Buy a nice-looking case WITHOUT a window, and then you'll quickly find you stop caring about what the guts look like.

The last thing I want is my system looking like a 70s disco. I'm quite happy having a decent performing system in a simple black box. It works and pushes the frames oh so well. I know that's not for everyone but since the P in PC stands for Personal, that's how everyone's PC should be: Personal.

For me, personally, function is absolutely more important. However, form is important to a point. If you have an eye sore of a pc that ruins a space, that will absolutely affect your mood and how you feel in your space

I want form AND function. However, I prefer air cooling. Fewer points of failure and they can look just as good.

The trick to watercooling function is hooking your fancy new upgrade into the same custom loop you overbuilt for older parts.

My daughter and I have to agree with those two commenters. She has an i5 and a 3060 really wanted a hardline loop with pastel pink collant. Her 1% lows in MINECRAFT were perfectly fine and she was interested in ray tracing for 20 minutes so for Christmas I didn’t go out and buy a new cpu or gpu. I bought Bykski and barrow waterblocks and fittings and she couldn’t be happier. I think what’s important is not frames per second but smiles per dollar and saying otherwise is borderline gatekeeping.

Custom watercooling speaks to the creative part of me who is also into engineering. That's why I got custom cnc parts to build a watercooled pc inside my antique desk with a ghost in the shell theme 😁 also features 3080ti and 5800x, which was pretty high end at the time.

I will usually focus on function, but form still matters. I also think you definitely end up with tiers of gaming PCs, 1080p, 1440p, 4k gaming, and you typically need to have similarly powered CPU, GPU, and monitor to jump between tiers. If someone say couldn't afford $600 to go from 1440p to 4K setup, but could afford $50 to get the RGB version of the fans they want, that seems like a perfectly reasonable investment into aesthetics if they care about it looking good.

Been building electronics for over 40 years, (71 now) it's a choice, air cooling is easy and better for longevity, aio's are now really cheap, so personal choice. Custom hardline is a personal choice in terms of aesthetics, it's just a cost decision.

I definitely prefer function over form, but there are lots of reasons to get into PC building and liking form is a perfectly valid reason. The PC building community is better with more people in it, and it's better to be inclusive than exclusive, so I'm definitely not going to gatekeep. Build what you like, it's your computer! That's the beauty of DIY.

My pc is an aesthetic statement, something I bring to life through my own creativity. Having good hardware is fine and dandy but i wanna make it *mine* on top of that. If you spend just a little more time searching for the right deals and parts, maybe even partake in a little modding, you can create something never seen before. For example, I decided to go with a silver/white build with gold rgb and an angel theme, creating wing sculptures inside the case to guide the fan airflow

I'm an old-school gamer from the early '90s, and I've always disliked the lighting on gaming hardware. The only light I want to see comes from the display. If I can buy hardware without lighting, I will choose it. Unfortunately, lighting has become a standard feature, making it almost unavoidable. In the past, I could at least select a case that fully enclosed and hid the illumination. Unfortunately, many cases now have glass sides that fully expose the internals. So, they're forcing me to deal with the lighting. My solution is to place the computer under the desk where I can't see any lighting.

Wild how nobody seems to know what a HOBBY is anymore. For sure if you dont like "things" and just want your Toyota Corolla/Prius it gets me from A-Z experience in a pc, then yeah, beige box with the best guts inside you can afford is the path for you. Some people are enthusiasts or hobbyists and like the things they have to be nice, personalized, etc etc. When ot comes to hobbies, rationality SHOULD ho out the window. That's what makes it fun. I'm not into hydrolic lowriders but i appreciate the passion that went into building them.

I water cooled my 10900K/3080 system. The system was air cooled for a while and then I decided to water cool it. I even went and did direct die cooling on the 10900K. Since there is nothing wrong with the 10900K and 3080 and because the system was built a couple years ago I didn't really have a problem water cooling it. The cost of the tubing, fittings, pump res, and rads wasn't going to get me a brand new system. I really enjoyed the process and taking everything apart and planning out my loop. Though I will say, having an open loop can make troubleshooting issues a bigger PITA. System is a lot quieter now though, will probably do it whenever I upgrade.

Thanks, Paul, for the response! It's one of my favorite builds from you! I agree with you about form over function. I prefer function over form. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the customization and personalization of a rig because that's what makes each build unique, but I would rather spend the extra cost on functionality over aesthetics. It also comes down to the user's preferences and intentions for the rig. When I build for my clients I ask them if they want some sort of theme associated with the rig. Thanks again, and Cheers!

Function over from, always. Totally agree with Paul, always more beneficial to get better parts than spend on water-cooling, water-cooling should only be used on top tier parts. Also as someone who is poor, it takes years for me to save enough for a build, so there is no way I could even afford thinking about water-cooling.

"who cares how it looks?" well, them... and the not noticing the difference with the frame counter off i think is a valid point.

There are so many factors that it's hard to say with form vs function. I think that a thing a lot of people forget is that form can be function. Not to mention, sometimes it can be cheaper to water cool rather than go to the next tier. Then their is lifetime of the product. The build being quieter has value. The price delta between a 4080 and 4090 can almost pay for all custom water cooling parts needed to cool the system. Some custom water cooling parts last decades and can be reused in multiple builds. Fittings, radiators, and CPU waterblocks don't go bad unless there is corrosion. The problem is catch all advice is while on average it's good advice it doesn't take into account the individual details.

That's not even a question. Function. It's nice if it looks cool, but if it doesn't do what I want it to, it doesn't matter what it looks like.

Paul - I total agree about functionality over looks. I have been building my own PC's for 30 years now. I plan to make my ultimate PC build for gaming, but mostly for content creation, as a gift to myself going into retirement. I do not plan to buy a case which has any glass/plastic sides for display purposes, as I am only interested in how well it will perform for me and for proper air flow. And like you I am not interested in looking at my build and will just keep it in a place best suited for it for airflow and leaving me with as much desk space as possible for everything I need and for monitor placement. As far as AIO vs air-cooled goes: I want to use a aircooler for ease of installation and less maintenance. This may result in a slightly lower CPU, but with some of the high end aircoolers they can cool sufficiently for my purposes. Thanks for all you great video's.

I'm totally in the function over form camp. As someone older-school than even Paul and I hate flashy, RGB PCs. Give me a sleek black case with a solid side panel. I don't need to see the guts of the machine and the case is going to be under my desk anyway.

One minor point on form Vs function - be aware WHAT function it is. A gaming PC will have very different functional requirements to a file server, CAD work station, video editing machine, or monitoring pc on an oil rig

I was the recipient of that VertaGear chair! Thanks again, Paul, and the foam pad is still in good use! 👋

Agree to disagree to agree? I recently bought a 140mm AIO. I know it's probably not really going to give me better performance. But I have been working on an all white build. So, I've been spending about $30 more per component to get this look. The white AIO was a few dollars cheaper on sale than the two fan white cooler I was looking at, so I went for it. My temps seem to be steadier than what I had before. I could have had the same GPU for $30 dollars cheaper in black, but it's not what I was going for. But when I look at my build, I've very happy at the way it looks, even though it's more expensive. So, for me it's about what you want as an individual.

I've made both an Air Cooled "What I could afford at the time" while in college and a Water Cooled "What I could splash at the time" once I had a job with discretionary income PCs. I liked the simplicity and easy maintenance of the air cooled setup as I was one dude in a sea of other dudes home splitting rent and the place was constantly "dusty". The water cooled setup I have looks great in that I see more of the board I selected plus it has RGB, but it is higher maintenance now with pets and having needed to drain, somewhat clean, refill, a few times now over the many years. It's a minor inconvenience, so if I had to pick one over the other I would say: "meh, what's cheapest that gets the job done".

Air cooling can look good too. Minimalism in the context of aesthetics can be more pleasing than lights and loops of colored fluid. I have a Streacom DA6 which i consider form over function. Inside that frame i focus on function over form. That's just me and i never claimed to be sane.

@Paul's Hardware: If you read this. There are far more reasons for liquid/water cooling (sans RGB puke), such as maintaining stable temps, especially in a warmer climate. Air cooling has its place; water cooling is sometimes about something other than looking cool. In fact, function (heat efficiency - moving heat quickly away from hot components) and, say, keeping stable over blocks on lower-end hardware that will produce more heat when overclocked. I am an old-school water cooler since the mid-00s. I have custom looped every one of my builds, especially during the summer, only sometimes having AC (central or window), living in warm(er) climates, or such that lower noise levels. (I still use soft tubing as I don't care for rigid tubing. X-D) These are just a few reasons. So, just telling people NOT to water cool just because of $ the hardware level is selling the subject short and arguably in a biased (arguably uninformed/inexperienced) context. More expensive hardware (higher CPUs/GPUs) almost always guarantee more power draw = greater heat dump into the room. Upgrading hardware is not always the best choice. Again, I am not arguing the cool (appearance) factor, and I don't care for "the look" vs the efficiency of cooling for the the above reasons. Stable temps > RGB factor. Stable temps + overclocking. Quieter performance > Loud fans. While I agree that the RPG puke is obnoxious, I'll build a water-cooled PC over an air-cooled one almost daily. I suggest re-thing your perspective.

5:00 My computer is literally in the closet to keep it as far away from me as physically possible (don't worry, I have a thermostatic switch hooked up to recirculation fans so it doesn't suffocate). I couldn't care less if it looked cool, I literally never see it. It wasn't until recently I upgraded do a screen that does 144hz, before that only one of my screens did 60hz so perhaps if you are on an older, slower panel that doesn't have that high of a refresh rate the lower framerate doesn't bother you? 60fps was fine for me for a LOOOONG time because that was the most I could get anyways, it was perfectly "playable" for the games I played. Now that I can get better framerates I try keeping it over 100fps and can see how those used to higher framerates would not want to go back to a "mere 60fps", but for some people it just doesn't matter. I've also come to realize that some people don't "see" at as high a framerate as others. Like, some people actually don't see the difference between say 120fps and 240fps, which sounds bonkers to me but apparently its a thing, kind of like how the flicker of LED Christmas lights bugs some people but not others. If you are less sensitive to the flicker chances are you will care less about having a high framerate during games. If you have a lower res panel or literally can't see the difference maybe a lower tier graphics card makes sense?

Function is king, but the PC being quiet is functional and if the only way to achive that is watercooling then by all means. Personally I find watercooled rigs to be more noisy, but in different ways so I guess it depends what kind of ambient noise you're ok with. My aircooled rig basically never spins up the fans unless I'm playing games and when I'm playing games the sound of the game is overpowering the fans. If I'm playing a light game or browsing the PC is quiet.

I water cool for silence and silence only. Look and lower temperatures are just bonuses.

Function should always come first. It's about getting the most performance out of your budget. Form has its place, but personally, it should be at the bottom of the priority list - I'll be staring at a monitor, not the side-panel of the PC lol. Besides, once you're happy with your build, you can always add or replace stuff later - an AIO or a custom loop (even though I'd rather use air cooling, less points of failure), more fans, cable extensions to color match the build (or those RGB cable extensions that I still don't know why they exist lol), RGB strips, little screens inside the case, you name it. That's all stuff that can be added once the PC is up and running. Or buy a case with a solid side panel, or "how I learned to stop worrying and love the plain looks".

I was a 911 dispatcher for ten years. YOU DO NOT WANT THE HERMAN MILLER FOR NUMEROUS HOURS OF USE EACH DAY. Comm room had those chairs for 18 months after a remodel… that’s how long it took for people that are using the chair for anywhere from 8-16 hours a day to start having to call off work due to back pain from the lumbar through the upper back and into the shoulders pain. Management then spent 40k on true dispatch long duty chairs. Think racing chair with 6” memory foam. So if you’re truly looking for a long hour day chair for gaming or editing, you want something with memory foam and good lumbar support. The back should be full length and include a headrest. Your body needs a break throughout the day and being able to lean back and support your head, neck, and shoulders is a chiropractic savior.

13:45 My Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 is also an OLED with matte finish. Glossy finishes to increase contrast isn't really necessary for OLED because it inherently has a very high contrast ratio already.

I have a custom loop system and 100% agree with you, Paul. I installed a custom loop just because I could and wanted to, but was not needed at the time.

I built my computer to play games and do some hobbyist CAD stuff, not to look at it while I use it. I have some RGB on my RAM sticks, but it's only there because I got a good deal on the memory. I don't necessarily want my machine to be fugly - the case is a Fractal Meshify C and looks ok, but looks are a distant secondary factor for any machine I build.

Form over functionality this time - The Tower 100 Mini Chassis - Thermaltake. I picked it over the improved Tower 200, because I wanted the smaller footprint, for an ITX build (7800X3D + 7900 XTX). And something different, than the more classic case designs. And for the first time, since my 5820K build, I'm on air cooling again, over AIO. Thermalright SI-100 + I have installed 3 x 140mm fans in The Tower (Thermaltake CT140)

I'm literally in the "beige box" camp. I have a case from the early 2000s and I have everything I need - including a usb-c front panel that goes in a drive bay.

For me, Air almost always, if i would go water, I would go hard tubing. all these soft tube are a sore sight

Considering a good air cooler will often perform at least on par with a good AIO, function all the way. Easier to build, cheaper in many cases, and very little maintenance

Love these videos! Also, you are spot on with the Herman Miller Aeron chairs. I've been watching for one to show up for cheap on marketplace, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Those things are fantastic.

I'm with you on this Paul. Function over form.

I agree. I don't know if anyone else has said this (I've flicked through a few comments) but I think the line between form and function is this: Water cooling components come with an explicit 'performance' implication, whereas things like RGB lighting, a cool colour scheme etc, do not. They are cosmetic. When it comes to water cooling, these products are designed, and marketed, to increase performance. Can they look cool too? Sure. I think it's important to make it clear that form AND function are not mutually exclusive. I am 100% with you; if we accept that water cooling components exist first and foremost to increase performance, then spending the money on better components first seems more logical to me. But hey, as I said, they're not mutually exclusive, so despite there being that clear line of difference between the two, if you have the cash and you would rather have the water cooling component simply because it fits the aesthetic you're going for, then absolutely go for it. Building your own PC is personal, it's in the name! Build what makes you happy.

It would be interesting to have this function vs form discussion about SFF PCs. I'd love to build a SFF but they're more expensive - whether that's needing a new smaller PSU, MoBos being more expensive anyway, less flexibility with additional HDDs or PCIe cards, or maybe needing watercooling as a tower cooler won't fit in the case.

*Short version:* Honestly? I feel like the question, Form vs Function, is a bit misguided in the first place. I think it might be better to ask the specific reasons for going one way or the other rather than assuming it needs a balance or that function > form in general. Usually when I spec out builds for people I ask them what they want in the first place and go from there. I RARELY ask for budget as my first question because I feel like the whole minmaxing, bang for your buck PC advice lacks the nuance of addressing what people ACTUALLY want from their computers or if they'd be ok with something cheaper or different. I used to be someone that was all function over performance, and I do still absolutely prefer that to be clear ESPECIALLY for longevity, but I've had so much more success in friends being satisfied/happy when I give that a backseat compared to addressing the real reasons they want a PC. *VERY Long version:* Hoo boy, this always becomes a heated discussion online. I get the reasons why people go for function-first builds. I get the wanting to get the most for your money and realizing that looks are largely fad-based and temporary while performance will always be there until future technology requires more. I get not wanting your friends to be suckered into a RGB lightshow only to have awful parts inside for way too much money. As someone who is in poverty yet still loves PCs, I basically live out junkyard fantasies with most of my builds for myself and friends where junk computers, office computers, and restoring 10-year old parts is the norm while a basic RGB strip can sometimes be out of budget when that money could be better spent on food or barely scraping by on rent. I've built gaming rigs for friends that look and sound like junk but perform great for the price of a modern RGB AIO and I'm always happy to see when people can save money and focus on what, _emphasis quotes,_ *"really matters"* in terms of a gaming rig which is specifically performance. ...That is, I always felt that way until a friend of mine got a 3090 and 11900k system while only gaming at 1080p and hated how their computer sounded, how hot it ran, how it looked, and overall was just having a worse time with life despite getting an AMAZING deal on the whole package. They were encouraged to get it because of the deal they got but, given their relatively low requirements, they really preferred something quieter and wanted something that looked really nice on their desk. It's the same deal with people who purposefully pay the SFF tax because they genuinely see more value in having a computer that looks good or is portable rather than have something larger, cheaper, and _far_ easier to build in. It's made me really start to question suggestions I gave in the past where people seemed to be a bit disappointed in their build overall despite having the "objectively" best decisions for their budget and performance needs. I feel like the community as a whole needs to take a bit of a step back and reflect on what they actually want when it comes to computers. I get that there's a lot of people who really love the numbers and it becomes the sole focus, but at the same time I feel like there's a bit of a philistine-like focus on pragmatism and function while ignoring what _actually_ makes them happy about using a computer. I feel like it's an interesting inversion of so many comments that say "Well I don't care if my PC is ugly because I can put it under my desk!" when you could very easily clap back with asking if they're using 100% of their GPU all the time when they're playing low-impact games or, like in the case of my friend, _ever_ actually using 100% of their computer's potential. There's this idea that looks "distract" from people getting the performance they really desire, but have we ever thought about working backwards from that? What if the focus on performance has been distracting us from getting a "good enough" PC that we can actually make into an art piece that represents us? How many case modders and painters and artists have we missed out on because the enthusiast community has focused so much on performance for the last 20 or so years? To be clear, I'm not justifying massively overcharging people for incredibly basic stuff like RGB lighting or a window on everything, but at the same time would it be necessarily a bad thing if we started embracing how COOL hardware can be sometimes? I've seen 3d printed cases with ducts that look like some kind of 70s futuristic monolith. I've seen artists go WILD with airbrushing their cases and coming up with really fascinating textures and colors to the point where it looks like from an alternative future to ours. I've even seen this one project, which I annoyingly can't find the name of, that uses fiber optic cables combined with lightbars to create this crystal-like pc case that I've wanted so badly ever since. NONE of these PCs had top of the line parts but if someone just wanted a good 1440p gaming rig then that opens the doors for so many different kinds of builds that don't require beefy coolers or mismatched aesthetics just because the deals were better. Ending the discussion on Form vs Function being just watercooling or RGB lighting feels incredibly unsatisfactory because it misses so much potential for ACTUAL creativity rather than just buying something that looks "better." I know it sounds like I'm massively pushing for looks over everything, but again this is coming from a guy who uses a used 10-year old cheapo black box of a PC with used and donated parts in it. I'm literally the definition of someone who focuses on function over form and bringing prices down as much as possible to get the maximum bang for your buck. I just feel like if someone has the comfort of having money, and they won't be NEEDING the max performance of their PC, that maybe we should start embracing looks and getting parts that pass the threshold of being good enough for their needs and upgrading when the time is right. I really do think there's so many people out there who would want to get into PC gaming more if we let them embrace their creativity more than just making everything into a numbers game. I'm sure my friend would have been much happier with a 3060, 11400, and RGB air cooler all in a cooler master NR200P versus the behemoth they got instead given their requirements. Frankly, ever since I got into case printing with a friend, I'm starting to lose my love of function-focused PCs and I'm starting to embrace creatively using parts to best match their use case, longevity, and budget rather than focusing on what's the best performance you can get at a price point. It's SO much more fun that way and, much like the comments in the video, I genuinely don't mind missing a few frames, _which is probably over 144 anyways,_ or lowering settings if it means I get 95% of the gameplay experience while getting the satisfaction of embracing my creativity and care I put into what I created. Again, if you're into function over form, *I genuinely think that's awesome and I'm right here with you.* If you're an esports player who does better with sky-high framerates, want a PC that will last you a decade, or just someone who loves to minmax and stretch their dollar as far as they can, then by all means go and embrace it. I just feel that exclusive focus is missing a huge opportunity to create something really special in the enthusiast PC culture and we should really start thinking about that as well. PCs are, and always will be, tools, but tools can be beautiful and have meaning too.

I have been building PCs for 30ish years. I built my first custom loop water-cooled PC in 2021 (5950X/ ASUS 3090). I love it and it's been moved into an NV7 case since the original build. I very much doubt I would build another. Maintenance on an air-cooled PC is so much easier. Draining a custom loop is a massive PITA. I am a huge fan of AIOs. In fact, I put one on my RTX 3080 Ti on my living room gamer. They are a great compromise to a full custom loop.

I agree with u Paul when it comes to form-over-function discussion. When I'm building a PC, I'm building it to perform certain functions. Not to be an art piece. Therefore I choose no RGB/as few as possible parts, case without any window, etc. But I can't entirely agree when it comes to cooler. If I had £ to spend, I'd buy a watercooler. Water has higher thermal conductivity than air. It's a basic phisic. That's all.

Form follows function (such a great mantra) air all the way for me although did go with a NH-D15 chromax black for the looks. Going to go for a Herman Miller Cosm this year as my next work/play upgrade, on sale for £1,143.20 in the UK atm.

The form versus function debate cannot be resolved because it depends on the builders' objectives. I built a retro gaming machine with a Raspberry Pi inside. The appearance was my main objective. It needed to be able to play some retro games, but I didn't care about how it handled modern AAA games. I love this machine. It's a work of art.

1) The hardest choice in PC building is settling for less if you are on a budget. I'm 57 (from 486K's to 5.6 GHz) and nothing I hate more is upgrading or having to start over, that's why I buy top end CPUs now. 2) My latest PC upgrade horror story: I wanted windows 11 and Windows 11 hated my hardware. So I went from AM3+ FX 8350 to an AM5 7950X. The plan was to keep all my working components and swap out the core components (CPU, Motherboard & RAM). I wanted to keep my M.2 PCIe X4 SSD which had my Windows 10 OS (which is why I had to go with the X670 AORUS ELITE AX for the extra X4 Pcie slot which the B series didn't have), then the plan was to boot it up in window 10 auto upgrade to 11 because it now had the hardware windows 11 wanted, that didn't happen. When I booted it up on my new hardware Widows 10 became unstable I couldn't install new drivers, so my plan had to change ditch the PCIe adapter and install Window 11and drivers on a new SSD. It fixed that problem but then all my storage HDDs had I/O errors (even had a brand new HDD installed and windows couldn't find it to format it!) then I had to put the PC in Microsoft's hands (remote desktop Connection) to fix all the hard drive issues. Relating to you topic I want a B series MB and thought I was force to the X series for the extra PCIe but now I'm glad I got X670 for B having temp issues. 3) Now for the Chair, Office Depot have ever chair on display! so try them out before buying some hard rock from the internet to sit on just because it looks cool. 4) Next is the glare problem, I found out by accident that a curved monitors don't have glare issues! OLED are nice but will still burn in images (use your screensaver people) but if you can find a good curved monitor you won't need that anti-glare, may even be cheaper. 5) what to do with Artic Panter, computers are a lot like kids, you love some more that others, personally I sell mine, yes the kids too. 6) yes, 10 port USB 3.0 are very useful I have an iDsonix comes in handy for my 3 gaming controlers: Steelseries PS-2 style, Xbox PC & Logitech X3D PRO joystick. I can leave them plugged in and turn them on and off with a push of a button. 10) Keep up the good work Paul, I always learn something new from you and your unboxing at new egg and KZfaq have helped me make the best choices for my budget in performance

3:15 I am also on the function side of PC builds. My main thing is stability, quiet, and efficiency (aka. cool PC area). I do more creative tasks than gaming so my performance requirements are not crazy high. Though getting into local LLMs is changing the idea of what I want moving forward, lol (Needs tons of VRAM and system RAM).

Function over form here as well. My PC's live on a shelf out of sight/sound. I prefer air cooling because there are basically zero maintenance, and when paired with a good airflow case, very quiet. At work we've purchased both and after a certain period all of the water cooled systems died. Some due to seals that led to leaks which fried a motherboard/GPU, and the others simply to pump failure. Meanwhile the air cooled machines are still going strong nearly 10yr+. I have replaced two case case fan's and one cpu fan. Both of which were trivial to do. Water cooling may be sexy and cool, but, unless you are chasing the absolute top performance, or you just want to tinker with your machine every year, go air.

Completely agree with your function over form convention Paul, also my boxes have to do much more than just game as well.

I'm normally about 75% function 25% form. Once the thermals and parts are right I like uniform lighting, clean look, and a sweet case.

I'm a function over form guy everyday. In recent years I've started caring more about what the computer looks like, but I remember when I used to scrounge for parts and barter and trade just to get a component into my computer so I could run a particular game, nevermind chasing frame rates. These days though my latest build has a white and black theme so I'm willing to spend more to get components that go with the look.

Function over form 100%. That being said, function isn't too hard these days, especially if you're not running anything super high end. As long as you pick a cooler that lets it boost up to (or at least close to) max frequency, that's all that matters from a function standpoint. Hardware Canucks did a wonderful comparison. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ot6WZ72Jr7qyoH0.html Look at the frequency chart. 68 MHz between the top and the bottom of the chart. You're never going to notice the difference between any of them. Also, that's noise normalized as well, so none of them are running any louder than the others. At 7.39 they show gaming on Intel. Highest is 655 fps. Lowest is 649.8. I don't think you'll see any difference, regardless of which cooler you choose, as long as it can keep up with the heat load. Good enough is good enough. And if it's good enough, go for looks. If you're wanging off the thermal limit constantly you need to pick something with better performance, be it cooler, case, fans, whatever. Personally, I got an Arctic Liquid Freezer 2 240 AIO on a 5600X. Is it overkill? Yes. Is it great being able to run something like multi-hour video encoding at 4.85 GHz all core, while staying under 70C? Absolutely.

With the form and function, I think there are many layers to it. You can get to a point where the additional cost to move up a step in CPU or GPU becomes far higher than the cost of even a really nice water cooling set up, never mind a fancy case or some nice looking fans. There's also a point where you might say, 'you know what, I'm happy with the level of performance I have, it does everything I need it to good enough that I am happy, now lets make it look cool. All that said, I'm a member of the running a K6 with the case open and a 20 inch box fan blowing on it, hard drives hanging off gray IDE ribbon cables, and cut, spliced soldered and taped molex cables club, so ugly doesn't bother me at all and I'll happily go ugly to get a computer to do what I need it to do... but once it can run everything I want ad speeds I'm happy with? Sure, it's time to clean it up next.

I'm a function over form guy too. I've been building PCs for 26 years now since I was a teenager. I recently ditched my 280mm H115i Corsair AIO for a simple Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 on my 7800X3D+4090 system. The AIO was necessary for my old 9900k, but not with AMD. Getting rid of the insanely buggy iCUE software also improved performance. Performance is always king!

I am so function over form I ignore RGB lol. Been building since 1994 when houston actually had stores that sold parts.

For me personally I've been doing custom soft tube loops on my personal builds for years. My current main PC is a 7900X/7900XTX ITX build in an Dan H20. I keep my build on my desk & it is in plain view. My desk is also in my bedroom atm so for me I prefer silence & aesthetics. Which watercooling accomplishes both exceptionally well.

I'm all about air cooling bc I don't want to worry about the maintenance of liquid cooling. IMO, pairing the right air cooled parts and cable managing in such a way to leave some wires exposed can make for a very cool industrial looking system

My friend was restricted to a $1850 budget and I still managed to build him a rig with a Tuf 4080s/13600kf, 32gb Klevv 6800mts cl34 a die, Gigabyte Z790 UD mobo, Thermalright 360mm aio ($60), Crucial p3 1tb m.2, Montech Sky Two case and MSI MAG 850w atx 3.0 PSU. Performance was the primary focus but aesthetically it still turned out very good looking. If he didn't have to use afflec or whatever that payment plan on Amazon is, I would have went with the 7800x3d $470 bundle deal at microcenter for him. Maybe a different case as well because the case looks pretty decent but it's not user friendly to build in. And with a 360mm aio the bend on the 4+4 pin EPS cables is way too tight for my liking.

re: the watercooling thing. It's not necessarily form vs function, ie there are practical reasons to use say, an AIO, other than cooling performance or just looking cool. AIOs can mount in a number of different ways and are just basically required for some case form factors. Also, if you're planning on moving your PC with any frequency, an AIO can usually be mounted more securely than a large tower. In other words, do you even LAN party? Also, if you know you're going to want/need an AIO eventually, it can make sense to just buy out of the gate rather than an air cooler you might never use again (your AIO will probably work with whatever you upgrade to). All that said, from a pure $/perf perspective, Paul's probably right. You're not wrong Paul you're just...too used to building PCs out of random bits for other people! 😜

Water cooling.. NOT EVEN ONCE!! 5950x aircooled with a 3090 and not unhappy with that

I think I have good advice that splits the difference- If you know that your build will have you covered (performance needs, upgradability, bottle necks/ monitor hz) and you know you'll be happy gaming at whatever settings then bling to your heart's desire, but if you're not sure if the hardware will keep you satisfied and/ or not sure you won't need/ want to upgrade in the near future then definitely bump up the component(s) you're not sure about... I'm on AM4 with a 3080ti and I knew I wouldn't be upgrading anytime soon, and when I do it will be a full system upgrade, so there was no way I could resist getting the best AIO. If I go AM5 or get a 5080/ 5090 in a couple years, I might grab a cheap air cooler temporarily but I would be looking at doing my first custom loop. at some point. For now I'm more than happy with how the system runs with my 1440p monitor @ 120 or 144hz. I don't feel a difference @ 170hz either, so I usually just cap it @ 144.

So glad I was able to snag an Aeron pre-lockdown for $250. Person said that the fancy back rest was broken, but it was just disconnected. Just be aware that the plastic seat frame may be a deal breaker for some ergo rebels that like to sit cross-legged in chair.

Function first, no RGB second, then looks preferably air cooled. Got a liquid freezer 420 in the closet and using NHD 15 now. Check out Lazy boy office chairs, very comfortable.

Of course function is 'more important' than form...but if you can afford both, why not? I used to be all about the custom loops and water cooling...now not so much. However, I also like to make my setup look good. I have no kids, so my setup is in the living room and under glass (inside my Lian Li desk). It is our entertainment system. It drives three 27"1440p monitors and one 50" 2K smart TV on the wall. I also love modern video games. My first real gaming PC was a beige box in the late 90's...we have come a long way baby! :)

Function always over form. Noise comes before RGB and looks, and sometimes water cooling might just be it if noise is what matters most.

There's quite a bit more that's nice about GPT, though I understand why you didn't get into it in this video. It has significantly more robust metadata. In particular it uses GUID codes to identify drives and partitions, so you don't just have to hope and pray that the hardware and firmware will make drive available at the same path / drive letter. This can make using the drive significantly more reliable. It also has robust type codes (also GUIDs) for indicating the intended purpose of a partition. This isn't really used by Windows AFAIK but there's some very interesting standards you can use with Linux to automatically configure drives in the OS based on these types. It's cool stuff.

My limit of form vs function is "Get a small SFF case that I like and put whatever is the best value in it." because the case doesn't have any glass, so I can't see any of it anyway. SFF is a combination of form and function, but I think it leans more function for me because I want to save desk space.

Water vs Air. Function to meet my requirements is my focus. My CPU (5950X) or GPU (2080 Super) is usually being pushed to max for work, so I went with a custom water loop (GPU - 360mm - CPU - 240mm) for the cooling capacity and silence. When I go to upgrade, I'll reconsider water or air cooling based on the updated components. A lot has changed since I built my water loop.

YES function over form! Someone can change stuff after if they want.

function over form. Steel side panels over glass. Save money on rgb and spend it on better/quieter fans :-)

The hardest choice is value or performance. Prioritize temprature performance against noise (more fans possible + mesh case + superior fan speed), and value against any LED component.

As a professional Animator I never use liquid cooling because it's much easier to service a fan rather than a liquid cooled machine but also I've pushed my PC harder than gamers push theirs and yet my air cooling has been more than adequate. My studio builds have been fan cooled and my personal PC that I built in 2013 is STILL alive and kicking ass all these years later with only 3 fans plus the CPU fan cooler. 🤙🏼

Thanks again Paul, love the content .

@1:15 - Function over form for me, mostly. A plain black (or white or classic beige) box with a subtle power LED that doesn't draw the eye being the only lighting is best, both when gaming and when trying to be productive. Why would I want the extra distraction?

For me it's function, always. I have the window in my PC case facing away from me, so I don't even need to see inside it, and the only RGB in there is the RAM (it was on sale). This box has an air cooler, but my last one had a non-RGB AIO. I don't need rainbows blasting in my face constantly. I just want to game.

Watercool/aircool feedback.. I would say it's true that AIO's and custom setups often sport looks ranging from wonderful to gorgeous. It's also very practical to consider that if you really don't need to be introducing water into your PC system then you're far better off (as I have) installing an aircool solution (although I love the idea of a little LCD screen with a practical/aesthetic qualities in there!). AIO/custom water loops unavoidably introduce at least one expensive (potentially very expensive) point of additional failure and, at least by anecdotal evidence, pumps seem to last about 4-5 years or so before they begin to exhibit problems, making them a more costly return on investment compared to their aircooled brethren. I'd say the answer would be aircoolers with a little more to them than just an RGB fan. Deepcool seemed to make an effort with their digital AK400 unit, but on the whole I think if companies tried crafting more visually creative products which could still be practical, say perhaps as a slightly more premium product to a plain version, then we'd probably be able to slake that aesthetic thirst and enjoy the best of both worlds. Love the USB port device.. hope that works out okay, and as we're in the realm of aesthetics it does look quite nice!

"To go with water cooling because it looks cool" I mean, I've done with custom water cooling loops back in the day on my 4770K and dual 780Ti's with custom firmware's. Yeah it looked friggen awesome! it was also DEAD SILENT. I don't think people are going water cooling for looks, it has to do with it yes, but also for noise. I HATE fan noise, drives me NUTS! I think I've spent more money on so many different air coolers and fans over the years since that build that doing the math would make most of us cry. I like having my PC on my desk next to me, I control my fans as best as I can with custom fan curves and I still can't manage the noise. For my last build, I went with an AIO and I'm SOOOOOO happy I did as now I don't even hear my PC, its even bearable when gaming. To each their own though, I have done both (Three? if you count Custom and AIO separately) and I honestly think going AIO for NOISE reasons its a better solution.

I use a deck of cards as a support for my GPU. I prefer to look at my monitor while gaming lol

So for water cooling, I got into it when it was a bit cheaper than it is now. that said once you have the basics you tend to get stuck with a case form/size depending on how you configured your radiator parts. I went quiet over cost and have 3x280mm rads in my system atm, it is stupid quiet and keeps things cool. THE ONLY size radiator that is easy to fit into cases is the 240mm and 120mm period. the 360 tend to only fit in one spot in cases, the 280 can fit into 2 sometimes or just not at all. so for basics you cant use a 240mm rad to cool a full system if it is top of the line even a 360mm will get loud on a 4090 and a 14900k. the ROI on watercooling is sucky. So when you plan your parts look at wattage(heat load made by the CPU/GPU), case size, upgrade paths for that case, # of fittings you will need, MB connection points for fans and pumps. plan it out then buy it all at once to start then as you upgrade you only need to buy say the next GPU block which has to be planned as well because the makers don't make then for every GPU so you may have to spend$200-400 more just to get a GPU that EK or AC are building for. it is a huge pain in the ass. also BUY LOTS OF EXTRA FITTINGS like 90,45,180, swivel, etc... you never know what the next build will need. I am gonna go back to CPU only cooling in the next build just to cheapen the hit for upgrading. I think the look is awesome I love the quietness a full system setup but the maintenance is a PIA on big systems like mine. Good luck to all that want a full system lol shit is so spendy now it costs more than a 4090 to do the full system so double you system budget.

I don't think the distiction when building a PC is really between function and form, it is between function and FUN. Water cooling may not be the best min/max way to build a fast PC while saving the most amount of money, but it can be a very fun and engaging project for some people. This isn't an agree/disagree topic, it's a "what is the goal of your build?" topic. I have an AIO on my 7800x3d when I definitely don't need one. I like it, though, and it was fun building the PC. I had the releively small amount of money that an AIO costs above an air cooler to spend so I took my enjoyment of the project into consideration. Your time, labor, and FUN are worth something. I have to spend more on food every week than my AIO cost. That is why I say it's a reletively small cost in the long term, since it should last about 5 or so years.(unless you go with Enermax... don't do that. I made that mistake only once.)

I think the reason people like form over function is that people like to personalize stuff. It's just like painting a room or your house. Something to be completely unique to them.

My early watercooling days were a balance. Started with a Ryzen 1600. Then included a 1080 in the loop. Upgraded to a 3600 and then a 5600X. Swapped the 1080 out for a used 6900XT and gave that a waterblock. All watercooled since most everything was intercompatible. It's only now that I've gone top of the line CPU, the 7800X3D, that I can actually justify watercooling. Personally, my goal was *silent performance*, with silence being the priority.

I always build my PC for function over form... I always go for the best parts in my price range and I tend to upgrade as time goes on like adding better RGB fans or fancy PCIE extension cables for better looks. I tend to keep the same PC case when I build a new PC.

I think this is a fairly common misconception. You can have both, but you will need to prioritize one over the other most of the time. That’s where a lot of people get tripped up. Most would rather have everything perfectly the way they want it or no way at all, versus realizing that compromise ≠ failure.

Old school airhead here too, been building my own PC's since 90's. And function always first. I rather watch my monitor than my case when I'm on my computer.

One more vote for function over form. But I will say fixed color LED lighted fans make it possible to check dust filters just by looking at them WITHOUT using RGB bloatware.

You can definitely have both. I've built my dream set up and it looks beautiful and is comfortable and does everything I want.

Hey I got that drive from the ad spot Love it, I'll come back for the link when doing another build in fall

Thermalright has cheap and afaik decent aio's, for like $50. Based on their air coolers reputation I'd buy that (if I was a watercooling sucker, that is :P) Edit: otherwise, a nice strategy is deciding beforehand what percentage of your budget you want to spend on looks, say 20%. Then make a list minmaxing performance and value using 80% of the budget. Finally start replacing components for looks (or more performance). Do you want a clean whiteout build? Or upgrade that 7600 to a 7800x3d? Or maybe uptier the gpu? Maybe you specifically want lian li uni fans? This helps understanding what is possible within your budget and helps avoid overspending on looks first, to be later forced to underspec to stay within budget.

Hey @Paulshardware, love the channel, you've been an inspiration and the content you provide speaks volumes. I was wondering when you may be getting more of the black hoodies with your logo on it. I had one but now I can't find it. Any timeline or info is appreciated. Thanks again for all the great videos.

Function first. I do think there is an argument for form factor based on space, when I had a much small office I wanted a microATX or mITX case simply due to size, but even that falls more under function (based on space) for me than looks.

Paul, I agree with you re function over form. I have the RGB on my case fans, Gigabyte Aorus motherboard, mechanical keyboard, and mouse. I have a plain black air CPU cooler. My PC and its accessories look nice despite the lack of RGB AIO cooler.

Function should always come before form. However, if your PC achieves function to the full, then form can be considered. If form doesn't hinder function, but helps/is part of it, then going for form is just fine.

For me function is to priorize over form. My PC just wents under the desk or somewhere onto a shelf where dust starts to cover it really soon. If any part will be delivered with LED these are removed or won't be powered. OK, i like non-black cases, at least at the inside. But that's just because most of the computer components are also black so mounting sometimes feels like poking in the south end of what-ever facing north.

its interesting to me that so many are harping the "i'm old school-air cooler"...blah, blah yet at my local Microcenter, most AIO's are always selling like hotcakes and the air cooler aisle is always stocked to the brim. i'm not talking against air-cooling cuz i started building pc's in the early 90's and air cooling was all you could get. its nice having options today and you get to choose whatever suits your own tastes and keep reminding yourself, everyone has an opinion, and they're wrong

Thanks Paul, as always a fab video. Much appreciated :0)

I understand your position on the subject of form vs. function. When I'm advising or building a PC for someone, I follow the same path you do. Spend all of your budget on performance. For my own build? Typically I set a performance target and buy components to achieve that. Then make it look how I like it to look so I can see it when I'm sitting at my desk. I'm not your average PC buyer though. My PC tends to be a rolling upgrade, rather than a complete build that fits within a fixed budget. As such, the most recent 'upgrade' I did to it cost around $300, and left me with an NV5 filled with understated Force Lightning Blue RGB halos around all 8 fans and the pump on my AIO. Could I have gotten a 7800 X3D with that and what I could get by selling my 7700X? Absolutely. But it wouldn't look as cool to me.