I replaced my 240 mm AIO with a $130 air cooler

Ever since I built my first gaming PC, looked at the underperforming Intel stock CPU cooler, and realized I needed to buy yet another component, I've been using AIO liquid coolers of one size or another. At the time, it was a Corsair 240 mm AIO, as there weren't many options. That actually didn't fit my motherboard properly, so I got a Swiftech model, and to cut a long story short, it leaked. Not once, not thrice, but four times, leading them to send me a completely different model to replace it.

I'd had enough at this point, and I didn't even take the replacement 240 mm AIO out of the box. I fired up a browser, did some searching, and splurged a little on the best-performing (and most expensive) air cooler of the time. The venerable Noctua NH-D15 was soon mine, soon installed on my CPU, and soon kicking the butt of the thermal performance of the outgoing AIO.

Oh, and it was quieter, too. They never tell you that AIO coolers can be pretty noisy between the pump and the bundled fans, but they are. Anyway, I don't regret a second of that decision, and nearly a decade later, I'm still using the same Noctua cooler on one of my PCs.

I'd had enough of the issues

From fluid evaporation to leaks and noisy fans, enough is enough

Those AIO coolers I mentioned aren't the only ones I've used. Every model I've used has had problems or irritations. Some had awkward installation processes, some leaked, and some seemingly didn't have any coolant inside the tubes. These are not the hallmarks of the best CPU coolers to me, and they shouldn't be to anyone. Especially not when most AIO coolers are substantially more expensive than air coolers, and often don't perform as well.

I've had AIO coolers that don't respect the "keep out" zone on motherboard specifications, so you could only put RAM modules in the outer three slots because the inner slot was blocked by the AIO tubes. Ones that had the mounting hardware snap while using my fingers to tighten them. Ones that were badly designed left a gap between the coldplate and the CPU on certain motherboards with thinner PCBs.

There were ones that boiled dry, leaked after a while, and leaked straight away. There were coolers with fans that the bearing died within hours, and some with such weak fans that I couldn't tell there was any airflow. I'm not going to name and shame, really, because for every AIO I purchased, there were probably a thousand happy users without problems. But for me, I will stick with dependable air coolers on the systems I need 100% uptime on.

And I don't notice any drop in cooling performance

The right air cooler can work just as well as an AIO liquid cooler

The Noctua NH-D15 is still one of the best CPU coolers you can get, even this far after its initial launch. In that time, a Redux version with black fans and coating released, and a second version came out not long ago. I don't feel the need for either of those, because the OG is still going strong, nearly a dozen builds later.

Possibly more than a dozen, as it was the cooler on my test bench for many years, and that's where it is currently. I've tested it against 240mm AIOs, where it beat them soundly, and even against 360mm AIOs, and full custom watercooling with multiple 360mm radiators and a larger pump, and it beat that too. I've used dozens of types of thermal paste, liquid metal, and graphite pads, and they all perform within a couple of degrees of each other. And it's easy to install and uninstall, although the fins are sharp enough to take off knuckle skin when you're rushing and not paying attention.

I miss the looks, but I don't miss the annoyances

I do have a soft spot for aesthetic choices, and I can't deny that AIO coolers scratch that itch if it's the right model on the right motherboard. It's even easier nowadays because all the cables are tucked away under the sleeving on the tubes, and you only really have one or two cables to deal with that can all be managed out of sight. But even with that change, I don't miss the irritations. I'm sensitive to some frequencies, and AIO pumps are in one of the ranges. So are the cheap 120mm fans bundled with the coolers, but the 140mm/150mm fans that Noctua sends with the NH-D15 are barely a whisper in the air for me. I also don't miss some of the mounting solutions, especially the ones that use clips on AMD sockets. I'll quite happily use my air cooler until the fans wear out, then I'll buy new fans and keep using it after that.