The use of a water cooler is an advantage (slightly) for Ryzen cpus (possibly not Intel though) due to the frequency scaling over a wide range of temps, as shown by Gamers Nexus:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/news-pc/3492-ryzen-cpu-thermals-matter-coolers-and-cases
Although I would say that the advantage is not due to the large heat sink of a water system, but rather that the cooling ability of a water system is not as dependent on temperature as a heat pipe system (you might consider it a rather pedantic difference).
A heat pipe only works effectively once it gets above a certain working temperature, at which point it is almost isothermal - meaning that the hot end on the cpu is kept practically the same temperature as the cool end at the radiator. That working temp is usually around 50C, so a heat pipe system will always have a natural low at around that temp. Based on the Gamers Nexus data, there is still a boost freq advantage below 50C, so a water cooled system would have a slight edge there since it is cooling as effectively below 50C as above. On the other hand a heat pipe will rapidly rise to around 50C.
The results of the Ice Giant tests vs Noctua show that the Threadripper is saturating the heat pipes, where the cooling fluid is effectively drying out at the hot end. This can be overcome by using larger diameter heat pipes which have a greater amount of sintered wick that holds a larger amount of fluid. The way that heat pipes function and the parameters that determine their effectiveness is really interesting (to me at least). If I have time, I'd like to write up an article one day discussing some of the physics of the different cooling systems.