Benefits of Liquid Cooling in PC: Should you get it?

People hear it everywhere: “You should get liquid cooling into your PC” or “You still use air cooling?” It might be better, yes. But why does nobody bother telling you about the benefits of liquid cooling in a PC? Don’t worry, we have your back, as we aim to explain the whole thing to you here.

But before we start with the benefits of liquid cooling in a PC, we should first explain the mechanism behind liquid cooling.

How Does Liquid Cooling in a PC Work?

Liquid cooling depends on liquid as a medium to dissipate heat. A block is installed above the heat source, be it a CPU or a GPU, and transfers the heat to the liquid it receives from the pump, which acts like the heart of the cooling system.

The pump pushes the liquid back to the radiator, which contains three fans to cool down the liquid. Again, the liquid returns to the block to absorb the heat, and the whole process works in a loop until you turn off your PC.

Types of liquid cooling in a PC

All-in-One (closed-loop) and open-loop systems are the only two types of liquid cooling in PC systems. The AIO is made of a block that contains the pump above it, pumps the liquid between the radiator and the block, and the coolant is kept from your hands and eyes in that loop.

Open-loop systems can connect to more than one piece, mostly GPUs, CPUs, and VRMs on the motherboard.

The coolant is placed in a reservoir, mostly transparent like the pipes, and it moves by the help of a pump that is located separately in the case. The whole process is visible, and every piece of that loop is sold separately for a higher cost, but it provides better thermal performance overall.

Benefits of Liquid Cooling in a PC

Liquid cooling in a PC provides better performance compared to air coolers, which are made of only a heatsink and a fan to cool your CPU. There are a lot of benefits you can get, and not only the performance. 

Better performance compared to air coolers

Liquid, which is not water as many assume, transfers heat energy faster than air. This is the main reason these coolers provide better performance, and even at idle state, they transfer heat better than air coolers in this space.

Add this to the fact that the radiator, the part holding the fans together, has a larger surface area and many fans working together. This is a contributing factor to the overall performance, whether on balanced, idle, or maximum load states.

Less noise to your ears

If you appreciate silence and peace, liquid coolers are way better for you. The fans attached to the radiator rotate slower than air coolers, and they are made of better material, that is bearing and fan blades with better aerodynamics, which makes them quieter as they work.

Another advantage is working dynamically. Most air coolers, especially budget ones, work at a static speed, no matter the performance. Even the ones that are dynamic don’t provide the best differentials according to performance, unlike liquid coolers that work dynamically according to the effort required to cool the PC part.

Headroom for performance

Thermal throttling is one of the most common problems for PC users. The higher the heat, the lower the performance. This happens when the CPU lowers the clocks, preventing the chip from overheating, and eventually causing a sudden death that you don’t want to afford.

When the cooling performance improves, there is room to put pressure on the CPU. You’ll get the highest clocks possible from your CPU, resulting in higher performance with the lowest temperatures possible.

Better design if you care about looks

Let’s be honest, all liquid coolers look better than the air ones. Air coolers are basically a piece of metal with a fan attached to it, and you might get a touch of RGB with that. There are no other options for you.

Liquid coolers are a state of the art. You can get one with a small LCD monitor on the block, and if you don’t, you’ll get a good design on top of it with a touch of RGB.

The fans, too, will get the same RGB treatment in most cases, and you can even install other fans if you are willing to get a better design. You can customize your own pattern and sync it with other pieces of hardware too.

Many variations to pick from

There is a big problem when it comes to sizes for air coolers. If you need a better one, you’ll need more space in the case you have, and most of the time you’ll find models that can take two fans, relatively weak compared to ones in AIO, to cool your PC.

Liquid coolers come in many sizes, variations, and designs. You’ll always find a suitable cooler for your CPU and case, from 120mm to 360mm coolers; there is always an option, even with 140mm fans.

Should you get a liquid cooler?

Short answer is yes, but under these conditions:

• You don’t mind paying almost double the price of an air cooler.
• You own a Ryzen 7/Core i7 CPU.
• You are willing to overclock your CPU.
• You game on high resolutions, or create content that needs rendering most of the time.
• You care about having a good-looking cooler.

Of course, we have a great collection of AIO coolers coming from the best manufactures in the market, and if you want a custom open loop, feel free to check the options we have in our builds.