This is one of the most confusing topics I've ever came across. Maybe because I'm a dumbass, but that's another story. Why would I buy say a Noctua Air Cooler for $80 when I can get an AiO liquid cooler for that price? Do those air coolers keep the CPU at lower temps, or am I missing something?
Usually those $80 air coolers cool better than those 120mm AIOs. Liquid cooling is more efficient, but air coolers just have more surface area to dissapate heat, Typically, even the expensive air coolers are cheaper than those AIOs that can offer comparable or better performance.
Because they outperform similarly priced all in one liquid coolers. For a liquid cooler to outperform something like an NH-D14, they're usually over 100$. Another thing air coolers have going for them, is they're usually much quieter than their watercooled counterparts (since they don't have to worry about pump noise).
i use the noctura nh d 14 and it beats the socks off of most all in one water coolers. you just have to have the space in your case for it. most of the time custom loops will beat high end air coolers. then there are times when you put a heavy duty fan like a delta 5k on a high end air cooler and trounce custom loops. just depends on what space you have and how much noise you are willing to deal with.
You're going to get more potential problems with a pre-done liquid cooler. Whether it is the pump and/or leaks.
Air cooler...it's just a giant lump of aluminum and copper with fans strapped on it
WHat cooler whould you all reccomend?
Depends on your needs. If you're using a Core i3 that you mentioned in another build, you don't really need an aftermarket cooler. A Hyper 212+ would be plenty for that, though Zalman has a few good inexpensive options from their CNPS line up.
It's more or less for future reference. The i3 build is a sub $600 build for my friend. I'm upgrading to Haswell when it's released, so I want to gain as much reference as I can :D
There is a simple reason why I don't use watercooling, it's because I know as soon as I watercool my rig I will end up hitting one of the tubes or something and leak stuff all over the place.
I don't see the point in liquid cooling other then "look at how cool my rig looks all the bright uv lights and stuff" but that doesn't really appeal to me. The only time I would consider going liquid is if there is going to be good options for passive cooling so that you can have a fanless system.
What cooler would you reccomend guys?
The Phanteks PH-TC14PE
Cooling primarily comes down to surface area. To me, water cooling is mostly about the aesthetics, and there is nothing wrong with that, aesthetics are nice, but it's also more of a hassle. I would only use water cooling if I was specifically building the computer to be based on pleasing aesthetics.
This is in regard to custom water cooling loops. I honestly don't even see the point in the pre-made AIO water cooling kits.
I prefer air cooling, even though it is less efficent. Just imagine, building a $2000 system then the liquid CPU cooler leaks all over your system.