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Liquid-cooled gaming PCs are aimed at gamers who don’t want to compromise with their gaming experience.
These PCs are built to cater to high-intensive computing tasks and sustain long hours of usage, without breaking a sweat.
Liquid-cooled gaming is expensive. Very expensive. But the price tags are coming down. Just why we’ve sat down for this post.
We bring you some of the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs along with everything bit of related data you need for a clearer picture.
We’ll also list the different components that are unique to a liquid-cooled system and how they contribute towards elevating overall gaming performance. For the rest, read on!
Why Do You Need a Liquid Cooled Gaming PC?
From a thermodynamics point of view, liquids can dissipate heat more easily and effectively than gasses.
Hence, when you have a liquid-cooled PC, the coolant can pick up more heat from the CPU and dissipate it through the radiator.
Because of this effective heat dissipation, it provides you with a ton of advantages for round-the-clock gaming.
Maximum Gaming Performance
When you are playing a high FPS video game at high resolution, it demands a lot of processing power from your CPU and GPU.
Such high-intensity computing puts a lot of strain and can cause your system to heat up pretty fast. If the heat exchange is not optimal, under heavy usage, your PC can shut down automatically and can even damage your hardware components.
So, if you are a serious gamer and want a future-proof rig, you should get your hands on a decent water-cooled gaming PC.
As you can see from the image above, a liquid-cooled machine is at least 20 degrees cooler and lets you play higher FPS games with a similar configuration.
Less Noise
If you own an air-cooled conventional gaming PC or laptop, even with an exotic configuration, it can sound like a Tardis when playing games like Cyberpunk 2077.
But with liquid cooling, your overall rig temperature won’t shoot up, which will allow the fans to work at low RPM. Liquid cooling reduces noise by 33% compared to traditional air-cooled systems.
Low Operating Temperatures
Liquid-cooled systems run the coolant effectively over the heat sinks of GPU and CPU. This helps in the fast dissipation of heat and keeps your processor temperature down even when you are playing processor-intensive gameplays.
What Makes a Liquid-Cooled Gaming PC?
If you lack any of these, know that you’re still some way off a proper liquid-cooled gaming PC. Viz. –
Liquid Reservoirs
Every liquid-cooled PC comes with a high-quality glass cylinder for storing the coolant. You can go for a clear coolant or choose from a colored option.
Colored coolants look amazing for your gaming rig while keeping your system cool and safe for intense gaming. But they will not come cheap!
But these liquid reservoirs can be refilled quickly and don’t require much upkeep. If you get bored with the color of your coolant, you can switch it on your own. Check out this guide that details how you can replace your coolant.
Acrylic/ Metal Tubing
Custom acrylic or metal tubing are the pathways to transfer your coolant from the reservoir to the heat exchanger. These are designed for providing an optimized cooling solution.
As a rule of thumb, you should choose the tubing color/ type so that it can display the flow of coolant through the system. These tubings are precisely measured and should be properly installed to avoid any leakages and add to the overall aesthetics of your liquid-cooled gaming rig.
RGB lighting
RGB lighting is used as a source of illumination. Generally, these RGB lightings are configurable and can be adjusted by the user. You can even set it to change color with a certain transition pattern.
Most liquid-cooled solutions provide various RGB lighting options, ranging from basic LED lighting to complex high-end configurations.
However, as these RGB lightings are only significant from an aesthetics standpoint, adding such a configuration will impact the price of your build.
Mono/ RGB Fans
While customizing your rig you can choose the number of fans you want, their RPM, and even the type of lighting.
The higher the number of fans the more effectively your system will expel heat. But it will also eat up a lot of power and whirr along.
You can choose a single-color lighting option for your fans or opt for customizable RGB lighting. You can control the color of the light you want for RGB fans.
Custom Wiring
Custom wirings of different colors and textures are used so that your whole rig adheres to a color scheme.
These custom wirings are properly threaded and insulated to avoid any electrical discharge and preserve the integrity of your rig.
These wirings are used for connecting all the components in your system and to maintain a uniform color schema.
By now, you have the basics covered. Let’s merge them all together and dive straight into the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs you can buy today.
5 Best Liquid-Cooled Gaming PC in 2024
1. Hyper Liquid Alloy Core
Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core Processor i9-11900KF |
| Graphics Card | GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 |
| RAM | 16GB ADATA XPG Z1 3200MHz RAM |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE Z590 UD AC ATX Motherboard |
| Primary Hard Drive | 1TB WD Blue SN550 M.2 PCIe SSD |
| Secondary Hard Drive | 2TB SATA3 7200 RPM HD |
| Gaming Case | LIAN LI PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Gaming Case |
The Hyper Liquid Alloy Core is one of the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs. With this configuration, you can play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at 1080p resolution at 155 FPS while Cyberpunk 2077 can be played at 80 FPS while being rendered at 1080p.
The CPU cabinet is made of tempered glass and comes in black and white variants. It is powered by an Intel Core i9 processor with a 16MB cache for glitch-free gameplay. It is equipped with a CPU overclocking unit and Pure clear Hydro Water cooling for proper heat sinking.
Its 12GB GeForce RTX graphics card would ensure you can play all the upcoming video games in high resolution at optimum FPS, while its cooling kit and thermal exchange units keep the graphics card, RAM, and CPU cool.
Supported Customizations
- RGB fans are not included, and the default fan doesn’t have any illumination feature. However, you can choose from their fan catalog and choose the right fan for your unit.
- Comes with a Venom Pro Overclocking unit. For a few extra bucks, you can switch it with an Extreme or Ultimate Overclocking unit.
- If you want more GPU power, you can go for 32GB or 64GB RAM options and opt for a liquid-cooled video card. However, such an advanced selection might push the overall price of your rig through the roof.
Intrigued?
Check out other customization options and the component prices of one of the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs.
2. Hyper Liquid Alloy Elite
Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core Processor i9-11900KF |
| Graphics Card | GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X |
| RAM | 16GB ADATA XPG Z1 3200MHz RAM |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z590-C/ac ATX Motherboard |
| Primary Hard Drive | 1TB MSI SPATIUM M370 PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Secondary Hard Drive | 3TB SATA3 64MB HD |
| Gaming Case | LIAN LI PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Gaming Case |
The Hyper Liquid Alloy Elite from CyberPowerPC has the perfect hardware combination that will let you play the latest releases at high resolution and high FPS rendering. With their stock configuration, you can play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 1080p at 260 FPS.
The CPU has dual chambers with a tempered glass cover for a sleek sharp look. Revel at what’s on the display and from where all that’s coming from at the same time.
It is equipped with Venom Pro Overclock (which you can customize) allowing you to make the most of your CPU.
It is a water-cooled gaming PC and comes with a 240mm radiator block.
Supported Customizations
- You can customize the CPU cabinet, gaming case, and gaming PC liquid cooling apparatus.
- The stock version of this Alloy series comes with the default face case however you can switch it with single-colored or RGB fans.
- You can switch the Intel i9 processor with an i5 or i7 variant
- The default coolant is clear, but you can choose different coolant colors for a few extra dollars.
- You can cherry-pick the right motherboard, RAM, and graphic card to build a PC that stays true to your unique gaming requirements.
3. Hyper Liquid Xtreme
Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core Processor i9-10900X |
| Graphics Card | MSI GeForce RTX 3080 VENTUS 3x OC |
| RAM | 32GB ADATA XPG Z1 3200MHz RAM |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE GA-X299 UD4 Pro |
| Primary Hard Drive | 1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe SSD |
| Secondary Hard Drive | 3TB SATA3 64MB HD |
| Gaming Case | LIAN LI PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Mid-Tower Dual chamber Gaming Case |
The Hyper Liquid Xtreme would push your gaming experience to a new dimension. Its stock configuration would allow you to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and similar games at 1080p while averaging around 255 FPS.
With such a high frame rate, you would be able to visualize the tiniest of details rendered by the gaming engine.
It is powered by the Venom Extreme overclocking unit that will allow you to exploit 20% extra GPU on top of its factory settings. It is powered by 32GB of RAM from 4 slots while the 360mm Radiator and cooling units ensure effective heat dissipation.
One cool thing about this unit is it comes with 1 year of hardware warranty and provides 3 years of free services.
Supported Customizations
- Even though it comes with three 120mm RGB fan units, you can still upgrade to 6 fans for a few extra dollars.
- A video capture card is not included in this unit which you can add as an add-on.
- If you want to take the oomph factor of this rig to a whole new level, you can go for professional connector cables in the color of your choice.
Check out their pricing options and detailed customization options on their website.
4. Hyper Liquid Black Mamba
Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core Processor i9-10980XE |
| Graphics Card | MSI GeForce RTX 3080 VENTUS 3x OC 10GB Water Block |
| RAM | 32GB ADATA XPG Z1 3200MHz RAM |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE GA-X299 UD4 Pro Mainboard |
| Primary Hard Drive | 1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe SSD |
| Secondary Hard Drive | 4TB SATA3 7200 RPM HD |
| Gaming Case | LIAN LI PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Gaming Case |
The Hyper Liquid Black Mamba is one of the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs from the stables of CyberPowerPC.
You won’t be leaving any stones unturned when you go for this professional gaming rig.
It is equipped with three 120mm addressable RGB fan units for efficient heat dissipation, while the see-through tempered glass case lets you witness the finer details of your hardware in action.
The Venom Ultimate overclocking unit lets you push your machine to its limit, 30% overclock, and more!
Supported Customization
Honestly, you won’t be needing any special add-ons with this gaming PC. However,
- You can go for extra fan units with high RPM options.
- You can switch the transparent coolant with colored variants to turn more heads.
- Switch secondary mechanical hard drive with a faster SSD variant.
5. Vanquish 295
Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| Processor | Ryzen 9 5950X |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA RTX 3090 |
| RAM | 64GB GSKILL RGB 3200MHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS Prime X570 Pro |
| Primary Hard Drive | 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus |
| Secondary Hard Drive | 4TB Seagate Barracuda |
| Gaming Case | Lian-Li PC-011D |
EKFluidGaming is best at building custom liquid-cooled gaming pc. and the Vanquish 295 is one of the best in their arsenal. This water-cooled gaming PC will allow you to play Fortnight in 4K at 255 FPS.
Thanks to the NVIDIA 3090 with 64GB RAM, fitted with a custom EK D-RGB water block, you can get maximum performance at minimal temperatures.
This PC can be used for extreme gaming and even for 3D designing, graphic designing, and streaming purposes.
Its Custom Braided 8/24 PIN PSU cables ensure proper connectivity with the least impedance and noise. Everything else that you get inside is top-of-the-line.
Supported Customizations
- You can customize The EK Fluid Gaming 295 Vanquish to match your range of vibrant colors and dynamic lighting effects.
- You can also change the clear coolant with an EK Dye pack of a primary color of your choice.
Worth adding, though, apart from coolant and connecting cables, no other hardware modifications can be made.
Conclusion
- Water-cooled gaming PCs are way better at dissipating heat than their air-cooled counterparts.
- Liquid-cooled PCs are completely customizable, and you can cherry-pick almost every CPU hardware component to meet your requirements and even budget.
- Liquid-cooled gaming PCs are priced way higher than gaming laptops or air-cooled gaming PCs.
- Liquid-cooled systems are configurable and can be customized extensively. As most of the components are assembled, you can keep upgrading parts of your PC thus making it future-proof.
FAQs
Yes. The latest video games demand a lot of graphics processing power. While meeting such demands, the GPU and processor generate a lot of heat, which limits your PC’s performance. Thus, with proper liquid cooling and an Overclocking unit, you can extract the most from your gaming PC.
Yes, liquid-cooled computers need more upkeep than air-cooled variants. Depending on your usage and the type of video games you play, you must clean your rig and replace the coolant every 6 months or once every year. Before you disassembling your system, you can just review their instruction manual and servicing guide to avoid any issues.
Depending on the hardware components and other aesthetic add-ons you choose, a liquid-cooled gaming PC would cost you anywhere between $1000 to $6000.
It has a lot more components than conventional air-cooled systems. A liquid-cooled system requires a radiator, coolant, fans, and tubing for dissipating heat.
You can look at the Hyper Liquid Black Mamba, popularly rated by gamers, users, and experts alike as one of the best liquid-cooled gaming PCs around, especially considering the price-to-performance on offer.
