[SOLVED] Liquid cooler

[HerEyeSin]

So I’m debating going air or liquid but am confused. If I buy a liquid cooler what do I need to do for maintenance? And would that liquid cooler be considered a custom loop? Because that’s mainly what’s confusing me

 

[Barty1884]

A liquid cooler you buy off the shelf is an AIO (all-in-one), self-contained.
Nothing more you need to do re: maintenance than you would do with an air cooler - semi regular cleaning of dust etc.
You don't touch the fluid etc.

Not all AIO's are created equal however, and many in the 'budget' space are rivalled/bettered by similarly priced air coolers without the additional point(s) of failure.

A custom loop is exactly what it sounds like - custom. You design the loop, choose the blocks & radiators etc. Much more maintenance required going this route.

 

[Supahos]

A custom loop is when you buy a cpu block, radiator, pump, fittings and tubing separately and make your own cooling system.

Aio coolers like a Corsair h100 or most of what you see for sale don't require anything maintenance wise.

Downside of all of them is you add the possibility of a pump failure, leak, or air causing the cooling to stop. None of those are visible

If the radiator isn't bigger than something than a similar sized then it won't outperform it. The water is just a means of moving the heat to a radiator. Air coolers have the radiator mounted on the CPU directly

 

[HerEyeSin]

A liquid cooler you buy off the shelf is an AIO (all-in-one), self-contained.
Nothing more you need to do re: maintenance than you would do with an air cooler - semi regular cleaning of dust etc.
You don't touch the fluid etc.

Not all AIO's are created equal however, and many in the 'budget' space are rivalled/bettered by similarly priced air coolers without the additional point(s) of failure.

A custom loop is exactly what it sounds like - custom. You design the loop, choose the blocks & radiators etc. Much more maintenance required going this route.

Thanks,🙏

 

[HerEyeSin]

A custom loop is when you buy a cpu block, radiator, pump, fittings and tubing separately and make your own cooling system.

Aio coolers like a Corsair h100 or most of what you see for sale don't require anything maintenance wise.

Downside of all of them is you add the possibility of a pump failure, leak, or air causing the cooling to stop. None of those are visible

If the radiator isn't bigger than something than a similar sized then it won't outperform it. The water is just a means of moving the heat to a radiator. Air coolers have the radiator mounted on the CPU directly

Thanks, so stock liquid cooler I don’t need to change liquid? If this is the case is there no real way to see if it’s turning bad?

 

[Barty1884]

Not only do you not need to, it's not (usually) possible to refill them anyway.

No, there's no way to see if it's turning "bad", but AIO's have additives in the fluid to stop them from "turning bad" within their warranty period.
AIO's are easy to use, but they're not necessarily for long-term use like an air cooler can be. The warranty period provided is usually a good indicator of how long it'll reasonably last. They certainly can last longer, but it's a good rule of thumb.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's not water. If anything it's closer to anti-freeze than water, so it's not going to go 'bad' as such. The only thing that will happen is over the course of the next 5 years or so, the fluid will evaporate through the rubber tubing, same way as a car tire goes flat all by itself over that many years.

I've generally preferred AIO's over air coolers not just because I prefer the open design (large air towers are just huge eye-sores to me) but because they include software for control of the fans. Up until recently that left aircoolers using bios, SpeedFan or motherboard software of which only Asus was good.

 

[rubix_1011]

Most AIOs are actually manufactured by about 3 different vendors and then rebranded.

This article is a few years old, but most of these are still applicable...with maybe 1-2 new ones. https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2122-who-actually-makes-liquid-coolers-oems