Big Air Towers from Noctua were always superior to basic water system (esp. CLC AIO systems with their weak and loud water pumps). First..they're lot more silent since the fans are inside the case and not on top.
The only time water makes sense is either:
1: Small case can't fit big heat sinks. I.e: powerful mATX systems
2: Massive overclocking of thermal limited, poorly dissipating cpus (latest 2066 Intels, which despite gigantic price tag, aren't soldered but use TIM paste. And who's gonna delid 1000+ euro chips ?) So i9 yes, Threadripper no (architecture limited, not thermally).
3: Full water loop for CPU+(multiple)GPUs.
Any other time... Noctua towers save the day.