PC Cooling

PCs are not immune to thermodynamics; work equals heat and the more you push your PC the more heat that needs to be dissipated. Air cooling transfers heat through heatpipes, heat sinks, and cooling fins to improve the effectiveness of temperature regulation. However, air flow now becomes an important factor, as the air surrounding the components it’s trying to excise heat from must be cooler due to thermodynamics, and this can become difficult or impossible to maintain in the ever-increasingly compact interiors of a PC if not built properly. On the other hand, liquid cooling is not limited in this capacity and the radiator offers a far more efficient surface to dissipate heat than the heat sinks relied upon by air cooling. Ultimately, air has a lower heat capacity and density in comparison to a liquid coolant solution.

Fan noise will naturally develop due to various factors throughout the course of its lifetime which can include solvable issues such as ensuring the blades remain undamaged or tightening up any screws or bolts that can loosen up over time to unmanageable factors such as worn bearings or failing fan motors. While liquid cooling also utilizes fans it is the more efficient radiator that they are applied to that requires less effort and therefore less fan-noise compared to air-cooling applications. However, liquid cooling can still produce other noises which can be indicative of maintenance or potential troubleshooting.

While it’s possible and sometimes necessary to confine your build to air cooling depending on how compact your build is, liquid cooling universally provides a far more aesthetic quality along with the benefit of being cleaner and more efficient. Modularity is an oft-cited advantage with the option of All-in-one (AIO) components that have liquid cooling pre-built into them or user-defined custom DIY installations. These conveniences allow for a far cleaner PC build to showcase all of your investments.

Liquid cooling solutions rely on radiators to disperse waste heat as opposed to heat sinks used by air coolers. A fan is still used as a cooling solution to both applications however the radiator and liquid cooling system is far more efficient in handling heat exchanges as opposed to air cooling.

Water blocks are the liquid cooling version of heat sinks where the same principle of exchanging heat is applied. The difference in performance comes down to the application itself; due to specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity, water blocks are able to dissipate heat more efficiently than air-cooled heat sinks.

Another advantage liquid cooling has over air cooling is the ability to transfer heat via pumping so that it can be rejected in the same way a heat sink does but with far greater efficiency. While both solutions utilize fans at this juncture, there is far less work for the fan to do in a liquid cooling system.