They are and its a scientific fact.
With that said there are good and bad AIOs. There are Good and Bad air coolers too. The Best Air coolers will NEVER come close to the Best AIO. But a top of the line Noctua Air Cooler will beat or be on par with a Budget AIO. Just like the top of the line AIO cant beat a closed loop PC. Basically the Best Air cooler vs the Best AIO? The AIO will hands down cool better because its liquid Cooling your CPU.
AIOs are the middle ground between Air Coolers and Closed Loop water Cooled PCs.
The BEST performing AIO on the Market right now is the ASUS ROG Ryujin III which has a Asetek 8th gen Pump and EK-Nucleus. Neither is cheap but you get what you pay for. Just Behind those 2 is the Arctic Liquid Freezer III.
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Keep dog and cats away from the pc fans.
I also have 3 front intake unrelated to the radiator. See the photo.
It’s not a myth as you say, it makes a difference even if small.
In my scenario, my cpu is the one most limited by thermals as it’s a ridiculously high power chip. Vrm thermals and VRAM have not been affected.
But even as set up there are times during a go pro video render that takes longer than a couple of minutes where my CPU has bounced close to tjmax, so giving it the best conditions possible is kind of important.
My gpu on the other hand is a 200w part, it is not going to suffer much, and has never peaked above 72c or so.
And the reality is my GPU is never going to compete with cPU for thermals because most games never tax cpu heavily. And when I’m doing a heavy CPU task, my GPU is just idling anyway.
Again, this is why my first statement was I wish I didn’t go Intel.
“best” really depends on a lot of factors.
An ID Cooling tower air cooler in a lower power application (5700x3d, etc) can be the best solution because it will get the job done, is easy to setup, reliable, and costs like $25
Meanwhile an expensive aio or full custom isn’t the best option because it gets zero benefit in performance, just very high cost
Understood. intel needs every bit of cooling it can get! I started on a 13900k. I gave the intel build to my brother for his birthday and built myself an identical 7950x3D build. Yes on the 7950x3D I am using Process Lasso.
As for not front mounting? Im a 4k OLED gamer. Im on a RTX 4090 the LAST THING that thing needs is more heat! So I would NOT want front mount pulling more heat across that GPU unless I had a MASSIVE bottom intake.
Why did I swap from intel to Am5? I took advantage of temporarily having both platforms and did some extensive FPS test in all the games I play with both rigs side by side. I said if I didnt like the AMD platform id return it for another 13900k. Even at 4k resolution every game had better FPS on the 7950x3D and wow had MUCH better 1% lows on the 7950x3D
Back in DF I used my brothers account and had both toons in the same spot at the same time in Valdraken @4k Resolution Max settings. Two identical rigs except for the CPU platform.
13900k
https://i.imgur.com/lKW2ci7.jpg
7950x3D
https://i.imgur.com/lXaRYXC.png
Crazy even @4k that FPS difference and 1% low difference eh?
Pictures of Rigs. I used Purple Lighting just like you 
The 13900k Build
https://i.imgur.com/oDTMlvE.jpg
7950x3D Build
https://i.imgur.com/0GtoyK5.jpg
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I may end up doing the same once the 9kx3d series launches…my son won’t complain about a 13700k
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Smart Move. If the 9950x3D has X3D die on BOTH CCDs? Im buying it hands down
Probably too much cpu for me. If I’m being honest a 6 core X3D chips would probably serve me fine.
But 9800x3d would be perfect for gaming and when I edit my fishing videos lol
and not be a Microcenter exclusive
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i love ur brain bro n wonder sometimes how u fit it in here, i’m just glad u come and share your knowledge n experiences wif stuff.
i appreciate all u guys, eryet you too
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I recently built a gaming PC for my kid. A 5700x3d on some Asus b-550 based motherboard.
Used a silent assassin air cooler. Works fantastic. It doesn’t get hot.
For a low TDP processor a $30ish air cooler is more than adequate.
If I was building an i9 14900k intel rig, then I’d probably use an AIO cooler.
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cool dad! I award u a piggeh
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