So I finally saved up enough cash to build my first real PC and I am honestly super excited but also kind of freaking out because I have no idea what I am doing. I spent forever picking out the parts and I ended up getting an i9 processor because I want this thing to last forever and handle all the heavy gaming and video editing stuff I wanna do. But now I am staring at the box and realized I have absolutely no clue how to actually keep it from melting? Like, people keep talking about air coolers versus water coolers and I just feel like a total idiot looking at all the specs online.

I live in a small apartment in Phoenix so it gets pretty hot in here during the summer and I am really worried about the system overheating. My budget for a cooler is around 150 bucks but I really dont want to mess this up and break a super expensive chip by buying the wrong thing. I keep hearing about AIOs but they look super complicated to install and what if they leak?? Then some people say just get a giant block of metal with a fan on it but how do I know if it will even fit in my case without bumping into my ram sticks? Its honestly so overwhelming because every review says something different and my brain is just turning to mush.

Does anyone have a recommendation for someone who is literally a beginner? Is there something that just works without me needing an engineering degree to set it up? Should I just go for one of those big Noctua things or is water cooling actually worth the hassle for a high-end chip like mine? I really dont wanna mess this up...