Is Liquid Cooling Worth It?

We are all concerned about the temperatures of our processor, so we started looking for solutions on the market that would allow us to have a component as cold as possible. Among these, we find liquid cooling, which is postulated as one of the ideals. So, we have decided to make a review about whether is liquid cooling worth it or not.

How To Liquid Cool The Processor?

The main solution is liquid cooling, which can consist of liquid coolant or water. It must be said that a liquid cooling system is complex and expensive, so you have to start from this point.

We find two types of liquid cooling: AIO (All in One) and "custom", which are the more complex of the two. As for the former, its operation is basic:

We installed the pump head on top of the processor and the radiator with the two fans at the top of the case.
The pump head sits on top of the processor and transfers heat from the processor through tubes to the radiator.
Once arrived at the destination, the radiator expels the heat through the two fans.

On the other hand, the operation of custom liquid cooling is more complex and several components are involved:

Liquid cooling. It is installed on top of the processor to transfer heat from the processor through the liquid.
Deposit. It retains extra water in the circuit to replace air bubbles little by little.
Pump. It pushes the water or coolant throughout the circuit to expand it to all the components.
Radiators and fans. Its task is to cool the circuit by absorbing its heat and expelling it through the fans.
Joints or closures. Through the joints, we can close or open the circuit.

Therefore, this is how both liquid cooling kits work, but the question is, is it worth liquid cooling the processor?

To know the answer to this, we are going to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this system, comparing it to conventional air dissipation.

Advantages Of Cooling The Processor With Liquid Cooling

There are many benefits that we can obtain in the event that we want to cool the processor with water. We'll put them down for you.

Fewer Degrees

Currently, the system that allows the processor to be as cool as possible is liquid cooling. This is quite interesting because we will be able to extend the useful life of the component, simply by having it cooler than normal in the charging phases.

Is It Worth A Liquid Cooling Processor?

As a consequence of those fewer degrees, we have the possibility to do an extreme overclock and raise the processor to high frequencies. The main reason why users choose this system is for the cooling it produces for the processor.

We will be much calmer with a system of this type, especially when we use the PC for very hard tasks, such as rendering, etc.

Sound

Unlike an air cooler, the sound is practically zero, even when we have a more basic kit than normal. This is because we do not need a large fan that is working piecework, but the water practically cannot be heard circulating.

Likewise, in AIO systems we will not hear the fans at full speed, except in specific cases.

Not to mention that the PC gets a lot of integers, aesthetically speaking. This is because we can add RGB lighting to our kit, such as choosing the color of the fluids that we are going to use. Therefore, it facilitates the personalization of our computers.

Dimensions

On the other hand, we must bear in mind that we need to meet certain requirements to be able to use them in our boxes. First of all, we require a good box, which means more money. Why? For several reasons:

Ventilated upper. We're going to need a top grill to mount the radiator and fans on, so you'll need a box that has that.
Installation of pipes and tank. We will need space to install the tank and all the circuit tubes. There are configurations with up to two tanks, which require much more space. As a general rule, we will require an E-ATX form factor.

Maintenance

I am not going to say that it is very expensive, but it is very laborious. You have to change the fluids every 6 months (in the custom kits) and it is not something that is done in 5 minutes. Changing the thermal paste takes a lot of time, however, it is very cheap.

So, maintaining an AIO is much easier.

Conclusions

Liquid cooling is the one that offers the most performance in terms of overclocking. It has very interesting benefits, as well as disadvantages that make us reluctant to use it. With the above, it remains for you to ponder what is most worth it to you and conclude whether it is worth it or not.

We hope this article has been helpful to you.