Counterpoint: why liquid cooling is a horrible idea

Let’s have a chat about that prodigal son of the custom PC world. Yes, I’m talking about liquid cooling. In particular, why it’s not nice. I know that’s going to sound ridiculous, especially given how in-depth our feature on it is in this very issue, but man is it frustrating at times.

Over the last five years, I’ve had the pleasure of building somewhere close to 60 separate PCs. 12 of those have come with varying forms of liquid cooling, not including AIO builds. So I’ve toyed with everything in this niche hobby of a hobby. Alas, this gives me some serious perspective as to why liquid-cooling sucks. So let’s break it down.

01 The cost

First and foremost, the biggest hurdle any would-be liquid cooler has to get past is the expense. The problem is, if you’re committed to your liquid-cooling aspirations