Question Best AIO Coolers Currently (120/240mm rad)?

[GodisanAtheist]

For the last bajillion years I've been running an AIO Corsair H60 (the original design with the dixie cup pump and the locking teeth mounting design).

Its been a solid AIO for my old Q9550 and my current 6600K, allowing both to attain solid overclocks at reasonably low temps, is nice and quiet, and doesn't take up a buttload of space in my $50 mid-tower no name case like some popular tower coolers at the time did.

Thing is its getting dangerously old at this point (Its ~8 years old now), and assuming I'll be upgrading to an AMD system next I do not have any AM4/5 mounting hardware for it.

So assuming I'd want to stick with an AIO cooler, what does this board recommend in the 120/240mm range? Is Corsair still the safe bet or has their quality dropped over time or is their mark-up not worth it compared to another cooler? Does everyone have a relatively simply mounting system (not a huge fan of the locking design of my H60). The *idea* of RGB stuff sounds kinda fun but at the same time I have no interest in paying a huge mark-up for it either.

Thoughts?

 

[Tech Junky]

It's all subjective and needs to have some research. When I was contemplating an AIO for ADL I narrowed my options down to this one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09931VWWM - $90

However since AM5 isn't released in the least bit yet it's hard to say if there's going to be redesign or brackets to port over from older socket sizes like with ADL moving to LGA1700. Since AMD is moving to a LGA format I suspect there is going to be the same issue.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu-cooler/#W=10120,10240&c=33&R=5&sort=price&page=1

The usual suspects come up like Arctic / Enermax / bequiet / corsair. Being 6-8 months out though from release it's hard to say what's going to happen in the cooler market. I would aim for something cheaper / quiet and look at the bearing details for the impeller. My cap would be $100 and when I switched my mind on AIO vs air I went with a $45 air cooler that's been holding its own pretty well with a max temp under load of ~55C and idle +/- 1-3 degrees from room temp.

 

[aigomorla]

AIO x 120 will NEVER beat a fully decked out dual tower HSF.
Even a AIO x 240 may have issues keeping up with a 6-8 heat pipe HSF.

Personally i only push AIO on that special case, which it merits having a AIO, which is not cooling performance, but more the ability to MOVE the heat from one location to the other.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

AIO x 120 will NEVER beat a fully decked out dual tower HSF.
Even a AIO x 240 may have issues keeping up with a 6-8 heat pipe HSF.

Personally i only push AIO on that special case, which it merits having a AIO, which is not cooling performance, but more the ability to MOVE the heat from one location to the other.

- With GPUs outputting as much heat as they do nowadays (with even midrange cards in the 225W+ range) I never think its a bad idea to take the heat from the CPU (which would normally be radiated right into the back of a card in the topmost PCI-e slot) and sending it out the top of the case or front of the case far away from the other primary heat source in a PC.

I suspect part of the reason my 980Ti is basically able to boost and hold 1500mhz core (over the paltry 1125 core on the founders edition or whatever) is because its not having to deal with the CPU's heat. Might also account for some of the card's stability and endurance over the last 6 years not having to deal with the heat output of my 6600K @ 4.5ghz.

Also, I think AIO's look nice.

 

[Tech Junky]

Looks and temps aren't compatible most of the time.

Serious cooling means a 360 in most cases or a custom loop. Spinning a hsf 90 degrees to exhaust out the top is an option too if you have the clearance.

GPUs are a pita for dealing with heat with fans. LC would be ideal in those cases if you have the space. Doing a custom loop covering CPU/GPU would be the ultimate solution.

 

[aigomorla]

GPU Liquid cooling is always a route i will take.

Why?
Because GPU liquid cooling seems to net you the most benifits.
Were talking about a 50% reduction in load temps at given times, and having the gpu idle at ambient temps.

Here are my idle temps right now with my fans pulling at 24.4C ambient.


I will never NOT watercool my gpu's especially ones that cost that much.
It really extends life, and keep things nice and cool.
The only cevit i have with this gpu is i got them earily so rear ram waterblock options were not available, otherwise i would of probably gotten them from start.
Now its just too difficult to swap / change waterblocks on my system, that its not worth adding the rear ram block over a few heat sinks.

But i honestly think CPU liquid cooling has gotten to a point where its not very performance impacted as cpus now run into a voltage bottleneck and risk electron degradation before they reach a thermal bottleneck.

 

[DeathReborn]

For the last bajillion years I've been running an AIO Corsair H60 (the original design with the dixie cup pump and the locking teeth mounting design).

Its been a solid AIO for my old Q9550 and my current 6600K, allowing both to attain solid overclocks at reasonably low temps, is nice and quiet, and doesn't take up a buttload of space in my $50 mid-tower no name case like some popular tower coolers at the time did.

Thing is its getting dangerously old at this point (Its ~8 years old now), and assuming I'll be upgrading to an AMD system next I do not have any AM4/5 mounting hardware for it.

So assuming I'd want to stick with an AIO cooler, what does this board recommend in the 120/240mm range? Is Corsair still the safe bet or has their quality dropped over time or is their mark-up not worth it compared to another cooler? Does everyone have a relatively simply mounting system (not a huge fan of the locking design of my H60). The *idea* of RGB stuff sounds kinda fun but at the same time I have no interest in paying a huge mark-up for it either.

Thoughts?

My 2011 Corsair H100 is still running just fine. As for modern AIO's, Arctic Liquid Freezer II line are pretty darn good. Corsair, NZXT, DeepCool & Lian Li are also good makes to look for, my main system runs a 360mm Arctic Freezer II and it is great.

 

[DrMrLordX]

280mm AiOs are a pretty good option, and there are plenty of cases that support them now. You may get some noisy fans depending on which one you buy. In my opinion, a lot of the 360mm AiOs have pumps that are a little too weak for the setup. But unless you get a Kraken and ramp up the fans to max performance, I think most 360mm AiOs are pretty quiet.