You're mostly paying for aesthetic. Even with GPU's there isn't ever much actual gain relative to the often large price premium AiO GPU's command.
I do believe that you've hit the nail square on the head with that post.
But seriously, I don't think it's right to say that AIOs offer no benefit whatsoever.
Yeah, I probably could've worded that better. All I meant is that for most people's use cases (like gaming performance), they're just not worth the cost when it comes to performance because they don't increase gaming performance whatsoever (except in very specific and/or extreme cases).
I mean, sure, if you have an FX-9590, an i7-13700K or (especially) an i9-13900K, then an AIO is pretty much a requirement as those cards can draw >250W. The more power that gets drawn results in more heat being generated and those three CPUs are just insane with how much heat they put out. For the people crazy enough to get one of those three CPUs, there's no question that an AIO would offer tremendous benefit. For everyone else though, it's like you and Ando pointed out, it's primarily about aesthetic and I totally get that because they do look pretty damn sweet. I can also appreciate the AIOs that have the CPU's temperature displayed on the heat sink display which can definitely be valuable information.
As for the noise... well, I'm sure that it matters to
some people but I've never noticed my air coolers' fans. I have always had 120mm case fans because I'm a big proponent of maximum case air-flow. Right now, in my Ultra U12-40670, I have five 120mm Cooler Master Sickle-Flow case fans. The sound of my Wraith Spire either gets completely drowned out or just becomes a part of the sound made by the case fans. Over the past few years I moved away from using my desktop at a desk and instead have it hooked up to the main TV in my living room. I also have the audio outputting to my home theatre system. As a result, my PC is always about 20' away from me which would mitigate the noise it makes.
It doesn't matter though because gaming on a 55" 4K TV with a 5.1 home theatre surround system renders any noise made by PC fans 100% moot.
That's
my definition of GLORIOUS!