Moving from full water-cooling to AIO

edgedemon

edgedemon

edgedemon

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So with Zen5 around the corner I'm looking at finally saying goodbye to my Sandybridge E rig.
It was fully under water in a full tower case which no longer fits what I do any more.
I'm going to move to mini ITX to reclaim some space for WFH and I'm curious, what is the lifespan for a typical 240mm AIO setup? I have to be careful as I can't buy anything due to size restrictions, but how long do they last and does more expensive mean longer life or just better rad/pump/fan design?
 
edgedemon said:
So with Zen5 around the corner I'm looking at finally saying goodbye to my Sandybridge E rig.
It was fully under water in a full tower case which no longer fits what I do any more.
I'm going to move to mini ITX to reclaim some space for WFH and I'm curious, what is the lifespan for a typical 240mm AIO setup? I have to be careful as I can't buy anything due to size restrictions, but how long do they last and does more expensive mean longer life or just better rad/pump/fan design?
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some aio's have a 5 or 6 year warranty. Might be best to wait for zen5 to release and see what aio works best for your budget
 
They're up to 6 year warranties now.

I've got an AIO that's 15 years old - with the fans replaced about 3 times.

It's not cutting edge stuff, the metals must not corrode, the liquid must be stable, the tubes must be resistant to degrading. And the fans... are just fans. Any stories around the model that you're looking at of manufacturer incompetence just dodge it.

And then there's bling just to give excuses to inflate the price, RBG trash, LCD screens, weird built in fans on the pump which can't be replaced. So the price may not reflect the quality of the absolute essentials.
 
edgedemon said:
So with Zen5 around the corner I'm looking at finally saying goodbye to my Sandybridge E rig.
It was fully under water in a full tower case which no longer fits what I do any more.
I'm going to move to mini ITX to reclaim some space for WFH and I'm curious, what is the lifespan for a typical 240mm AIO setup? I have to be careful as I can't buy anything due to size restrictions, but how long do they last and does more expensive mean longer life or just better rad/pump/fan design?
Click to expand...
Haven't water cooled in years so probably can't help. If I was going water I think I would look at Thermaright and AlphaCool.

Thermalright has always been good quality product and in last couple of years have been much lower priced than competition. They have several AIO line to choose from.

Alphacool Eisbaer is old line with hose hose quick connects for expansion and copper radiator from 92mm to 129x 240mn, 360mm, 140x280mm and 200nn fanned rad. I Think latest line is Core 2 Aurora with aluminum rather than copper rads. Not sure if that's a problem with right coolant.

Very interested is seeing what you end up getting and how it all works out.
 
Hotwired said:
They're up to 6 year warranties now.

I've got an AIO that's 15 years old - with the fans replaced about 3 times.

It's not cutting edge stuff, the metals must not corrode, the liquid must be stable, the tubes must be resistant to degrading. And the fans... are just fans. Any stories around the model that you're looking at of manufacturer incompetence just dodge it.

And then there's bling just to give excuses to inflate the price, RBG trash, LCD screens, weird built in fans on the pump which can't be replaced. So the price may not reflect the quality of the absolute essentials.
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I'm surprised it's lasted that long, have you noticed a significant degradation in performance?
 
ltron said:
I'm surprised it's lasted that long, have you noticed a significant degradation in performance?
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No, I see improved performance, but there are important details.

The first cpu was an i5 750 oc from 2.66 to 4ghz on 1.4v along with 8gb ram. That became unreliable after a decade (wonder why) so it got replaced with a 2nd hand i5 760 oc from 2.8 to 4ghz on 1.2v along with 16gb ram.

I can show you an old OC test screenshot vs the same thing again as close as I can (except not 99 runs because that's half a day)

4ghz760.png


Well over 10 degrees better from a similar room temp is obviously the cpu replacement doing the same work with less power. But the AIO has to be functional to realise the benefit and it is. No original fan of course.
 
Hotwired said:
They're up to 6 year warranties now.

I've got an AIO that's 15 years old - with the fans replaced about 3 times.

It's not cutting edge stuff, the metals must not corrode, the liquid must be stable, the tubes must be resistant to degrading. And the fans... are just fans. Any stories around the model that you're looking at of manufacturer incompetence just dodge it.

And then there's bling just to give excuses to inflate the price, RBG trash, LCD screens, weird built in fans on the pump which can't be replaced. So the price may not reflect the quality of the absolute essentials.
Click to expand...
What is system it's in? What cpu?
 
Hotwired said:
As above. AIO is the original H50 made for Corsair by Asetek.
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Thanks!
One more question, how many hours a day is system running? Or how many hours a week does it run?
i5-750 is only 95w TDP CPU, so very low heat compared to what's out there now.
H50 AIO/CLC is known to best or very close for lasting long time when used on low wattage CPU. It's also the smallest 120mm fanned CLC sold. Asetek does sell 645LT 92mm with 92mm fan. No idea how good/bad it is.
 
doyll said:
Thanks!
One more question, how many hours a day is system running? Or how many hours a week does it run?
i5-750 is only 95w TDP CPU, so very low heat compared to what's out there now.
H50 AIO/CLC is known to best or very close for lasting long time when used on low wattage CPU. It's also the smallest 120mm fanned CLC sold. Asetek does sell 645LT 92mm with 92mm fan. No idea how good/bad it is.
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No it was never running stock, the overclock meant the cpu was drawing about 150W on a cpu test. The system was pulling over 280W.

Even now with the more efficient replacement on lower voltage the overclocked cpu is over 120W and that's much more than the best gaming cpus use today.

Not running much anymore. When I was using it as my main, over 12 hours a day for about 10 years. Used a lot of electricity...
 
Assuming you fit it correctly and there is no air trapped in the pump you should get a good 5 years from a decent AIO.

Fluid will evaporate over time, which can be an issue.

The latest bunch from bequiet! have a fill port and extra fluid for use in what they claim is 3yrs (I think).

I am a bequiet! fanboi, I should disclose that for full transparency.

Over the years I have had AIO coolers front Antec, Arctic Freezer and bequiet! With the Arctic being the least reliable as it quit on me after 3 years when the pump failed.
 
bequiet! are good, for sure. I installed original Silent Loop 360 (all copper system inc. radiator) on customer's system when they first came out and it's still working fine, so like 6 years. Don't remember exactly what CPU it was on, but do remember that radiator was much bigger than needed. Did that so system would run quieter. ;)
 
With the upcoming release of LGA 1851, (assuming it is any good) do suppliers release new mounting brackets or does everyone have to replace their AIO when upgrading their CPU?
 
edgedemon said:
With the upcoming release of LGA 1851, (assuming it is any good) do suppliers release new mounting brackets or does everyone have to replace their AIO when upgrading their CPU?
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That all depends if Intel will keep the same/similar mounting mechanism. Mounting holes may be different, as was the case when the 1700 came out. Some manufacturers kept both for a while. Worst scenario would require a mounting plate, as I don’t imagine Intel using similar system as AMD. Cheaper AIOs or unknown brands not likely to offer one though.
 
I bought a Lian Li Galahad 2 as OCUK have a sweet deal at the moment. Original intention was for Zen 5, now Im going to wait for Arrowlake as it is so close and then decide between the 2. Then it occurred to me that it was a different socket :o
 
Liam Li should offer a new bracket, if the ones included aren’t compatible. Usually new batches will include the new socket mounting kits, but if compatible, such kits may be offered at a low cost only issue is if the new socket is completely different and all actual AIOs are incompatible, even using other mounting mechanisms, which is very unlikely.
 
edgedemon said:
I bought a Lian Li Galahad 2 as OCUK have a sweet deal at the moment. Original intention was for Zen 5, now Im going to wait for Arrowlake as it is so close and then decide between the 2. Then it occurred to me that it was a different socket :o
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Pretty sure new Arrowlake (LGA1851) is same size as current LGA1700 (45.37.55mm), and will use same mounts as |LGA1700 use. Thermalright, Arctic and several others have confirmed current mounts are compatible with LGA1851.
 
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