Lets Settle This - Air Coolers vs AIOs

When it comes to choosing the best CPU cooler, the air cooling vs water cooling debate has been raging for years. But now with some of the best 240mm AIO's costing less than the best CPU heatsinks, performance and pricing might actually be in the favor of water cooling. Let's settle this debate once and for all with modern AMD AM5 and Intel LGA1700 CPUs tested in 2024 systems.

Buy the Best CPU Coolers here:

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Best Air Coolers vs 240mm AIOs
0:50 - The Intel vs AMD Question
1:26 - CPU Sample to Sample Variance
2:27 - Ryzen GAMING Temperatures & Framerates
3:41 - Ryzen 5 7600X Temperature Testing
4:17 - Ryzen 7 7700X Temperature Testing
4:50 - Ryzen 9 7950X Temperature & Frequency Testing
5:36 - The AMD Cooling Issue
5:55 - Sponsor Spot
6:25 - Intel GAMING Temperatures & Framerates
7:58 - Intel 180W Temperature Testing
8:22 - Intel 253W Temperature Testing
9:56 - Intel No Limits Temperature & Frequency Testing
10:52 - The Eternal Question...Answered?

Review units provided by companies mentioned. This video is sponsored by Thermaltake. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

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[emeraldphoenix]

The real optimal cool method was the friends we made along the way

[rmking_beats]

Thermalright’s price to performance is insane.

[MadridistaFrieren]

I love how a decade old noctua stil here in a cooler debate lol. Waiting for the 2nd gen

[stcg]

You guys always have amazing thumbnails for cooler reviews

[gabrielcotrim]

air coolers have a huge advantage when we talk about maintenance and simplicity

[YungAntoine]

I bought the D15 almost 10 years ago now, and I'll still be sticking with it

[racer]

I am glad you touched on CPU variation. Like there is an overclock silicon lottery, the same happens with temps on some of these CPU within the same generation and model number.

[gabber_]

I've been using D15 for about 8 years. It has been used in many different builds, possibly the best investment I've ever made for my PC. All I had to do was to buy an AMD kit for the new Ryzen. If you can afford one, it wont disappoint, and it has zero percent chance to leak.

[ralkros]

I feel most people do not realize just how nice a quiet pc is. I replaced all the fans, inclduing my aio fans, in my case even adding some with just dirt cheap arctic p12 fans. Not hearing a mini turbine while enjoying content is crucial and highly underrated.

[Lukiel]

Easy decision for me. Bought TR Peerless Assassin ARGB and used the money I saved to buy a better GPU. It was $42 Canadian. Used Arctic MX-6. Ryzen 5600X.
Shout out for Spring weather being here! So tired of the cold.

[canoeshoe]

this takes a LOT of work to do. Appreciate you guys

[ritwikbanerjee]

The second chart says intel am5, just found it funny so pointed it out. 1:20

[masterkraft]

after using 3 water coolers, I'm back to air with the new air dual fan with big dissipator ones. Water cooled die faster ( two years ), they start getting hotter with time and they are messy in the case. Really happy to be back at these huge dual fan dissipators

[fungalgrowth]

Fantastic video with great data and analysis, definitely looking at Thermalright air cooling for future builds.
PS the timer on the sponsor spot is an incredible touch

[Pyroglyphid]

AIOs, my Corsair H100i has seen an intel 4790k, an AMD 2700x and now an AMD 5950x, and its still going! I'm sure I'm lucky in some ways but the fact all those CPUs stay between 60 and 65°c while rendering and summer gaming, inside my Corsair 750D Airflow, for the past 7 years... AIO all the way for me, and I'd recommend it

[todash]

The problem with this is it is not air coolers vs AIOs, it is air coolers vs 240mm AIOs. The biggest advantage of AIO over air coolers is in the temp soak. They can keep a lower temp for much longer than an air cooler does. I'd love to see you compare the Arctic Freezer III 360mm and other 360 or even 420mm AIOs along with this. I'd wager to guess they would be a good amount better at the full load situations. That said for general use on the vast majority of systems I don't think you can beat the price performance of the TR Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin. And while I currently have a 420mm I might move back to air on the next build, we will see.

[ResumedPausing]

Curious to see how the next gen Noctua D15 will hold up given it'll have 8 heatpipes instead of 6. Plus it'll be coming with their new 140mm fans

[AirGunWeb]

Hey there.. I love these videos that you all do, which clearly show the reality of things. It's so easy to chase a needle to your detriment and waste time and money on something that doesn't matter. I wish I had known more before jumping into 12th gen with a 12900K. I've spent more trying to cool it (unnecessarily so) than the darn chip itself. I finally landed on a 420mm artic liquid freezer II in a massive Thermaltake case. I could have just tossed on a good air cooler and then stopped running r23 chasing "higher" performance that was just a waste of time as I never run that kind of workload. I just thought that I "had" to get the bigger number better going. Anyway, my dad always said that education costs money, and he was certainly right. Thank you for putting in the effort and delivering a dose of "real world" reality for us all.

Cheers
Rick

[glmchn]

Answer to that question, Saison 69 Episode 420 : IT DEPENDS !
Wow.

[bigbrainb]

I've recently upgraded from an air cooler to a 420mm Liquid freezer 3 which is absolutely overkill for my 6-core cpu but this way I can play without headphones and not get blasted by the noise.