News New AIO radiator testing reveals lead and other substandard materials — Caseking halts Barrow Dabel product sales in response

[Admin]

PC hardware veteran Igor Wallossek has followed up his recent AIO radiator investigations by looking closely at four more models. This time he found one radiator with such heavy use of lead that he noted, "Sales in the EU should be stopped immediately."

New AIO radiator testing reveals lead and other substandard materials — Caseking halts Barrow Dabel product sales in response : Read more

 

[Gururu]

Is this a case about where they are made or is it a case of over reaction since lead in this capacity shouldn't be toxic to the people around it?

 

[pbcrunch]

I don't think anyone should be licking or eating a radiator, but the lifetimes of these parts are finite. At some point a radiator full of leaded solder is going to end up in the garbage.

 

[Dantte]

I loved the last article, this one too; my question and would make this even better is if anyone, Tom's, following up with these manufacturers? I feel like I'm only getting one side of the story here.

I mean in the case of EKWB, I keep going back this manufacturer because their website STILL clearly states "Copper H90 tubing" but Igors testing says that is not true. This is FALSE ADVERTISING on the side of EKWB and ILLEGAL in the USA, or Igor is slandering the company. Its one or the other and this has not been brought up yet?

I don't think anyone should be licking or eating a radiator, but the lifetimes of these parts are finite. At some point a radiator full of leaded solder is going to end up in the garbage.

Kids are eating Tide pods and (8) have died between 2012 and 2017... I am of the opinion we remove all safety standards and let Darwin sort it out

 

[Notton]

I did a brief look into EU RoHS law, but it said that if you violate it, you can face fines or imprisonment.
Seeing as Germany is in the EU, I would guess the store thought it would be wise to pull all products so they don't face penalties.

 

[TechLurker]

I wonder if there's a way to ask him to review some radiators off FormulaMod, ranging from the high-end like the Granzons to the cheap budget ones. Especially since many of them are being recommended across watercooling threads and posts as cheaper alternatives to longer-established brands, and in the case of the Granzons and some of their mid-range options, also feature neat ideas like integrated pumps which some (like myself) are using to save some space.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I'd be more concerned that the lead may leach into the (presumably non-conductive) coolant and make it conductive, which could cause a short in the event of a leak.

 

[BleuCheddar]

Aren't these just radiators? AIO is "All-In-One" meaning radiator, pump, CPU block, tubing and reservoir?

Kinda missing a few things to call them AIO?

 

[Avro Arrow]

Every time I hear or read something about a problem with an AIO, it only serves to tell me that I was right to just use an air cooler. It cost me (literally) nothing, works just fine, has only one moving part (the fan) and has no fluid that can leak or become contaminated.

Unless you have a late model Intel i9 or high-end i7, there is literally no reason to use an AIO. For those who just have one for looks, that's >$100 that you could've invested into something that actually improved performance or storage capacity. It makes no sense to me.

 

[Eximo]

I'd be more concerned that the lead may leach into the (presumably non-conductive) coolant and make it conductive, which could cause a short in the event of a leak.

This happens pretty much immediately with all metals inside of a water cooling loop. Once the coolant has been in there for a few minutes you will see a rise in conductivity.

 

[ivan_vy]

Is this a case about where they are made or is it a case of over reaction since lead in this capacity shouldn't be toxic to the people around it?

it's more about damage control on the branding. Igor Walloseek was editor-in-chief and main author of the German edition of Tom's Hardware between January 2017 and April 2018, a very respectable reviewer.
anyway kudos for the brand for acknowledge its problem.

 

[t3t4]

I am of the opinion we remove all safety standards and let Darwin sort it out

Darwin, that bum, he ain't done his job in decades now!

 

[weehamish]

Every time I hear or read something about a problem with an AIO, it only serves to tell me that I was right to just use an air cooler. It cost me (literally) nothing, works just fine, has only one moving part (the fan) and has no fluid that can leak or become contaminated.

Unless you have a late model Intel i9 or high-end i7, there is literally no reason to use an AIO. For those who just have one for looks, that's >$100 that you could've invested into something that actually improved performance or storage capacity. It makes no sense to me.

Well no... air coolers can't really cope with top end cpus... so unless you have a potato and don't game you'll need an aio...

 

[Avro Arrow]

Well no... air coolers can't really cope with top end cpus...

What's your definition of a top-end CPU? Ryzen X3D CPUs run just fine with air coolers. In fact, my own CPU is an R7-5800X3D which uses more power (and thus generates more heat) than an R7-7800X3D. I would definitely consider the R7-5800X3D and 7800X3D to be top-end gaming CPUs.

so unless you have a potato and don't game you'll need an aio...

Why do people have to say such ludicrous things? Now I have to show you not only that you're wrong, but just how wrong you really are:

Here are the specs of my "Potato PC that doesn't game" (it's in my signature too):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism Air Cooler
RAM: 64GB Team T-Force Vulcan-Z DDR4-3600 (4×16GB)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Pro4
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming 24GB
PSU: EVGA 1000 G2 Supernova 1kW 80+Gold-Certified
System SSD: WD Black SN770 PCIe4 NVMe
Gaming SSDs: 2×2TB Team MP33 PCIe3 NVMe, 1×1TB WD Blue SN570 PCIe3 NVMe
HDD Space: 2×8TB WD SATA, 1×4TB WD SATA, 1×5TB Seagate USB3.0 (18TB WD on order)

I don't know what you consider to be a "potato system" but in most people's book, my rig is considered to be a high-end gaming monster. I don't know where you got this idea that a CPU can't game without liquid cooling but it's as I had said, unless you have an Intel 13/14th-gen i7 or i9 (or an old FX-9590), air cooling works just fine and always has. I'd even be willing to bet that if you're just gaming, an air cooler would probably be usable on those Intel CPUs as well.

 

[Dogs&Mountains]

Well no... air coolers can't really cope with top end cpus... so unless you have a potato and don't game you'll need an aio...

The research shows otherwise . See GamersNexus or STS on YouTube and GN's site. Except for possibly the two or three hottest running CPUs, most processors, including good ones like the 7800X3D, can be cooled by air coolers. STS does review of this exact issue on a few of their videos. Also, gaming is not a very high load on a processor compared to CineBench or rendering.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The research shows otherwise . See GamersNexus or STS on YouTube and GN's site. Except for possibly the two or three hottest running CPUs, most processors, including good ones like the 7800X3D, can be cooled by air coolers. STS does review of this exact issue on a few of their videos. Also, gaming is not a very high load on a processor compared to CineBench or rendering.

You know, it's funny that this person said that because Hardware Canucks just did a video a couple of days ago comparing Air Coolers to AIOs and while the AIOs were ultimately better, the only time that there was any kind of difference was when a long-term all-core workload was applied to the CPU. Otherwise, the air coolers did a fine job of keeping every CPU in the test well within spec without losing clock speeds or frames. What more could most people ask for?

It was a simple case of "Good" vs. "Good Enough" and the "Good Enough" had far fewer cautions and caveats than "Good" did:

 

[Order 66]

Every time I hear or read something about a problem with an AIO, it only serves to tell me that I was right to just use an air cooler. It cost me (literally) nothing, works just fine, has only one moving part (the fan) and has no fluid that can leak or become contaminated.

Unless you have a late model Intel i9 or high-end i7, there is literally no reason to use an AIO. For those who just have one for looks, that's >$100 that you could've invested into something that actually improved performance or storage capacity. It makes no sense to me.

What about a 7700x, or other ryzen 7?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Well no... air coolers can't really cope with top end cpus... so unless you have a potato and don't game you'll need an aio...

My air cooled potato games just fine.
And all core boost@4.5ghz -4.65ghz runs 82-85c on prime 95 or Cinebench23.
Are you one of those KOOL AID kids who believe everything they see on youtube?

 

[Avro Arrow]

What about a 7700x, or other ryzen 7?

Nope. Ryzens do fine with just air cooling. In fact, if all you're doing is gaming, even high-end Core CPUs work just fine with air cooling. Hardware Canucks did this test literally five days ago: