The computer world continues to run for many at a speed they cannot keep up with. To this we must add the increase in prices and we have a cocktail where the vast majority hold their hardware until it breaks or is worth the outlay. If we refer specifically to users who have 120mm AIO liquid coolers, then we are at an even more complicated crossroads, why are they no longer used? Are they worth changing or maintaining?
It is a dilemma where many are currently due to the boom that 120 mm AIOs had a few years ago. Systems that logically have their advantages and that now, although they continue to be sold, have entered a completely different dynamic.
Is a 120mm AIO worth upgrading or is it better to keep it and hang on?
If the world of processors and graphics cards advances at a high speed, the world of refrigeration advances in infinitely smaller steps. The improvements are counted on the fingers of one hand and starting a degree in water is on average the improvement that we can find, at most, between a TOP model from a few years ago and a new one.
But time passes, users choose to change PCs and try to take advantage of parts of the old one, where HDDs and cooling systems , as well as chassis possibly take the cake in this type of change.
A 120mm AIO is more of a problem than a solution. If it is certain years old and even if it is thoroughly cleaned, the permeability of the materials was not as good as the current one, which ensures a certain loss of liquid and a lower hair performance. If we add to this that no matter how much the TDP of the current processors of Intel and AMD say, the temperatures have escalated in these, because we have the perfect cocktail to think that that system either we keep it or we sell it second hand.
It is better to opt for an updated, more modern, more optimized and surely quieter system than maintaining a 120mm AIO, which, even if it does its job, is going to cost much more to cool a current CPU than a previous one.
Sink or larger AIO?
You could only opt to keep or buy a 120mm (current) AIO if the TDP to be cooled is really low, less than 65 watts. Make no mistake, the TDP number from the processors marks the PL1 status, but this will actually continuously oscillate with the PL2 and trigger the temperature.
So the problem ranges from choosing a heatsink to a 240mm AIO if we intend to cool 65 watts or more. A decision that needs a specific and well-argued article that we will deal with later, since the great variety of current products cannot be summarized with one of the two options as a resounding answer, but rather the opposite.
You need to be specific and try to explain where we can get more out of one system or another. In any case and going back to the main topic, due to the price that certain mid-range heatsinks have compared to what a 120 mm AIO costs, the first option is preferable to the second, especially in prestigious heatsinks.
