[SOLVED] AIO water cooling

[tim99]

Hello, has anyone got problems with a AIO water coolers?
Does it got broken or leak?
Is it made to run everyday 10 hours?

 

[PC Tailor]

Welcome to the forums my friend!

I'm extracting from a guide I'd made previously where we touch on this on point 6: Top 10 Not so Obvious Mistakes

Water coolers nowadays are great yes, but remember that not all water cooling is alike. An AIO water cooler (All-In-One) which is the most common on the market, is not necessarily any more effective than air cooling. In fact, the top end air coolers can often perform the same or better as AIO (Custom loops are a different matter altogether - but most don't need these).

Yes, water coolers tend to look nice, and yes, they are much more useful if you're a little tight on space in the centre of the case, but if you're JUST looking for performance, then an air cooler is perfectly suitable.

You can see a pretty good comparison here: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-coolers,4181-2.html

We're not saying they're all like for like - just you don't have to immediately jump to Water Cooling. As is well put here by another member:

Below 250w, air = aio only in its respective ranges.

Corsair H45/55/60 = CM hyper212 evo. Same capacity, negligible difference in temps. Same for any 120mm aio, you are looking at @ 140w, same as all those budget air coolers. The differences in temps will be due to the efficiency of the cooler and effectiveness of the fan.

It's only when getting to 250w output that even the largest air coolers such as the Cryorig R1, Noctua NH-D15 etc peak out, and you'd need a 280mm/360mm AIO, simply due to capacity. You want to run a i9 9900k flat out, don't bother with air, that cpu hits 250w with all core 5GHz no issue.

Noise: created by fans. Doesn't matter if it's air or aio, crappy fans = loud. No point comparing an old h100i to a NH-D15, the difference in fans speaks volumes.

Leaks: yep. Sure do. 99% caused by installer putting pressure on the fittings. Factory leaks happen as often as heatsinks with warped bases or leaking heatpipes. All about quality control.

In short, many people use AIO now. No problem, but doesn't mean they're the best solution. In their respetive ranges, Air Coolers can be just as or more effective.

Leaks do happen and AIO will indeed eventually fail. As all components deterioriate over time. This will obviously also depend on the quality of the AIO you get. If you get a cheap and cheerful one, you can probably bet it won't last as long.

 

[vMax]

I have been using AIO's from the early days with the first gen Corsair AIO's and I currently use the latest Corsair H150i Pro 360mm AIO which is stellar in terms of cooling performance and sound. Personally I have never had an issue and I have never looked back. That is not to say they have never had issues, they have but the current generation of AIO's have really improved and the whole experience in terms of installation, cooling and management being first rate. I run my AIO all day and all night long with it never missing a beat though you do have to clean the fans and blow the dust out of the radiator every once in a while...I usually do a monthly clean out of the PC with compressed air...

Stick to a tried and tested names like Corsair, Cooler Master, NZXT, ThermalTake etc and even the DeepCool new range of Gamer Storms have a safety feature to reduce pressure...

In terms of life span, I look to change between 3 to 5 years with my first one going a full 5 years before I upgraded.

 

[tim99]

thank you for your answers

 

[tim99]

I have been using AIO's from the early days with the first gen Corsair AIO's and I currently use the latest Corsair H150i Pro 360mm AIO which is stellar in terms of cooling performance and sound. Personally I have never had an issue and I have never looked back. That is not to say they have never had issues, they have but the current generation of AIO's have really improved and the whole experience in terms of installation, cooling and management being first rate. I run my AIO all day and all night long with it never missing a beat though you do have to clean the fans and blow the dust out of the radiator every once in a while...I usually do a monthly clean out of the PC with compressed air...

Stick to a tried and tested names like Corsair, Cooler Master, NZXT, ThermalTake etc and even the DeepCool new range of Gamer Storms have a safety feature to reduce pressure...

In terms of life span, I look to change between 3 to 5 years with my first one going a full 5 years before I upgraded.

sounds good. I want to buy this one.

Enermax LiqFusion 360mm

 

[vMax]

sounds good. I want to buy this one.

Enermax LiqFusion 360mm

Hi, no problems at all. On the Enermax LiqFusion you should be fine as it has been reviewed very well, I heard and read some reports on the Enermax LiqTech II version which had issues with build up of crud in the block but the LiqFusion looks fine.

 

[Karadjgne]

Had a Corsair H55 on my i5-3570k at 4.3GHz for 7 years. Nzxt Kraken x61 on i7-3770K @ 4.9GHz for 6 years.

Just sold the i5 pc, aio still attached and working fine. Swapped the kraken on the i7 after a fan bearing went out for an air cooler I had. I'd swap back, but the aircooler fans themselves are louder than the stock nzxt, and I don't feel like buying new ones.

Both pc's ran 24/7/365 for at least 6 years straight, only time the pc's got shut down was for cleanings.

Needless to say, after 20 years of messing with liquid cooling in all its forms, I have No issues with aios or their usage in general, mostly issues arise from lack of experience and common sense from users/installers.