Liquid coolers have overtaken air coolers as the primary mean of cooling the processor or other components of the computer. With the industry now leaning more and more towards liquid coolers, it is not a surprise that people coming into the PC gaming fray are interested in buying a liquid cooler for their build.
This is all fine and dandy but the problem arises when they see the term “AIO Liquid Cooler” being used to define liquid coolers. This can create confusion for the eventual buyer and raise the question, What is AIO? In this article, we are here to explain this term that is associated with a liquid CPU cooler.
What is an AIO Liquid Cooler?
The word “AIO” simply breaks down into all-in-one. In associated with liquid cooler it means all-in-one liquid coolers. These coolers have all the liquid cooling parts integrated into a single unit. As you know or would have seen in consumer products which utilize liquid cooling as a mean that this method of cooling consists of several parts that work in tandem to dissipate the heat via coolant.
The computers we use have a constrained size and space so using the liquid cooling parts separately leaves for inconvenience and issues. To solve this, manufacturers have come out with an AIO cooler. Since these coolers occupy less space and are easy to assemble and mount this makes the experience of the user hassle-free.
These coolers are custom-made for the processors they are made for so integrating them into your Pc build is not a problem. These do not require extra work and there is no tedious process involved. When mounted these coolers start fulfilling their purpose without having to fiddle with any settings so it can be said that these AIO coolers are plug and play right off the bat.
Breakdown of Different Parts of an AIO Cooler
An AIO cooler is made up of various parts fused together in a single package and these parts work in harmony to provide the CPU with liquid cooling. The main of the liquid cooler are as follows:
- Radiator: A radiator is a metal slab with fins in the centers. These fins allow the air to pass and use the air to cool the water gasket. A radiator is normally combined with fans. It depends on the manufacturers of the number of fans he chooses to use but typically the number is between 1 to 3.
- Water Block: As the name suggests this is the housing that has the liquid coolant which circulates the whole cooler to dissipate heat.
- Pump head: A pump is the mechanism that circulates the coolant or the water as it is referred to according to the common folk. Some manufacturers also house their Rgb lighting in the pump head to provide the cooler with more striking and flashy aesthetics.
- Tubing: These tubes which run from the water block to the pump carry the coolant around the cooler. Some manufacturers have sleeved tubing to give them some rigidity and reinforcement
- CPU Block: This is the part beneath the pump. It is mostly a copper slab machined to give a smooth surface. Other metals may also be used. This part makes the contact with the CPU and allows for the thermal transfer or dissipating between the cooler and the chip.
These are the main parts that constitute what is known as the AIO cooler. With all this technical breakdown and explanation, we hope that you have your query of what is AIO cooler. Before wrapping this up we would like to point that there may also be other parts in an AIO depending on the manufacturer but this is the general breakdown and without these parts, a cooler cannot be an AIO.
