Gadgetory

the aqua change of 240 from Leppa is designed to complement your cpu overclocks with superior thermal dissipation and performance dual convex blades on the 120 millimeter fans deliver high volume airflow at low noise and the purchase of copper plate deploys more coolant for efficient CPU hotspot elimination click the link in the description to find out more so you're looking to build a shiny new PC and try your luck at undertaking one of the most gratifying activities known in the enthusiast realm overclocking your CPU you know that you'll need a decent CPU cooler if you want to get anywhere but you've done enough research at this point to know that the measly stock cooler which came with your unlocked processor isn't gonna cut it on the other end of the spectrum the cost and complexity of a custom water cooling loop is almost as overwhelming as building a computer itself and you'd rather not get too ahead of yourself so you're left with two options and aftermarket air cooler or an AI o liquid cooler while there are certainly pros and cons to both methods of cooling today will Pitt air coolers against liquid coolers over the course of five rounds or categories to help you decide which cooler type is best suited for your overclocking needs kicking off the first round is cost now this is an important consideration for most builders on a fixed budget as money saved on the CPU cooler could equate to more spending power on other components in the build in most cases air coolers are typically cheaper than their liquid counterparts with a much wider range of options in the sub $60 price range budget gaming pcs built for overclocking can often get more mileage out of choosing a competitively priced air cooler and allocating the extra savings towards a better graphics card for example although you can certainly find a handful of high-end coolers that cost more than most entry-level a i/os air cooling is generally the budget friendlier option and thus takes the point for this round another factor to consider when deciding between air or liquid cooling is compatibility after all there's really no use in having the best cooler on the market if it doesn't fit your computer fortunately both cooler types support nearly all of today's popular CPU sockets whether you're rockin AMD or Intel so if it's not the socket that's holding us back the biggest limitation here when it comes to cooler compatibility is going to largely depend on your case we're talking about mid Tower or full tower jassi's which are the most common types of cases for first-time builders there really are a ton of options that support both air and liquid coolers even some of the largest air coolers can fit in most mid towers though tales of giant heat sinks too tall for the case side panel to fit on aren't unheard of another thing to look out for with air coolers is that models with wider heat sinks can sometimes interfere with your system memory especially if your ram has particularly tall heat spreaders so it's best to check the clearance specs early on as I mentioned before builders with AIO coolers have a ton of mid towers and full towers to choose from of course as your cooler size increases your list of compatible cases gets shorter for example don't expect to see nearly as many case options when going from a cooler with a 240 to a 280 millimeter radiator while the waterblock on your AIO won't give you any RAM clearance issues the radiator and fans might interfere with your heat spreaders or even the componentry near the top of your motherboard this depends on several factors including your case layout the height of your heat spreaders the width of your radiator or whether or not you're opting for a push-pull configuration the best advice I can really offer you is to do your research beforehand to make sure that your liquid cooler plays nicely with the rest of your Hardware at this point I'd be fine with calling this round of wash however there's one more proponent here that inevitably tips the scales which is the limitation of AO coolers in the Mini ITX arena now there are a handful of small form-factor cases out there that do support water cooling but the list really pales in comparison to the almost endless lists of cases that allow air cooling support and this is simply due to the basic two-piece design of air coolers which allows for tons of small low-profile options even with the smallest water block an AO cooler would still need to find room for its radiator fans and tubing a situational drawback in this category that keeps the air coolers slightly ahead of the game now equally important as performance some might argue is acoustics or the noise level that a component makes when in use so cooler master for example could have easily squeezed more performance out of their top selling hyper 212 Evo if they bundled it with two 3,000 rpm fans but then the damn thing would have sounded like a jet engine and probably not have sold as well as it did now air coolers usually come with one fan with beefier models adding or even a third but apart from the fans themselves that's basically the only sound source you have to worry about liquid coolers on the other hand come equipped with anywhere from one to three fans with the option to expand up to six fans for extreme setups but unlike air coolers the fans aren't the only sound source on a iOS other componentry in the loop like the pump or even the liquid itself can potentially create audible noise depending on the cooler now that being said the liquid cooler does have a few tricks up its sleeve to help make it as quiet as an air cooler such as using software to create a fan curve now tuning a fan curve allows you to do things like gradually ramp the RPM of your radiator fans up and down based on the temperature of your CPU or you can set the max rpm parameters to ensure that your fans never go beyond a specific audible target if you're cooler and software allows it you can even tune the pump speed curve which functions in much the same way as the fan curve does but with the built-in pump in your water block of course if the pump on your particular cooler runs at a fixed speed you could be at the mercy of its current noise level overall liquid coolers may require a bit more maintenance to sustain the same amount of quiet as their air-cooled brethren but advances in software control and pump design in recent years I feel have leveled the playing field enough to where both sides are capable of near silent operation making this round a wash now where the pump and coolant of a liquid cooler might be a slight drawback when it comes to acoustics they do have the potential to take on even more serious implications in terms of reliability pumps can break or fail rendering the entire unit useless or the liquid inside your cooler can evaporate over time making a noticeable difference in performance many years later down the line additionally while it's become more of an uncommon occurrence these days ãão coolers are still prone to leaks typically where the tubes meet the water block or the radiator now of course the nature and severity of the leak will determine whether or not the cooler is salvageable and in an absolute worst-case scenario the liquid can leak on to other components in your system potentially causing permanent damage now I know everything I just said makes liquid coolers out to be like the Grim Reaper of PC hardware or something but that's not at all the case so before you go running for the hills I just want to clarify that these are just some of the things that could possibly happen - you're cooler not things that will probably happen to your cooler I just want to be clear on that distinction now be that as it may air coolers are still the clear Victor here I mean unless the heat pipe gets fatally punctured or a console gamer sneezes on your heatsink the fan is really the only thing in an air cooler that has the potential to fail and the absence of any liquid offers up a dry solution with zero risk of unforeseen leakage or water damage and that brings us to our fifth and final round which I have purposely saved for last because it's probably the aspect people look for most when shopping for a CPU cooler and that is performance now getting right into the thick of it I want to lay to rest the obnoxious long time is conception that liquid coolers outperform traditional heat sinks hands down across the board because that simply is not true when it comes to peer cooling many of the best air coolers currently on the market wiped the floor with entry level AAA OS and come within just a few degrees of top shelf liquid coolers if you're looking for a landslide victory you're just gonna have to venture out into the ranks of the custom water cooling elite but yes at face value you could very well argue that the best AO liquid cooler available probably beats out the best air cooler available by a small to moderate margin in terms of raw overclocking performance but also bear in mind that you'd probably be paying a lot more for that AO cooler than you would be for the air cooler as price to performance should always be a consideration seeing as how this is strictly a performance round however this final point does go to liquid now before we finally wrap up here with some closing words I thought it would be fun to throw in a sixth bonus round for aesthetics this is always a subjective category for any comparison but still one worth mentioning for those in search of that extra Flair for their PC if I'm speaking personally I think air and liquid coolers both have the same capacity to look really good or really effing bad like what the hell is that I mean come on I personally like the clean modern look that a pump block and water cooling tubes can bring to a rig on the other hand sometimes there's nothing more badass to me than a big beefy air cooler with some sweet fans naturally a lot of this also depends on how the cooler complements the rest of the components in the rig at the end of the day it really does all boil down to user preference and what you think looks good it is your personal computer after all so where does all this leave you as a first time PC builder well hopefully with the newfound knowledge I've bestowed upon you you are now well equipped to make the decision of air or liquid cooling yourself but if by chance you're still yearning for that definitive answer from an outside party I suppose I will oblige the way I see it is that unless you absolutely need that extra little bit of overclocking Headroom you might as well save some money and stick with a reliable air cooler I mean you can still achieve great thermals with an air cooler without sacrificing acoustics and you can do it all with little to no maintenance which makes it a no-brainer for first-time builders less complexity means less things to worry about and when the cooler does become obsolete someday you can always be purposive as a paperweight at the same time I do find certain validations in opting for an AO liquid cooler I use one myself everyday having that extra bit of overclocking Headroom can make things fun as it allows you to further stretch the limits of your CPU also if your case has a side panel window having a sleek little water Block in there can really let you appreciate the aesthetic of your motherboard and memory a bit more than if you were to have it installed a massive air cooler I also tend to find the installation process of a iOS to be a bit easier without having to work around a cumbersome heatsink but there you guys have it hopefully this gives you some insight as to which type of cooler is right for you I also want to give a special thanks to today's sponsor lynda.com for being awesome and teaching the world all kinds of glorious things with their awesome HD online tutorials like Photoshop and character animation and coding and all that good fun stuff if you guys cry yourself to sleep at night for not knowing all the things you might want to give it a try I put a special awesomesauce link in the description below so you can check it out for free start expanding your mind and for crying out loud do something with your life says the guy making YouTube videos at any rate if you guys enjoyed the video toss me a like before you go there's also links in the description below for things like shirts you can buy some shirts or book marking my Amazon affiliate link and using it when you buy stuff it helps me out a lot I'm Kyle with awesome salsa Network thank you guys for watching subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and I will see you all in the next video