I’ve mainly been using fan cooling my entire life, but which of the two would work best under heavy load, specifically after long periods of gaming?
Liquid cooling’s biggest advantage isn’t that water is magically colder than air—it’s that it moves the heat away from the CPU and out of the case faster.
An air cooler dumps most of its heat right around the CPU socket, and the case fans then have to remove that hot air.
An AIO liquid cooler transports the heat through the coolant to a radiator mounted at the top or front of the case. The radiator fans can then exhaust that heat directly outside the case (I always set my AIO’s up to push the heat out), reducing heat buildup around the CPU, motherboard, RAM, and VRMs.
Under long gaming sessions or sustained heavy loads, a good AIO often maintains slightly lower temperatures because it’s more efficient at getting the heat out of the case instead of letting it accumulate inside it.
Thank you so much Viraco. I will for sure be buying a good AIO for my upcoming build. 