Has anyone else given up on AIO's

I'm going to be reusing the EKWB pheonix AIO on my rebuild.
I'm changing out the cpu block as going from threadripper 2950x to ryzen 7 9800x3d, I'll be using an alphacool apex 1 block with the original radiator & pump & doing another coolant change at the same time.
Very handy the AIO came with quick disconnect fittings so should be pretty straight forward.
 
I've had two or three Corsair AIO's over the past 8/9 years and never had any faults with them.

The thought of one leaking and destroying the rest of the system though is worrying!
 
Been using AIO for about 6 years and worst issue was with a NZXT pump noise. Replacement was fine for about 4 years then upgraded.
 
Unless you're on a very hot running chip doing workloads such as an i9, they're utterly pointless outside of aesthetics imo. I'm not a fan, they don't deliver appreciably better temps or sound levels over something like a £30-35 Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin for gaming or general productivity. I don't see a good reason of adding more points of failure, especially when there's a risk of coolant damaging your rig.
 
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Ran a Corsair H60 for over a decade on my 2500K and only binned it after the pump quit.

Fitted a good air cooler which was cheaper and a lot less faff than going AIO again.
 
Yeah I moved to a D-15S in my last build about 18 months ago and I’ve kept it when I swapped to a 9800x3d. Not for any particular reason other than I fancied a change, thought it looked cool, don’t care about RGB and I don’t need to install any extra software to control the lighting etc. Haven’t really noticed a difference in temps.
 
I use an AIO because I think it makes my PC insides look better. Performance wise temps are basically the same as I had with my old air cooler.
 
My arctic freezer has been solid for about 4 years now, these always get great reviews yet it feels like everyone seems to buy the Corsair one, not sure why. That said, I also have another PC with a massive air cooler in and it does just as good a job, its different case, CPU etc so not directly comparable.
 
Gray2233 said:
Unless you're on a very hot running chip doing workloads such as an i9, they're utterly pointless outside of aesthetics imo. I'm not a fan, they don't deliver appreciably better temps or sound levels over something like a £30-35 Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin for gaming or general productivity. I don't see a good reason of adding more points of failure, especially when there's a risk of coolant damaging your rig.
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Fair point.
I’ve used a peerless assassin and a Thermalright AIO on my 9800X3D and there was a noticeable difference in temps (AIO was cooler), but neither caused any concern whatsoever.
I am however a RGB fiend, so the AIO stayed :D
 
thebandit said:
Corsair one, not sure why.
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i moved to a arctic freezer iii from a corsair unit, and it runs just a cool but louder.
with a corsair unit you can set them the follow coolant temp not CPU, that makes for a much better cooler with less noise.. but the new corsair units are now just a standard pump and fan set up so you cant do this anymore unless you buy the top model for £250+.. and there ends the story of why i have a arctic freezer iii and not a new cosair one

if i was going to spend £250 on a CPU cooler it would be custom water
 
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Gray2233 said:
Unless you're on a very hot running chip doing workloads such as an i9, they're utterly pointless outside of aesthetics imo. I'm not a fan, they don't deliver appreciably better temps or sound levels over something like a £30-35 Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin for gaming or general productivity. I don't see a good reason of adding more points of failure, especially when there's a risk of coolant damaging your rig.
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Can't they use a liquid that isn't electrically conductive?
 
I had a Dell PC with an AIO CPU cooler but found the pump noise quite annoying. The drone from it was louder than the case/GPU fans! Could just be that the non-branded (Asetek?) one they included was rubbish though. Are branded/modern AIOs typically silent these days?

Personally I’m planning on sticking with Air coolers from now on. Cheaper to buy, quieter and less to go wrong in my experience.
 
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I didn't move to an AIO because of performance reasons, more for convenience. Back when I was using a Silver Arrow you had to worry about things like if it interfered with your RAM or whatever. Then there's just general access to the motherboard, if I need to swap out fans plugged into the fan headers or the 8 pin power connector(s) I can get my hands in there easier without a huge air cooler taking up all the space. Also when I was using the Silver Arrow on my R IV E the top PCIe slot was so close the Silver Arrow nearly touched the back of the GPU (and in those days not all GPUs had backplates). On top of which pressing the PCIe release thingy was a military grade operation and god forbid you didn't get the card out first time and the catch re-engages with the GPU halt-in/half-out.
Not sure if that such an issue these days, but there is the top M.2 slot to consider. Not that I expect or want to swap them out much but with PCIE 5.0 the coolers for them are getting quite beefy.
The biggest issue in this regard with an AIO is if there's enough room in the case so that the rad and fans don't interfere with the heatsinks on the top of the motherboard.

I prefer a full custom loop, just seems nicer than an AIO, but I'm lazy.
 
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