spending it on custom water cooling.

 

[freeagent]

Lol my air cooler has killed custom loops on the same hardware.. So I guess it depends on a few things..

 

[phanbuey]

Exactly, a smart person would have gotten a faster gpu instead of using the money on custom water cooling.

Only exception where it semi makes sense is if you are buying the very best hardware, and then want to overclock it to the max - but that's not what you see in the majority of cases. It's people buying x70 / x80 tier gpus and taking the money that could have gotten them a tier higher gpu and instead spending it on custom water cooling.

Theres another angle -- alot of people really like silent systems - having a dead silent watercooling workstation is the other draw. A system that properly ramps fan and pump using water temperature and that isn't constantly full blast is pretty awesome.

That being said modern air coolers can get you 80% of the way there with minimal effort.

 

[Dragam1337]

Theres another angle -- alot of people really like silent systems - having a dead silent watercooling workstation is the other draw.

I feel exactly the same way. And just as with custom water cooling setups, it's all down to pump and fan rpm. And they can be set very low with both aios and aircooling aswell, especially if you undervolt.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

As for you comparing it to buying lego... /facepalm

You can palm your face all day long, buddy.

I say that building custom watercooling loops has a lot to do with grown guys simply playing with stuff and having a pleasure of building something.

You can double facepalm now.

 

[freeagent]

Yup, from what I have seen it is a hobby within the hobby

 

[gffermari]

Well...I like custom WC and I would keep all my accessories (pumps, fittings, tubes etc.) but after my son was born, I never had time to play with it and enjoy it.
That's why I sold everything and went back to air cooling.

But in the future, I'm pretty sure I'll be back on water cooling.
(years ago fitting 3 rads in a mini ITX phanteks - that was a 2080Ti FE btw)

AIOs are great but boring to me. I had Corsairs and NZXTs. All working fine.
But I understand all the reasons why people like them and I agree with them. But still boring.

 

[damric]

The one extremely important feature that most AIOs lack is the ability to see coolant level and flow.

This is why if you must aio, I do recommend the rajintek orcus. It has a mechanical flow and level indicator so you can easily see if the pump is working or choking on a trapped air bubble. It also has a fill port so you can top it off if ever necessary.

 

[freeagent]

I do kinda want to put my AIO back in..

Ugh.

 

[phanbuey]

I do kinda want to put my AIO back in..

Ugh.

Why?

 

[freeagent]

Why?

You know me.. I like to chase C's like a dog chases its tail.

But mainly for ease of swapping CPUs.. don't have to mess with fans or anything, just undo the block and blammo! instant access..