[SOLVED] Air Cooling or AIO for Lian Li Lancool Mesh II Performance?

[Adam1998]

I'm moving to the Lian Li Lancool Mesh II performance with an i7 12700k or R7 5800x (still working out pros and cons)

I've been an AIO guy for a long while and planned on getting another, the Arctic Liquid Freezer specifically

However, I'm wondering with the fact that the Mesh II has such great airflow if an air cooler might be more beneficial overall.

Currently, I'm looking at Noctua's D15s as an alternative for the same price.

Any advice?

As another note, it seems like the 280mm liquid freezer won't fit on the top, which means I'd either have to front mount or use a 240mm

 

[Lafong]

Did you use liquid previously because no air cooler would provide sufficient cooling?

Or for some other reason not directly related to temperatures.....you like to fiddle with hardware, "coolness" factor, "why not", following the tribe?

"Beneficial"..........hmmmmmmm. Is that a synonym for "result in lower temperatures"?

Are you quite sensitive to temperatures.....always trying to drive them down?

I haven't heard anyone even imply that liquid cooling is "required" on a 12700K.

General consensus I've heard seems to be that the top air coolers and 240 mm liquid have very similar cooling performance.....but you may prefer one or the other for reasons other than performance.

 

[Adam1998]

Did you use liquid previously because no air cooler would provide sufficient cooling?

Or for some other reason not directly related to temperatures.....you like to fiddle with hardware, "coolness" factor, "why not", following the tribe?

"Beneficial"..........hmmmmmmm. Is that a synonym for "result in lower temperatures"?

Are you quite sensitive to temperatures.....always trying to drive them down?

I haven't heard anyone even imply that liquid cooling is "required" on a 12700K.

General consensus I've heard seems to be that the top air coolers and 240 mm liquid have very similar cooling performance.....but you may prefer one or the other for reasons other than performance.

You know what I really couldn't tell you why I went to an AIO, it was just moving from a stock fan like 7 years ago, the past builds used with it have been an old FX chip and an i5 7600k which don't need an aio

I am kinda sensitive to temperatures, I do prefer cooler but within good noise levels.

Beneficial means good thermals but also considering noise levels

If I'd get the same thermals from the 240 however I'd go with that as it's cheaper at the moment and I can mount it top, which I personally prefer due as it keeps the tubing out of the way of other parts such as the GPU

 

[Lafong]

I do prefer cooler but within good noise levels.............Beneficial means good thermals but also considering noise levels

Well, you get to define "good". No one else can.

"If I'd get the same thermals from the 240 however I'd go with that as it's cheaper".

Same as what?

 

[Adam1998]

Well, you get to define "good". No one else can.

"If I'd get the same thermals from the 240 however I'd go with that as it's cheaper".

Same as what?

Same as the air cooler

 

[Lafong]

Offhand.....

It sounds like you would have buyer's remorse if you went with air considering your prior experience.

Unless you think that 240mm liquid has inferior cooling performance to the top air coolers. I wouldn't know personally but my understanding is that temps would be similar.

What would be enough to force you onto air? Not expense because you say liquid is cheaper; not noise; not maintenance.

Temps would be the only remaining driver?

I assume that you are comfortable with the maintenance and noise issues associated with liquid coolers.

 

[geofelt]

Cooling capability of a 240 aio is going to be comparable to the NH-D15s.
Think about it.
The radiator sizes are comparable.
The difference is where the heat exchange takes place.
I would always go air in a good case.
An overlooked factor is how well the motherboard vrm coolers get air.
That will be good with an air cooler and much harder with an aio.
AIO radiator mount is a catch 22 thing.
Mount the radiator in front and you get the best cpu cooling. But, at the expense of hotter air for the graphics card and motherboard.
Mount on top, and the cpu cooling works with warmer case air.

If you care about noise levels, the noctua fans are quiet.
Under normal use, I do not hear them on my NH-D15s and 12900K.
Running a cpu-z stress test, they do spin up but there is no big noise.

Is this build for gaming or for multithreaded batch production?

The superior single thread performance of the 12th gen intel processors shine when gaming.
Not all cores will be fully loaded and thermals should not be an issue.

OTOH If you are into batch production and overclocking which can load all cores, then I would look into a 360 aio. I find that a cpu-Z stress test will get some cores on a 12900K to 100c.
But, there is no failure and the cpu keeps on trucking.

 

[Adam1998]

Offhand.....

It sounds like you would have buyer's remorse if you went with air considering your prior experience.

Unless you think that 240mm liquid has inferior cooling performance to the top air coolers. I wouldn't know personally but my understanding is that temps would be similar.

What would be enough to force you onto air? Not expense because you say liquid is cheaper; not noise; not maintenance.

Temps would be the only remaining driver?

I assume that you are comfortable with the maintenance and noise issues associated with liquid coolers.

All of it comes down to a lack of experience with air coolers and I prefer how AIO's look, however, performance is more important to me (especially in this build, no RGB or anything)

Really, it's if the case that has known great airflow is better suited for an air cooler

 

[Adam1998]

Cooling capability of a 240 aio is going to be comparable to the NH-D15s.
Think about it.
The radiator sizes are comparable.
The difference is where the heat exchange takes place.
I would always go air in a good case.
An overlooked factor is how well the motherboard vrm coolers get air.
That will be good with an air cooler and much harder with an aio.
AIO radiator mount is a catch 22 thing.
Mount the radiator in front and you get the best cpu cooling. But, at the expense of hotter air for the graphics card and motherboard.
Mount on top, and the cpu cooling works with warmer case air.

If you care about noise levels, the noctua fans are quiet.
Under normal use, I do not hear them on my NH-D15s and 12900K.
Running a cpu-z stress test, they do spin up but there is no big noise.

Is this build for gaming or for multithreaded batch production?

The superior single thread performance of the 12th gen intel processors shine when gaming.
Not all cores will be fully loaded and thermals should not be an issue.

OTOH If you are into batch production and overclocking which can load all cores, then I would look into a 360 aio. I find that a cpu-Z stress test will get some cores on a 12900K to 100c.
But, there is no failure and the cpu keeps on trucking.

I'll follow your sentiment here and move with the NH-D15s since the case I'm choosing is known for excellent airflow.

I will do a mix of gaming and work, however, my CPU will only be under load in rarer occurrences, such as building lighting in Unreal or Rendering in Premiere. If I didn't use those applications I'd move to an i5. But I doubt there's any need for a 360mm, certainly not overclocking or pushing the CPU to its limits constantly, as long as it's not on fire when it is under load then I'm all good

 

[Lafong]

If "better suited" means lower temps, I don't know how you could ever know without testing both methods in your home with your parts and your workloads.

That's likely never going to happen.

Therefore, you will choose air or liquid and make a leap of faith.....

And then subject yourself to second-guessing.

Hard to imagine how air cooling would result in less second-guessing in that situation, given your history and what you have said in this thread.

 

[Adam1998]

If "better suited" means lower temps, I don't know how you could ever know without testing both methods in your home with your parts and your workloads.

That's likely never going to happen.

Therefore, you will choose air or liquid and make a leap of faith.....

And then subject yourself to second-guessing.

Hard to imagine how air cooling would result in less second-guessing in that situation, given your history and what you have said in this thread.

Really it's that an air cooler is easier to install, so i'd rather do that if temps will be the same than sticking with an AIO, which is mostly for aesthetics but comes with more considerations

 

[Lafong]

Really it's that an air cooler is easier to install, so i'd rather do that if temps will be the same than sticking with an AIO, which is mostly for aesthetics but comes with more considerations

OK.

Didn't know about the other previously unmentioned considerations....aesthetics and ease of installation.

Good luck. Noctua D-15 is grade A and quiet. Very good mounting system. Good support from manufacturer. Includes paste.

 

[geofelt]

Just to be clear, there is a difference between the NH-D15s and the NH-D15.
Cooling capability is comparable, but the NH-D15s has improved compatibility in two areas:

1. NH-D15s can handle ram with tall heat spreaders up to 44mm. NH-D15 is limited to 32mm low profile ram.
2. The NH-D15s is offset a bit to clear graphics cards in the first slot.

Noctua has a motherboard compatibility table to check on this:
https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards