How often should you replace a CPU water cooler?

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supyo

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I have a 2 1/2 year old iBuyPower system with a no name (that I can find) CPU water cooler. System is running fine, temps are always in the low 30 degree celsius range. Other than blowing out the dust its been working great.

How often do you guys replace a CPU water cooler? What's the average lifespan generally?

I'm thinking of installing this one: http://www.ncix.com/detail/corsair-cooling-hydro-series-h60-21-77377-1028.htm

Thanks
 
If the temps are good, I wouldn't replace it until the pump goes bad.
 
Thats actually something I started thinking about a couple days ago. Ive had my H100 I think 2 years now. Kinda thinking about getting something for backup or outright replacement just so I wouldnt have to have my PC down while I waited on a new cooler to ship. I still have my old Cooler Master Hyper 212+ I guess I could slap on there in a pinch but it would drive me crazy to drop down to low clocks for a week. LOL!

I was actually thinking of ditching my H100 and going back with a HSF. I like not having my whole case filled with a heat sink but I also like the idea of using something that virtually lasts forever.

Besides, it gives me a good excuse to buy something new. :D
 
You cooler is most likely made by Asetek http://asetek.com/ as most AiO brand name cooler are just rebrands.

If you your cooler is working fine, then you shouldn't worry about. I was using a H50 for years. Still works, just decided, like you, I wanted to spend more money on something. Went with a Swiftech HX220. Haha.

Anyways just have a backup plan in place if it does fail. Down time sucks. :(
 
Looking at those D15 pictures and I remember why I went AIO. Gawdamighty that thing is huge! Covers ALL your RAM slots and part of a PCIE slot. Jesus!

install8_small.jpg
 
Yeah, if yours is still working fine I'd just keep using it...unless, like me, you couldn't get a good seat on a new MB with an H80i because of capacitors getting in the way. D:

Of course...that's just an excuse I made to spend more money on my computer. lol
 
I found out who made the liquid cooler in my system. A company called AVC. I had never heard of them before and there doesn't seem to be much info that I could find. What i did find out was they seem to be like the Foxconn of cooling and make coolers for other companies. Enermax and Asetek came up a lot.

Are you guys familiar with AVC coolers?
 
asetek owns the patent for aio coolers so they pretty much control the market (and which is why they're pretty much all the same). There's enough copper in the block usually to keep your cpu from melting away. The water will work like a heatpipe and move some heat away while your cpu throttles at load. I had a kink in an itx build once. Temps were high, but the CPU controlled itself and allowed me a chance to catch it. I wouldn't worry about failure too much.
 
I think that you have to buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo and that is all. Silent and good performance.
 
eze_cba17 said:
I think that you have to buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo and that is all. Silent and good performance.
Click to expand...

while i agree that the evo is excellent and a much better guaranteed longterm solution with less chance of failure -- the rate at which it brings a cpu from hot under-load to idle, will be much longer than most of the decent aio water coolers (which are also 1.5x-2x+ more expensive) :(
 
eze_cba17 said:
I think that you have to buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo and that is all. Silent and good performance.
Click to expand...

That is all unless youre wanting to do some heavy duty overclocking. I had one for a while and still keep it around as a backup and it is an excellent cooler and easily the best on the market dollar for dollar. However, once I moved up to my 8150, it couldnt keep up. It was ok up to 4.3 but anything over that and it ran out of horsepower pretty quick.
 
I'm thinking about doing this too, I have a Corsair H80 that's nearly 5 years old. The pump is very loud and mildly irritating. I'm thinking about getting a Phanteks PH-TC14PE because I figure it will be quite a bit quieter.

Waiting for Sky Lake to see if I'm going to upgrade my CPU at the same time or not. If it's not fantastic I might just keep my 2500K a bit longer.
 
Other than the pump going bad/making noise and possibly the fan dying how likely is it for leaks to happen with these all-in-one units? Would you say its rare?
 
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My H80i hasn't leaked in the year or two that I've used it (no longer using it, in favor of a custom loop), but I guess it depends on the quality of your particular unit and what kind of abuse you put it through, if any.
 
Yeah everybody can make a lemon or two but I think it's extremely rare. Corsair used to offer to pay for your rig if their AIO leaked and fried anything. Don't know if they still do that though. That was a few years ago when they first came out. My H100 has been perfect. Superb cooling and enough that I can keep it on the low fan setting which makes it close to silent. No complaints in the 3 years Ive has this.
 
MacLeod said:
Looking at those D15 pictures and I remember why I went AIO. Gawdamighty that thing is huge! Covers ALL your RAM slots and part of a PCIE slot. Jesus!
Click to expand...

I never liked having all that weight torquing the board either.

I have 4 AIOs spread across a few PC's (relatives) and not one issue. I plan to let them run until they die since processors protect themselves from thermals anymore. Not like they burst into flames (or at least a "pop") like the good old days. :)
 
When it's broken, you want more performance, or the upgrade bug hits you...

You know the rule, "If it ain't broke, fix it 'till it is."
 
I was using a Noctua NH-D14 for awhile while being a great Cooler it was a PIA to work on anything with how much space it took up. I sold it for a great loss but did have it for awhile could of probably just kept it for the fans but didn't need them.

I picked up the Swiftech H240-X CPU and I'm glad I did been rock solid last few weeks doesn't block anything.

The Noctua NH-D14 covered up any quick access I needed on my Memory Dimms and also would take up the 1st lane on the MB which I knew before buying but my motherboard at that time was only a 1x lane at the first spot when I changed MB it was my full 3.0 16x lane and then that's when I looked for something else.
 
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