LogFAQs > #979902609

notforremnant posted...

I thought water cooled PCs were more so a gimmick instead of just doing traditional fan cooling?

Not at all. Water is a better conductor of heat so it will always be better from a physics standpoint. AIO coolers are the thing to use in a gaming build as they cool better and wont block the RAM like a large tower cooler will. Not to mention, if you have a side panel window and say a Noctua NH-D15, the Noctua is all youll see as it just blocks your view of everything. They also make coolers with LCD screens that will give you CPU temp or whatever you set it to.

For something like a server air is preferable as most servers dont run nearly as hard and air coolers are more reliable.

The main reason to do a custom loop IMO is silence. With enough radiator surface area, you can basically run your fans at <800 RPM even at full load so you just wont hear anything while everything is kept very cool. But a custom loop comes with enough hassle as far as maintenance goes most people dont think theyre worth it. Basically any system will be silent at idle, so the only time a conventional desktop will make noise is during gaming, and the sound from the game usually drowns out the fan noise then.