I took apart my AIO after 8+ years of use

[cheef]

I used my Corsair H60 AIO for more than 8 years in different Systems.

Recently the pump stopped while in use and tripped the temp limit on my CPU.

While i was able to unclogg it by tapping on it I took it as a sign to finally upgrade.

 

Later i took the AIO apart and got some interesting pictures of what happens with an AIO after such a long time that i wanted to share. (Dear God i didnt upgrade a second too early)

First of all the coolant i drained

Lots of piece in there, probably some kind of corrosion/abrasion, not good

 

On top of the copper heat spreader was this rubber part (from the inside). Normally there is a gap in the middle of this part where the pump pushes the coolant

trough, to get to the finns. Its completly clogged with sludge. Probably made the pump struggle a lot.

 

Now to the main part, the copper plate.

How?

At this point i was realy suprised that this AIO worked at all. All the channels and the middle where the pump pushes coolant trough are completly stuck with sludge.

 

 

I guess AIO arent meant to be used that long? I could have kept using it by sometimes tapping on the cover, but taking it apart made me glad i upgraded.

 

this isnt to rip on corsair, just thought this was interesting and wanted to share.

 

 

 

[Levent]

I have had AIO cold plates look worse during their warranty period (2 years) than that. H60 wasn’t a great cooler to begin with, I’m surprised yours lasted this long.

[freeagent]

Wow! Look at all the different civilizations! 

 

Most impressive 

[cheef]

12 minutes ago, Levent said:

I have had AIO cold plates look worse during their warranty period (2 years) than that. H60 wasn’t a great cooler to begin with, I’m surprised yours lasted this long.

I am surprised too. I assumed AIO would be fine for whatever time until this made me google the avg AIO life expectency

 

Also, how do you get something to look like that in 2 years???? i thought this was "bad".

[RevGAM]

1 hour ago, cheef said:

I used my Corsair H60 AIO for more than 8 years in different Systems.

Recently the pump stopped while in use and tripped the temp limit on my CPU.

While i was able to unclogg it by tapping on it I took it as a sign to finally upgrade.

 

Later i took the AIO apart and got some interesting pictures of what happens with an AIO after such a long time that i wanted to share. (Dear God i didnt upgrade a second too early)

First of all the coolant i drained

Lots of piece in there, probably some kind of corrosion/abrasion, not good

 

On top of the copper heat spreader was this rubber part (from the inside). Normally there is a gap in the middle of this part where the pump pushes the coolant

trough, to get to the finns. Its completly clogged with sludge. Probably made the pump struggle a lot.

 

Now to the main part, the copper plate.

How?

At this point i was realy suprised that this AIO worked at all. All the channels and the middle where the pump pushes coolant trough are completly stuck with sludge.

 

 

I guess AIO arent meant to be used that long? I could have kept using it by sometimes tapping on the cover, but taking it apart made me glad i upgraded.

 

this isnt to rip on corsair, just thought this was interesting and wanted to share.

 

 

 

Cut open the tubes - I suspect you might see that they were eroding...

[alyen]

I always knew there was a good chance of noticeable growth within a few years from the time liquid was put into the loop since parts are not perfecly free of organic contamination to begin with. Glad someone went through the trouble to show this.  Thanks for sharing this with us. I probably have to open my Deep Cool Castle 360 version 1 next year.

 

[thevictor390]

This is pretty interesting. I'm using an H100i I got used in 2017, it predates AM4 as I had to order a bracket. Still works fine.

[Agall]

I've got some old ass AIOs I could do the same to, one being a Corsair 240mm AIO with the modular colored rings around the block from probably 2014/2015. Currently attached to my 4790k. I know its quite old but I could probably track down Newegg purchase history, its been on either that 4790k or the Titan X I had it mounted on back in 2015.

[cheef]

19 hours ago, thevictor390 said:

This is pretty interesting. I'm using an H100i I got used in 2017, it predates AM4 as I had to order a bracket. Still works fine.

 

19 hours ago, Agall said:

I've got some old ass AIOs I could do the same to, one being a Corsair 240mm AIO with the modular colored rings around the block from probably 2014/2015. Currently attached to my 4790k. I know its quite old but I could probably track down Newegg purchase history, its been on either that 4790k or the Titan X I had it mounted on back in 2015.

I first had this on a  i5 3450 about a year after it came out and kept reusing it in newer systems up to an AM5 system recently, where it still worked fine.

I am not even upset about it breaking after such a long time, but I was somewhat unaware that this is something you have to worry about with AIOs.

[Agall]

8 minutes ago, cheef said:

 

I first had this on a  i5 3450 about a year after it came out and kept reusing it in newer systems up to an AM5 system recently, where it still worked fine.

I am not even upset about it breaking after such a long time, but I was somewhat unaware that this is something you have to worry about with AIOs.

If it doesn't eventually fail from wear or debris, they'll eventually lose enough fluid through evaporation through the slightly porous tubing that'll cause the unit to need to be serviced/replaced.

 

I've tried to avoid AIOs now a days even though I used to mount them on GPUs. Was always far cheaper than custom water cooling by like 5x with similar performance advantages. Air coolers now are quite advanced and case design has caught up, especially in the SFF category.

[Xenres]

On 11/29/2023 at 3:10 PM, Agall said:

If it doesn't eventually fail from wear or debris, they'll eventually lose enough fluid through evaporation through the slightly porous tubing that'll cause the unit to need to be serviced/replaced.

 

I've tried to avoid AIOs now a days even though I used to mount them on GPUs. Was always far cheaper than custom water cooling by like 5x with similar performance advantages. Air coolers now are quite advanced and case design has caught up, especially in the SFF category.

Problem i have if you like looks fan cooler on cpu looks absolutely horrendus for me no matter what D: I will always go with AiO :x

[Agall]

1 hour ago, Xenres said:

Problem i have if you like looks fan cooler on cpu looks absolutely horrendus for me no matter what D: I will always go with AiO :x

I'm a function > form radical for pretty much everything except my mustache, which is entirely impractical. Large air coolers are just more practical, as someone who's bought dozens of AIOs over the years and even has a new EKWB 280mm Elite collecting dust right now.

[Xenres]

6 hours ago, Agall said:

I'm a function > form radical for pretty much everything except my mustache, which is entirely impractical. Large air coolers are just more practical, as someone who's bought dozens of AIOs over the years and even has a new EKWB 280mm Elite collecting dust right now.

I had 2 both lasted 7years so im satisfied xD for me now when I have decent £££ needs to look apart :x its just preference xD

[RevGAM]

15 hours ago, Agall said:

I'm a function > form radical for pretty much everything except my mustache, which is entirely impractical. Large air coolers are just more practical, as someone who's bought dozens of AIOs over the years and even has a new EKWB 280mm Elite collecting dust right now.

Is that the push-pull EK? I looked into buying the 360 Elite and wasn't impressed with the fans - they seemed kinda weak, so I would've removed the extras to use in the case.

[Agall]

46 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Is that the push-pull EK? I looked into buying the 360 Elite and wasn't impressed with the fans - they seemed kinda weak, so I would've removed the extras to use in the case.

I didn't like the EKWB Vardars either, ended up using Noctuas/FD case fans instead. The AIO itself is stellar though, but my requirements for that usually involve simplicity. The pump included is nuts if you drive it full blast, I ended up fixing mine at 60% since it was the highest speed that wasn't audible.

[Agall]

9 hours ago, Xenres said:

I had 2 both lasted 7years so im satisfied xD for me now when I have decent £££ needs to look apart :x its just preference xD

I've had similar longevity experience, even with units that were in 'no no' configurations for years. In comparison to a heat pipe though, there's another mechanical part to fail that's crucial to its functionality, something a heat pipe does through natural circulation and therefore doesn't require a pump. 

 

Personally, I prefer the sleeper aesthetic, where my build looks like a basic Fractal Design North (white) with the mesh side panel and normies would think it was a large office computer, not an absolute top specced gaming PC.