How often do AIO Coolers fail?

[geek on fleek]

Just wondering. Looking to get one soon, and if its worth the risk.

[Gungpae]

I bought a refurbrished one that lasted me for about a year and a half. Could only imagine it lasting for more than two years at least.

[geek on fleek]

Just now, Gungpae said:

I bought a refurbrished one that lasted me for about a year and a half. Could only imagine it lasting for more than two years at least.

I'm more worried about it failing and spilling everywhere. I've had very bad luck with PC components coming DOA

[Skiiwee29]

Its a hard question to ask. Manufactures build things with a certain percentage expected to fail before warranty is up. You could have one that dies within a few weeks/months, or one that lasts you 3 or 4 years.. its really a hard if not impossible question to answer. 

[Gungpae]

Just now, geek on fleek said:

I'm more worried about it failing and spilling everywhere. I've had very bad luck with PC components coming DOA

for aio's, they seal it pretty tight. I tried salvaging the radiator from mine and ended up ruining the tubing

[Skiiwee29]

1 minute ago, geek on fleek said:

I'm more worried about it failing and spilling everywhere. I've had very bad luck with PC components coming DOA

with AIO's it is quite rare for them to form a leak these days. You are more likely to have a pump die on you than it to leak. 

[geek on fleek]

Just now, legacy99 said:

with AIO's it is quite rare for them to form a leak these days. You are more likely to have a pump die on you than it to leak. 

Would you recommend an AIO over air?

[For Science!]

If warranty period is any indication, Corsairs AIOs "should be good" for 5 years at least. Usually it is the pump that dies though, rather than leaks per se.

[Skiiwee29]

2 minutes ago, geek on fleek said:

Would you recommend an AIO over air?

If you get a good air cooler, alot are actually better than some AIOs. Air coolers such as the Cryorig R1 Ultimate, Noctua NH-D15, Phantek TC14 etc... 

[raphidy]

Had a H70 for 5 years, now re purposing for another build. Still solid.

[For Science!]

2 minutes ago, geek on fleek said:

Would you recommend an AIO over air?

A top end air-cooler will perform close to a 240 mm AIO. It is however much heavier and risks unmounting if you move your rig too much. On the otherhand it doesn't it doesn't leak (no fluid, hah). 

 

AIOs also take less space around the CPU socket, but also requires space for a radiator mount. 120mm radiators are completely not worth it though.

[Max_Settings]

Mine's been going strong for almost 3 years

[FiveNine]

You seem like the type of guy that worries about these things. If you want peace of mind, get air and never worry. It's cheaper, on par with performance, quieter, looks worse most of the time..

[geek on fleek]

2 minutes ago, FiveNine said:

You seem like the type of guy that worries about these things. If you want peace of mind, get air and never worry. It's cheaper, on par with performance, quieter, looks worse most of the time..

Yeah i'm just paranoid

[dizmo]

Worth is relative. What's worth it to someone else might not be worth it to you

10 minutes ago, geek on fleek said:

Would you recommend an AIO over air?

Depends on the aesthetic you want. These days that's the only real difference.

5 minutes ago, For Science! said:

A top end air-cooler will perform close to a 240 mm AIO. It is however much heavier and risks unmounting if you move your rig too much. On the otherhand it doesn't it doesn't leak (no fluid, hah). 

 

AIOs also take less space around the CPU socket, but also requires space for a radiator mount. 120mm radiators are completely not worth it though.

That's only true if you ship it, with very shitty packaging, and a rough carrier. The chances of you shaking it off your board from moving your rig around are very, very slim.

5 minutes ago, FiveNine said:

You seem like the type of guy that worries about these things. If you want peace of mind, get air and never worry. It's cheaper, on par with performance, quieter, looks worse most of the time..

Truth.

Though a good air cooler will cost about as much as a lower end liquid cooler.

[zahndy]

I've had a antec kühler h2o 620 leak, it made a puddle on one of the ram heatsinks on a 90deg rotated board.

And now my H55 is sort of failing after exactly 3 years, 3930K hitting 70C+ under half load, tried multiple remounts but they did not help.

 

After looking up some teardowns you can see the radiator is made of aluminum, the block made of copper, and they used anti freeze and maybe something else as inhibitor, and eventually they gunk up. you get the idea that these were never made to last forever.

 

I'm currently thinking about taking the h55 apart, remove the weaker pump impeller, replace the radiator with a copper one and then run it with the spare pump/res combo i have lying around.

[Corsair Blake]

CORSAIR Coolers have a 5 year warranty and if they happen to fail (very low percentage), send it to us and there's a possibility of us swapping out your ruined hardware. We'll basically replace anything that was ruined. 

To answer your original question, they're very reliable. Most of the people who write reviews or chime in on forums that have negatively experiences are quite vocal, however they represent a very very tiny percentage of people. Everyone else who has a fully functioning 3-4 year old unit don't really chime in all that much.