Hello in this post i will be going over the pros and cons of watercooling your computers CPU, and we will also look at it against standard air cooling!
We will look into performance per dollar for both air cooling and watercooling as well.
So let's get started!
So for most watercooling AIO's (All in one) to get a half decent ones you need to spend about $100 to $200 for decent cooling, on the other hand you can get a $50 aftermarket air cooler that will get you about the same performance as an AIO, but what air cooling can't handle as good as an AIO is overclocking! if you are planning to overclock your system i would suggest getting a watercooling unit, they have much much higher heat dissipation and you will see the same tempts when overclocking that you had before you overclocked most of the time, and if you plan on doing some really really crazy overclocking i would suggest getting into custom watercooling loops, but that can be a subject for another time.
Should you watercool in small form factor cases?
One of the major issues when building small compact computers is getting good CPU cooling, and the biggest issue is decent air coolers tend to be very very tall and trying to find shorter ones most likely will sacrifice performance, on the other hand AIO's take up much less space and are less of a hassle since you can mount them on any fan mounts in the case, so for small form factor cases id say watercooling is the ideal option, don't get me wrong there are still many small form factor air coolers that perform well, but they still can't top watercooling in small form factor cases.
What about lifespan and leaks?
Let's be honest here, watercooling units tend not to last very long, most AIO's will last 2 to 3 years before encountering problems such as pressure issues and overtime the quality of the liquid inside drops because you can't replace the liquid in the majority of AIO's, and leaks do happen, and when they happen expect other components in your computer to be damaged aswell, make sure when buying watercooling units you buy from a trustworthy and quality brand i will suggest some AIO's and some air coolers at the end of the thread, but air coolers will go for years and years without encountering issues, and you don't have to worry about any leaks or performance drops for along time.
So what about the noise?
Watercooling tends to always be a lot silenter then air cooling, overall watercooling is much much more quieter when the pump is running on max then a air cooler running at max rpm, so if quiet is your thing watercooling is for you!
So in all if you are on a budget i suggest getting an aftermarket air cooler, there are a lot of good options for air cooling for some good overclocks, but if you have more money to spend and want to be the king of cooling! i suggest a high end watercooling unit if you are planning to push your CPU to the max!
Here are some suggested air cooling and watercooling units.
Air: Noctua NH-U14S 140mm SSO2-Bearing ($65)
Honorable mention air cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO ($35)
Water: NZXT Kraken X62 ($160)
Honorable mention AIO: DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm CAPTAIN 240EX ( $88)
So i hope this post helped you or you found it interesting have a good one everyone!