Comment on My friend is buying a new PC and he is deciding between air cooler and AIO, which should be get?
remotelove@lemmy.ca 5 days agoI have been exclusively using AIOs for years now. Generally, by the time they need maintenance, its already time for a major hardware update and rebuild anyway. That is, of course, if it is serviceable. This depends on the quality of the AIO you buy, TBH. I had a first-gen Corsair AIO start to get audible air bubbles on startup, but it’s long since been recycled.
I am sure other people have some kind of horror story about an AIO leaking or something, but in general, they don’t really need to be maintained if it actually is a sealed system.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
I’ve gone through an FX8120, 4560k, 4790k, 1800x, 3700x, 5800x3d, and finally 9800x3d all on the same cooler. Even if I do a big upgrade why would I want to change it if it’s working fine?
Finally this weekend it’s getting demoted to my server and I’m upgrading to a D15 G2. But that’s only because I’m upgrading my server and it’s 10 year old heatsink doesn’t work on AM5.
remotelove@lemmy.ca 5 days ago
Air, water, AIO, whatever. If it cools well, use it. I just prefer AIOs and there really isn’t any maintenance, was my main point. There are always tradeoffs between AIO, air or a proper water rig, so there is that. (Fans are crazy quiet these days, but when I made the switch, it was mainly for noise. I always run an overclock, so my fans were always hauling ass which probably isn’t needed now.)
Ultimately, I prefer AIOs for the way airflow is managed. It’s not better or worse than air in many instances, but I like working with a radiator rather than a chonky heatsink.
I cannot disagree though: zero maintenance is better than maybe-maintenance. Like I said, it’s about tradeoffs.