When to replace that older AIO?

[revenant]

I have been using the same Corsair H115i Extreme with a push/pull config since July 2017... 6 years now! It does cool my 13700k ok but until I made changes in the bios to restrict the default settings from applying loads of vcore at load it would hit 100c fast and throttle back.. using prime now it hits 90c fast and hovers in the low 90s.. gaming is normally 40c to 60c depending.. D4 it's in the 50s most of the time. It's a gaming only system that isn't on all the time but this cooler has some hours on it. I am usually a don't fix it if it aint broke person but with AIOs and PSUs after a time period I start getting that "hmmmmmm" feeling. It's passed it's 5y warranty and I read most have a 5 to 6 year warranty so I am thinking maybe it's time.. might be evaporation issues after this long.. I mean it's sealed and all but who knows.. I read the coolant can gum up after time too.. mine is the Asetek flavor of these.. The way this is installed i'll have to rip the whole front of my PC apart.. but oh well boo hoo hahah..

When do you all normally replace your AIO??

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

As far as I am concerned, it's the pump that has the moving parts that wear on it, so that is the biggest failure concern, but from a pump perspective you can continue to use it until it dies and you'll find out when it gets too hot (or you hear bad pump noises). No worries there.

The second factor is coolant drying up. Yes, even plastic and rubber are slightly moisture permeable, and over long periods of time, even without leaks, the coolant will evaporate through them. There is no such thing as a completely moisture impermeable barrier. Again, you can continue using it until you notice a degradation in performance or pump noise, which would be indications that a replacement or fix are needed. You CAN refill these AIO's but most people probably aren't comfortable doing that.

Then there is the risk of something breaking and causing a leak, but unless you are abusing the tubing that is rather unlikely. If it has been in use this long without failing, you probably don't have any manufacturing defects, so unless you are really tugging/pushing on that tubing you are likely fine.

In other words, if it is still working, no need to replace it.

All of that said, I've had tons of these things over the years, and have never actually needed to replace them (except one under warranty once), but that is probably because I kept upgrading at a rapid pace and then moved to a custom loop 7 years ago.

 

[revenant]

Thanks for this detailed reply. Alright maybe I got a bad seat when I put the block on for this one.. I feel like the cpu temps are higher than they should be but they are far from bad while gaming etc.. and I am not overclocking so it's not a big deal.. I did put the pump speed to max and it dropped the temps a few C so there is something in there being pumped around lol. I guess I won't fret over this until it I hear pump noises or something..

yeah I used to rip through hardware yearly so components like this just got replaced frequently.. this is the first one I have kept for so long!

Thanks again for your take on this!

 

[drutman]

I used to run a nano characterization center and our XRD/XRF instruments had Haskris R100C chiller systems and the pumps were composed of solid brass impellers and they had a definite life span.
When they fail all you would find is brass shavings in the cooler enclosure floor pan. About 5K a piece for a new chiller. Cost of new Xray tube 50K. Plumbed into cold treated water from univ cooling tower.
My NZXT AIO plastic impeller pump lasted longer than the professional grade ones in the Haskris too much stress, brass is soft.

 

[Peat Moss]

Due to the high temps of latest gen CPUs, I'm actually considering an AIO for the first time. But I have questions:

1) What kind of maintenance is required?

2) How long do AIOs last? Is the pump usually the first thing to go?

3) Which AIOs have the quietest pump?

4) how do I know where the best placement in the case is? (I have this case: https://phanteks.com/Eclipse-P600s.html)

 

[kirbyrj]

I have been using the same Corsair H115i Extreme with a push/pull config since July 2017... 6 years now! It does cool my 13700k ok but until I made changes in the bios to restrict the default settings from applying loads of vcore at load it would hit 100c fast and throttle back.. using prime now it hits 90c fast and hovers in the low 90s.. gaming is normally 40c to 60c depending.. D4 it's in the 50s most of the time. It's a gaming only system that isn't on all the time but this cooler has some hours on it. I am usually a don't fix it if it aint broke person but with AIOs and PSUs after a time period I start getting that "hmmmmmm" feeling. It's passed it's 5y warranty and I read most have a 5 to 6 year warranty so I am thinking maybe it's time.. might be evaporation issues after this long.. I mean it's sealed and all but who knows.. I read the coolant can gum up after time too.. mine is the Asetek flavor of these.. The way this is installed i'll have to rip the whole front of my PC apart.. but oh well boo hoo hahah..

When do you all normally replace your AIO??

When I was using a 13700k, most of my loads were in the 40-60C range like you said with my AIO (EK 360). The only times it would spike like you're talking about is if I were doing a CB23 run or something. I think your AIO is still working fine.

 

[auntjemima]

I have been using the same Corsair H115i Extreme with a push/pull config since July 2017... 6 years now! It does cool my 13700k ok but until I made changes in the bios to restrict the default settings from applying loads of vcore at load it would hit 100c fast and throttle back.. using prime now it hits 90c fast and hovers in the low 90s.. gaming is normally 40c to 60c depending.. D4 it's in the 50s most of the time. It's a gaming only system that isn't on all the time but this cooler has some hours on it. I am usually a don't fix it if it aint broke person but with AIOs and PSUs after a time period I start getting that "hmmmmmm" feeling. It's passed it's 5y warranty and I read most have a 5 to 6 year warranty so I am thinking maybe it's time.. might be evaporation issues after this long.. I mean it's sealed and all but who knows.. I read the coolant can gum up after time too.. mine is the Asetek flavor of these.. The way this is installed i'll have to rip the whole front of my PC apart.. but oh well boo hoo hahah..

When do you all normally replace your AIO??

I'm still running an original H100. Not the "i", just the old boy. Been running that since my c2q 6600. Be safe out there.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Due to the high temps of latest gen CPUs, I'm actually considering an AIO for the first time. But I have questions:

1) What kind of maintenance is required?

None really. They are typically sealed systems. You just install them and you are good to go.

Eventually the coolant will dry out but that will be a very long time down the road.

Maybe clean out dust every once and a while just like you would with a normal heatsink?

2) How long do AIOs last? Is the pump usually the first thing to go?

Out of the 10 or so units I have had, I had one Corsair unit fail once after about 4 years and it was replaced under the 5 year warranty.

The rest worked until I no longer needed them and decommissioned them

Anything can fail, but AIO's don't have any more of an explicit shelf life than any other PC hardware.

3) Which AIOs have the quietest pump?

I'm not up to speed with the latest models, so I can't speak to which are the quietest today. Generally they are All pretty quiet though. The fans are likely to be louder than the pump.

4) how do I know where the best placement in the case is? (I have this case: https://phanteks.com/Eclipse-P600s.html)

Just try to arrange it so you don't get air blockages. That's really the only big deal to avoid.

Other than that, use them as an intake if you want cool ambient air to cool the CPU. Use it as an exhaust if you can tolerate slightly higher CPU temps and would rather not dump heat inside the case (like if you have a traditional air cooled GPU you want to keep cooler)

You may ahve to get creative when it comes to spacing and your case. Play close attention to the dimensions of the AIO you get, as well as fan thickness. Also, the tubing length can sometimes prevent installing it in the front in larger cases.

Other than that it doesn't really matter.

 

[Peat Moss]

None really. They are typically sealed systems. You just install them and you are good to go.

Eventually the coolant will dry out but that will be a very long time down the road.

Maybe clean out dust every once and a while just like you would with a normal heatsink?



Out of the 10 or so units I have had, I had one Corsair unit fail once after about 4 years and it was replaced under the 5 year warranty.

The rest worked until I no longer needed them and decommissioned them

Anything can fail, but AIO's don't have any more of an explicit shelf life than any other PC hardware.




I'm not up to speed with the latest models, so I can't speak to which are the quietest today. Generally they are All pretty quiet though. The fans are likely to be louder than the pump.





Just try to arrange it so you don't get air blockages. That's really the only big deal to avoid.

Other than that, use them as an intake if you want cool ambient air to cool the CPU. Use it as an exhaust if you can tolerate slightly higher CPU temps and would rather not dump heat inside the case (like if you have a traditional air cooled GPU you want to keep cooler)

You may ahve to get creative when it comes to spacing and your case. Play close attention to the dimensions of the AIO you get, as well as fan thickness. Also, the tubing length can sometimes prevent installing it in the front in larger cases.

Other than that it doesn't really matter.

Thanks so much. If I place a 360mm or 420 mm AIO in the front, would I still need front intake fans? Or do the fans on the AIO effectively replace those by drawing in outside air?

 

[ChoGGi]

Probably not needed, but the rad will reduce the airflow.
I do a push/pull on my intake rad, but I like lots of fans spinning slower instead of less fans spinning faster.

btw you'll be fine since you're getting a big rad, but just remember that you want (at least part of) the rad to be above the pump. You want any air to be collecting in the rad, not the pump.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Thanks so much. If I place a 360mm or 420 mm AIO in the front, would I still need front intake fans? Or do the fans on the AIO effectively replace those by drawing in outside air?

Your radiator fans can replace your case fans, but I usually install both (if there is enough room) that way you have case fans even when the CPU isn't calling for more fan, and it can give you a little bit of a push-pull config. It likely requires selecting of fans that have a little bit more static pressure or they won't get much if any flow through the radiators.

But that is just a matter of preference, and you may not have enough space for it depending on your case anyway. The fans may only be 25mm thick each, but add two fan thicknesses and a radiator thickness and before you know it you are taking up 75mm which is not an insignificant amount of space.

The important part is to think of how you want your air flow going through your system

Ideally you want it all to go in a similar direction, so the fans aren't fighting each other or causing turbulence. As much of a "laminar flow" as you can accomplish.

The most popular configuration is probably "in through radiator in front and out through top and rear" or In through front, and out through radiator in top and rear fan."

But you can totally mix this up. Most are inclined to direct their flow so they aren't fighting physics. Since hot air tends to want to rise, they want to push the air in the same direction. This really isn't necessary. The general convection you'll see from heat will be so small compared to the flow the fans will provide, even at low speed, that it will be mostly negligible, so feel free to experiment and mix things up, depending on what works for you.

If the only way you can make things fit is having the radiator on the top, and you really want to intake across the radiator, try it. You can pull in from the top if you want to.

As a general rule pushing air through a radiator is more effective (gets cooler) than pulling air through a radiator, but pulling air through tends to be a little quieter. Push-pull (fans on both sides of the radiator) is more effective and quieter than either, but takes more space, which you may or may not have.

It's counter intuitive, but lets say you have a 240mm (2x 120mm) radiator. Putting four fans on it (two on each side) in a push-pull configuration is generally going to be much quieter and cooler than just having two on either side. It turns out that running fans slower and doubling them up is more effective and quieter than running single fans faster.

Just try to arrange it so you don't get air blockages. That's really the only big deal to avoid.

To revisit this for a moment, the best way to mount the AIO is with the radiator higher than the pump, that way you avoid air bubbles in the pump.

You also want to whenever possible, if the radiator is mounted vertically, have the hoses pointing down if possible, rather than up, as this way any air bubbles are less likely to stay in the radiator and not be sucked through the hoses and wind up in the pump.

 

[Peat Moss]

Probably not needed, but the rad will reduce the airflow.
I do a push/pull on my intake rad, but I like lots of fans spinning slower instead of less fans spinning faster.

btw you'll be fine since you're getting a big rad, but just remember that you want (at least part of) the rad to be above the pump. You want any air to be collecting in the rad, not the pump.

Yup, the rad positioned with tubes on the bottom going up to the CPU / pump. Any air will tend to percolate to the top part of the rad and stay there, rather than being drawn towards the pump.

I was on the SPCR forums (Silent PC Review) for many years. Very few forum members are liquid cooling users. The general consensus is/was that air coolers are usually the better choice for quieter operation. It's the one thing I'm still a bit squeamish about regarding liquid cooling. I'm not completely confident an AIO is going to be as quiet as a premium air cooler. But I'm open to being convinced.

The only reason I'm leaning towards liquid cooling is I just want to be able to fully utilize the clock speeds of the latest gen CPUs without thermal throttling. I'm hoping that a good AIO will not go too far over 30 dBA or make distracting gurgling sounds..

 

[ChoGGi]

> I'm hoping that a good AIO will not go too far over 30 dBA or make distracting gurgling sounds..
Unless you go with arctic or ek aio, they all use asetek pumps (far as I know). I've never heard a pump, so you'd have to ask someone else. Noctua does make fan air spacers to help reduce the sucking sound for pull fans (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BJ2R8YMW). I'd like to say they help, but I don't have a decibel meter

The only time I've heard gurgling was with a 5 year old 120mm rad with the tubes on the top (and that was only when it spun up after shutdown).

 

[Keljian]

Yup, the rad positioned with tubes on the bottom going up to the CPU / pump. Any air will tend to percolate to the top part of the rad and stay there, rather than being drawn towards the pump.

I was on the SPCR forums (Silent PC Review) for many years. Very few forum members are liquid cooling users. The general consensus is/was that air coolers are usually the better choice for quieter operation. It's the one thing I'm still a bit squeamish about regarding liquid cooling. I'm not completely confident an AIO is going to be as quiet as a premium air cooler. But I'm open to being convinced.

The only reason I'm leaning towards liquid cooling is I just want to be able to fully utilize the clock speeds of the latest gen CPUs without thermal throttling. I'm hoping that a good AIO will not go too far over 30 dBA or make distracting gurgling sounds.

I said this elsewhere… I’ll echo it here

AIOs:

• Last 6-7 years on average, up to 10-12 at most - but this is powered on 24/7
  • Wear factors include fans, pump, evaporation of coolant
  • If the computer is shut down/fans/aio off when not in use and not in a hot environment, you'll find they will last more than 8 years
• Pump life is usually 60,000-80,000 powered on hours (6.8 years to 9.1 years)
  • Likely to get noisy (wooshing sounds) when the coolant evaporates to a certain point which tells you when it's time to change it
• Take up less room around the CPU which:
  • Gives you room to work on parts like ram/ssds/graphics cards (without removing the aio)
  • Keeps VRMs cooler
  • Is easier to remove if required
  • Require a case that supports it (most do)
• Have more parts that can fail(per the first point) so warranty/guarantee is important
  • Most (good) brands have 5-6 year warranties (e.g. deepcool on some models, ek, arctic)
• Have greater thermal mass which means that it takes longer for them to heat up
  • This means that high transient loads of around 10minutes won't thermally saturate the cooler
  • Fans can run lower over the period to reach thermal saturation - therefore the fans can have a long "hysteresis" period where they react slowly to changes in temperature - which reduces noise
• Easy to clean
• Need to be mounted correctly (radiator and tubes must be above the pump)
  • The best configurations mount the radiators in the top of the case
  • If front mounted, the top of the radiator needs to be higher than the CPU block or pump
  • Tubes shouldn't be the highest point in the loop
• 120/240mm AIOs are not usually worth it
  • They don't perform well enough to justify the extra complication
  • Worth it only in SFF builds where they are the only option
• 280/360/420mm AIOs have greater surface area than air coolers and therefore can dissipate more heat than air coolers - but look at reviews to make sure that the exact model you're looking at is enough for what you're doing
  • TLDR, get a 360/420mm AIO from a reputable brand for a high power processor

Heatsinks

• Last as long as their fans last, then the fans can be replaced
  • Noctua fans last approximately 150,000 hours in general (17 years)
  • Bequiet are nearly as good at 120,000 hours (13.5 years)
  • Arctic fans are 80,000 hours unless you're talking their FDB fans
• Always provide cooling
  • No pump/coolant to wear out means that there is "passive" cooling even if the fans die.
• Need to be mounted correctly
  • Airflow should be front to back through a heatsink, not top->bottom or bottom to top in most cases
• More difficult to clean as you need to take a heatsink off to clean dust off (usually)
• Less thermal mass (Noctua d15 will saturate in around 90 seconds) which means fans need to run faster for transient loads, so more noise
• Some are heavy
  • Means that moving a computer around with a heatsink attached can damage the motherboard

For both AIOs and heatsinks, manufacturers often offer brackets to extend the life of the cooler.

I have an arctic liquid freezer ii 360 on my 13900k.. it is very close to silent unless I push the machine hard

 

[Peat Moss]

I said this elsewhere… I’ll echo it here

AIOs:

• Last 6-7 years on average, up to 10-12 at most - but this is powered on 24/7
  • Wear factors include fans, pump, evaporation of coolant
  • If the computer is shut down/fans/aio off when not in use and not in a hot environment, you'll find they will last more than 8 years
• Pump life is usually 60,000-80,000 powered on hours (6.8 years to 9.1 years)
  • Likely to get noisy (wooshing sounds) when the coolant evaporates to a certain point which tells you when it's time to change it
• Take up less room around the CPU which:
  • Gives you room to work on parts like ram/ssds/graphics cards (without removing the aio)
  • Keeps VRMs cooler
  • Is easier to remove if required
  • Require a case that supports it (most do)
• Have more parts that can fail(per the first point) so warranty/guarantee is important
  • Most (good) brands have 5-6 year warranties (e.g. deepcool on some models, ek, arctic)
• Have greater thermal mass which means that it takes longer for them to heat up
  • This means that high transient loads of \~10minutes won't thermally saturate the cooler
  • Fans can run lower over the period to reach thermal saturation - therefore the fans can have a long "hysteresis" period where they react slowly to changes in temperature - which reduces noise
• Easy to clean
• Need to be mounted correctly (radiator and tubes must be above the pump)
  • The best configurations mount the radiators in the top of the case
  • If front mounted, the top of the radiator needs to be higher than the CPU block or pump
  • Tubes shouldn't be the highest point in the loop
• 120/240mm AIOs are not usually worth it
  • They don't perform well enough to justify the extra complication
  • Worth it only in SFF builds where they are the only option
• 280/360/420mm AIOs have greater surface area than air coolers and therefore can dissipate more heat than air coolers - but look at reviews to make sure that the exact model you're looking at is enough for what you're doing
  • TLDR, get a 360/420mm AIO from a reputable brand for a high power processor

Heatsinks

• Last as long as their fans last, then the fans can be replaced
  • Noctua fans last approximately 150,000 hours in general (17 years)
  • Bequiet are nearly as good at 120,000 hours (13.5 years)
  • Arctic fans are 80,000 hours unless you're talking their FDB fans
• Always provide cooling
  • No pump/coolant to wear out means that there is "passive" cooling even if the fans die.
• Need to be mounted correctly
  • Airflow should be front to back through a heatsink, not top->bottom or bottom to top in most cases
• More difficult to clean as you need to take a heatsink off to clean dust off (usually)
• Less thermal mass (Noctua d15 will saturate in \~90 seconds) which means fans need to run faster for transient loads, so more noise
• Some are heavy
  • Means that moving a computer around with a heatsink attached can damage the motherboard

For both AIOs and heatsinks, manufacturers often offer brackets to extend the life of the cooler.

I have an arctic liquid freezer ii 360 on my 13900k.. it is very close to silent unless I push the machine hard

Wow.....thanks so much Keljian.

So, lately I've been looking at the DeepCool LT720, the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360, and 420. How often do companies like DeepCool and Arctic release new versions? Is it a relatively predictable cadence, or is it pretty random?

I'm waiting for the Raptor Lake Refresh to do a build (my first). So I'll probably have a whole bunch of questions then. (e.g. I'm still not sure what a push-pull fan configuration means in an AIO radiator. I know what it means on an air cooler).

 

[ChoGGi]

The arctic 2 came out in 2019, and I believe the original came out in 2015? If you do go with them (I just got the 420 last week), the little vrm fan is noticeable.

> I'm still not sure what a push-pull fan configuration means in an AIO radiator. I know what it means on an air cooler
It means the same thing as air cooling, though the aio you buy will only come with fans for one side (at least all the ones I've bought).

 

[Keljian]

Wow.....thanks so much Keljian.

So, lately I've been looking at the DeepCool LT720, the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360, and 420. How often do companies like DeepCool and Arctic release new versions? Is it a relatively predictable cadence, or is it pretty random?

you’re welcome!

The LFII is on revision 7, I don’t know when the new revision will come out. New AIO releases seem to be pretty random

I'm waiting for the Raptor Lake Refresh to do a build (my first). So I'll probably have a whole bunch of questions then. (e.g. I'm still not sure what a push-pull fan configuration means in an AIO radiator. I know what it means on an air cooler).

Push pull on an aio just means having fans on both sides with the airflow set up so one fan is pushing air through to the next. Same as an air cooler.

 

[Peat Moss]

you’re welcome!

The LFII is on revision 7, I don’t know when the new revision will come out. New AIO releases seem to be pretty random

Push pull on an aio just means having fans on both sides with the airflow set up so one fan is pushing air through to the next. Same as an air cooler.

I'm trying to visualize it for a top mounted AIO. So there would be the radiator fans pushing exhausted air out the top, plus top mounted case fans pulling it out? Is there normally room for both case fans and a radiator on the ceiling of the case?

 

[Keljian]

I'm trying to visualize it for a top mounted AIO. So there would be the radiator fans pushing exhausted air out the top, plus top mounted case fans pulling it out? Is there normally room for both case fans and a radiator on the ceiling of the case?

The benefit you would get vs the extra complexity is just not worth it to me.. but yes, that is how it would be done

 

[ng4ever]

I said this elsewhere… I’ll echo it here

AIOs:

• Last 6-7 years on average, up to 10-12 at most - but this is powered on 24/7
  • Wear factors include fans, pump, evaporation of coolant
  • If the computer is shut down/fans/aio off when not in use and not in a hot environment, you'll find they will last more than 8 years
• Pump life is usually 60,000-80,000 powered on hours (6.8 years to 9.1 years)
  • Likely to get noisy (wooshing sounds) when the coolant evaporates to a certain point which tells you when it's time to change it
• Take up less room around the CPU which:
  • Gives you room to work on parts like ram/ssds/graphics cards (without removing the aio)
  • Keeps VRMs cooler
  • Is easier to remove if required
  • Require a case that supports it (most do)
• Have more parts that can fail(per the first point) so warranty/guarantee is important
  • Most (good) brands have 5-6 year warranties (e.g. deepcool on some models, ek, arctic)
• Have greater thermal mass which means that it takes longer for them to heat up
  • This means that high transient loads of around 10minutes won't thermally saturate the cooler
  • Fans can run lower over the period to reach thermal saturation - therefore the fans can have a long "hysteresis" period where they react slowly to changes in temperature - which reduces noise
• Easy to clean
• Need to be mounted correctly (radiator and tubes must be above the pump)
  • The best configurations mount the radiators in the top of the case
  • If front mounted, the top of the radiator needs to be higher than the CPU block or pump
  • Tubes shouldn't be the highest point in the loop
• 120/240mm AIOs are not usually worth it
  • They don't perform well enough to justify the extra complication
  • Worth it only in SFF builds where they are the only option
• 280/360/420mm AIOs have greater surface area than air coolers and therefore can dissipate more heat than air coolers - but look at reviews to make sure that the exact model you're looking at is enough for what you're doing
  • TLDR, get a 360/420mm AIO from a reputable brand for a high power processor

Heatsinks

• Last as long as their fans last, then the fans can be replaced
  • Noctua fans last approximately 150,000 hours in general (17 years)
  • Bequiet are nearly as good at 120,000 hours (13.5 years)
  • Arctic fans are 80,000 hours unless you're talking their FDB fans
• Always provide cooling
  • No pump/coolant to wear out means that there is "passive" cooling even if the fans die.
• Need to be mounted correctly
  • Airflow should be front to back through a heatsink, not top->bottom or bottom to top in most cases
• More difficult to clean as you need to take a heatsink off to clean dust off (usually)
• Less thermal mass (Noctua d15 will saturate in around 90 seconds) which means fans need to run faster for transient loads, so more noise
• Some are heavy
  • Means that moving a computer around with a heatsink attached can damage the motherboard

For both AIOs and heatsinks, manufacturers often offer brackets to extend the life of the cooler.

I have an arctic liquid freezer ii 360 on my 13900k.. it is very close to silent unless I push the machine hard

I just got a ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 and love it! Much better than my previous AIO that I returned.

Keeps the 14900k nice and cool!

​

 

[LukeTbk]

• • TLDR, get a 360/420mm AIO from a reputable brand for a high power processor

280 and 360 are very similar surface wise and because of the 140mm fans they sometime perform better I fully echo that the 120-140mm are not a good idea usually, but between 360-280 it could be in a lot of case simply going with the cheaper one that will fill the case the best.

 

[ng4ever]

Looks like I will look at the EK AIO Nucleus CR360 too supposedly cools a little better. By 4 to 6 degrees cooler hmm.

 

[ng4ever]

I just hate that you have to buy a lga 1700 upgrade kit if you can find it.

 

[Keljian]

280 and 360 are very similar surface wise and because of the 140mm fans they sometime perform better I fully echo that the 120-140mm are not a good idea usually, but between 360-280 it could be in a lot of case simply going with the cheaper one that will fill the case the best.

I still think the 360 is strictly better than 280 mm due to volume of coolant.

On my 13900k I have the “average” temperature of the processor over 30 seconds change the speed of the fans/pump as even a little flow is enough to keep things cool, then slowly ramp up as more heat is produced. It doesn’t change peak temps, and doesn’t saturate the thermal mass.

 

[LukeTbk]

I still think the 360 is strictly better than 280 mm due to volume of coolant.

It should make sense and they have a bit more surface as well but in test the 280 often perform a tiny bit better or equal even at lower rpm:
https://techbuyersguru.com/article/choosing-an-aio-liquid-cpu-cooler-280mm-vs-360mm/

Could just be that with 2 instead of 3 fan to buy for the aio sellr or the marketplace of available 140mm fans vs 120mm tend to make AIO choose better fans on the 280mm kit than the 360 mm one ? Or that inherently 140mm fan have an advantage in terms of percentage of their surface that actually push air that make up for the 10% or so smaller surface...

I remember when I was on the market for the arctic Freezer 280 vs 360 review made it look like picking the one currently cheaper was the way to go if the 280mm was not the better pick even.

 

[DrezKill]

I have a Corsair H100i purchased in September 2014 that has seen daily, all-day use since. Gonna be 10 years this Fall. Easily lasted nearly twice as long as the 5-year warranty. I probably won't be re-using it with any future systems though.

 

[Peat Moss]

Looks like I will look at the EK AIO Nucleus CR360 too supposedly cools a little better. By 4 to 6 degrees cooler hmm.

I recently bought it on a sale that I couldn't resist. I got the dark / black one, not the RGB one. Hoping all the glowing reviews are true.

Since the time I bought it, I've decided to wait with my build until Arrow Lake.