Question Is liquid cooling worth it compared to air cooling?

[brandonmacleod21]

My computer has a Ryzen 9 7950x CPU and I'm using the Noctua NH-D15S air cooler to cool it. When I browse the internet, the fan speed is usually at 100% and when this happens, the average temp is around 75 degrees. With how fast the fan is spinning, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do with my current cooler to improve the cooling performance or if liquid cooling might be better. I've seen people say it's far superior to air cooling and I've seen others say it's a waste of money. I'm willing to spend the extra money for liquid cooling but only if it will make a difference. I also recently bought a new case with good ventilation so I know that can't be an issue.

 

[xnikx]

There has to be something wrong if your cpu temps are 75C while gaming, let alone browsing the internet, with a D15. What case do you have? How many intake fans and exhaust fans do you have? And are you positive the cooler is set correctly?

When it comes to water cooling, are we talking about an AIO or a custom loop? For an AIO you may see a slight decrease in temps versus the D15. The D15 is arguably the best cooler on the market. I have built many, many, custom water loops. But asking if it is worth it is a bit hard to answer. It is never worth it unless you are going to include the gpu in the loop. A custom loop is very expensive, you'll be looking at close to $1000. The benefits of a custom loop are aesthetics, temperatures (which comes with better performance), and noise. My current system is a 10900k and a 3080ti, my pc is very quiet and neither ever passes 55C at full load.

 

[LinuxDevice]

My computer has a Ryzen 9 7950x CPU and I'm using the Noctua NH-D15S air cooler to cool it. When I browse the internet, the fan speed is usually at 100% and when this happens, the average temp is around 75 degrees. With how fast the fan is spinning, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do with my current cooler to improve the cooling performance or if liquid cooling might be better. I've seen people say it's far superior to air cooling and I've seen others say it's a waste of money. I'm willing to spend the extra money for liquid cooling but only if it will make a difference. I also recently bought a new case with good ventilation so I know that can't be an issue.

I tend to believe that even a 5900x or 7900x is pushing the need to be water cooled. I personally would never use an air cooled 5950x or 7950x. Even on systems which don't use a CPU producing so much heat I'd still go to an AIO cooler just for noise. Water cooling does tend to be more effective at cooling, and is absolutely superior with cooling versus noise.

 

[Karadjgne]

General rule of thumb I've used for many, many, many years now is you want 2x the thermal output of the cpu (or gpu) for cooling purposes. 1.5x will work, as will 3x but 2x-2.5x is about as good as it gets.

7950X can hit closer to 225w with just pbo. The NH-D15 is a 250w class cooler. It's underpowered in my book. I'd be looking at a 360mm/420mm aio (350/400w) or even a good 280/360mm custom which can easily hit 400w+. But thats me.