Quick question about closed liquid cooling

[Spacewalrus2010]

I've heard very small chances of these systems leaking. I personally bought a Corsair H105. Thinking about the pros/cons and whether I should return it.

My question comes down to this; if these systems have a chance to leak, is it merely due to being badly put together and would likely happen sooner as a result or can the parts itself degrade thus increasing the chance of leakage over time?

The main thing is, I'd rather not live in fear (I'm paranoid). But I'm also really curious about what I can get out of it.

[Deleted]

My question comes down to this; if these systems have a chance to leak, is it merely due to being badly put together and would likely happen sooner as a result or can the parts itself degrade thus increasing the chance of leakage over time?

Both. I don't see the reason nowdays to go for an AIO solution for the average user. Going for custom loop is another thing. Aio no so much, air coolers have come a long way and at best with a high end one you will have minor differences. Unless you are trying to overclock to max i don't really see the reason to go for one. They produce a lot more noise and you always have the "fear" of something going bad.

[the boar]

i've had a h100i for coming up to 3 years soon.. i have treated the pipes quite rough in all my adventures that involve throwing the radiator around.
while i had a very weird dream the other week that one of the pipes had split open and was leaking blood everywhere, there has been no such real life leakage or even signs that any of the connections are degrading in any horrible way.

i also now have a h55 cooling my graphics card, only for a couple months, but it was purchased used. again no signs of anything worrying.

a lot more noise though? i have nf-f12's on my radiators and.. yeah i can't say they would be any louder than an air cooler?

the pump on my h100i is doing it's thing at 2280rpm and cannot be heard above the fans idling at 500~rpm.. you have to put your head in the case and stick your ear against it to hear it. the pump on the h55 is around 1480rpm and.. yeah, same thing.

the only time they make any noise is if you have just been turning the rads about and making a load of bubbles, you'll hear the bubbles making a "rattling" kinda sound in the pump. but for me the bubbles tend to go away when the pc is off during sleep-time, so like 6-7 hours? never sat down and deliberately timed the minimum settling required though, sounds boring.

there are some situations where having all the heat dumping out of a radiator you can place is a very cool trick, like if your pc is sitting near a window - shoot all that heat straight out of the case and out of the house!
not going to argue about air coolers being just fine and dandy for most users, because it is true. i just am not sure what the "a lot more noise" from an aio comes from, is that a personal bad experience or is there a brand/model that is notorious for pump noise? (i know the older model h55 pump had some issues, but that was a manufacturing thing and corsair replaced those and obv. brought out the updated product without the issue)

tl;dr,
if you have the space for a big lump of metal air cooler in the middle of your case, yeah go for it.
if you are making a powerful and tiny pc for whatever reason, an aio is probably better than some of the "low profile" air coolers i've seen.

to be honest, i reckon you're more likely to be run over by a drunk driver than have an aio leak. or if you live in the states, you're more likely to be a victim of gun violence. if you live in the uk, you are more likely to be stabbed. although that could be a double whammy if you are holding your pc at the time and they also cut your pipe while stabbing you. now that would be some bad luck.

[Lathais]

The reason I don't like AIO liquid coolers is because they're more expensive than air coolers and will at one point break due to having moving parts. Air coolers themselves can't break unless you take a bat to the fins or something and the ones at around $80 perform very well, while the $20-30 ones are good for modest overclocking or reducing noise compared to stock heatsink.

Pretty much the same reason I don't like them, they are more expensive and noisier than their air counterparts. In addition, they do not really cool all that much better. In fact, look here:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/.../NH-D15/6.html

In the Max Load Temps, with an overclock in AIDA64 torture test the NH-D15 was only 3C hotter than the H105. In the more realistic load temps, it's about 4C warmer than the H105. In both cases, temps are at pretty safe levels. Wouldn't run under that torture test for too long, for normal everyday use, those temps are fine. They cost about the same but the NH-D15 is about 11dB quieter under full load and a bit quieter at idle, no chance of leaks and easier to set up. That's just one example, there are plenty of others there. Yeah, the H105 really is a top performer, but not by a lot and is it really worth the risk/hassle?

[Ealyssa]

Built a new PC 2 weeks ago. "Case choice" and "AIO or not" were the 2 hardest choice at the end. The leak risk is really what made the choice hard.

But I went for an AIO, always wanted to try watercooling. But not willing to go for a full loop yet. Bought a corsair H115i. And for now I'm really happy wth it. Handled it with care during build. It feels really sturdy. My case having a side window (hard to find a nice case without these days) I can do a rapid check if they are some drops on my GPU before starting it.

Its really quiet (heard some mixed review before buying. Some said it does a lot of noise. They certainly don't use it correctly. It runs fast when booting the first time and installing windows. But once the corsair link software is in place their is only silence). Temp are excellent (my 6700K is currently at ~22 celsius in idle/web browsing. ~75 on burn OC@4.5Ghz. Will try OC max with more time). And honestly, it looks really nice in the case

Just a thing tho : I directly replaced the thermal paste allready in place by a drop of Thermal-Grizzly hydronaut paste.

[Spacewalrus2010]

Thanks guys for the advice! However, the Hyper Cooler 212 I had wouldn't fit anyways and the AIO looked really cool haha. I called the manufacturer and they said they cover any damage done by leakage, so I'm cool. I have a month or two to wait before a gtx 1080/1070 is available so if it damages my gpu during my first two months, I planned on getting it replaced anyways.

Just a thing tho : I directly replaced the thermal paste allready in place by a drop of Thermal-Grizzly hydronaut paste.

Out of curiosity, why'd you end up replacing the paste? Been told it's alright to use (I don't plan on overclocking really).

[Ealyssa]

Out of curiosity, why'd you end up replacing the paste? Been told it's alright to use (I don't plan on overclocking really).

When buying one of the most expensive cooler for your CPU (compared to AIO/heatsinks) why go with the cheapest paste ? I may have gained 2-3 degrees.

But I'm sure everything would be fine with the pre-applied pad. I just think that this small optimisation was worth it.

[the boar]

i think most pre-applied paste goes crusty and needs replacing after a couple years anyway, whereas you could apply some non-setting stuff now and potentially it'll last til your next pc build (or correct me if i am wrong)