if one doesn't need up to 250W CPU cooling performance. This 'top-blow/blow down' stuff has other benefits, though, since more airstream is reaching the VRMs and the RAM. (usually, sometimes not, as it depends on layout of the board)
edit: I know there are many, many otheres, comparable, maybe better, or even more cheap. I've chosen this because I'm just a happy customer with their PSU and cooler stuff which is something I'm unwilling to scrooge on. Also I can reach them in person by bicycle, bus, whatever, if need arises.
Anyways, there are silent and powerful aircoolers available, which not only cool the CPU, but also other important parts in compact builds.
Furthermore it seems that watercooling makes real sense only with room for 3 fans of => 120mm on the radiator, everything below seems to be a waste/physical nonsense.
It's not a waste from an aesthetic perspective. Some people treat their builds like a functional art piece and don't want that giant hunk of metal in the middle of their case. A water cooled setup moves the bulk of the cooler to the edge of the case.
For some that may be the case, for others not. For me it would probably a distraction. Taste varies :-)
What I would understand were if it had some function, like varying the colors and slowly pulsing, or brightness according to temperature and various loads, split into where it's making sense.
Does this exist? Am I so out of the loop that I'm unaware of it? The only thing I've seen so far was changing color according to fan speed. Otherwise only decoupled cycling of color-patterns.
Anyway, I prefer black/grey/silver and otherwise featureless
monoliths for now ;->
OTOH hardware support seems to be wonky, because all proprietary, has to be reverse engineered, may sometimes brick your device, or isn't exposed at all under Linux (AMD-GPU).
[1] https://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/3351
or the smaller
[2] https://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/1074
if one doesn't need up to 250W CPU cooling performance. This 'top-blow/blow down' stuff has other benefits, though, since more airstream is reaching the VRMs and the RAM. (usually, sometimes not, as it depends on layout of the board)
edit: I know there are many, many otheres, comparable, maybe better, or even more cheap. I've chosen this because I'm just a happy customer with their PSU and cooler stuff which is something I'm unwilling to scrooge on. Also I can reach them in person by bicycle, bus, whatever, if need arises.
Anyways, there are silent and powerful aircoolers available, which not only cool the CPU, but also other important parts in compact builds.
Furthermore it seems that watercooling makes real sense only with room for 3 fans of => 120mm on the radiator, everything below seems to be a waste/physical nonsense.