AIO pumps seem to always fail

[Yose17]

Hello! I'm going to be upgrading to an i7-8700k soon and I was thinking about cooling. I've heard that it runs a bit warm so I was thinking that maybe this is an appropriate time to get into water cooling. After looking at many pumps on Amazon and reading the reviews, it seems as if a lot of the pumps for popular AIO coolers (kraken, h100i, etc...) seem to fail either right outside the warranty period or after a couple weeks of use. What's the reason for this? Are there any AIO coolers that are actually reliable? Thanks!

[RAM555789]

I've used the H100i V2 I had bought from a great deal, and its been running for a long time for me. I would defiantly call that one reliable, however with good thermal past and an air cooler you can accomplish the same thing for around the same price with an air cooler. AIO coolers are nothing real special and accomplish the same thing as an air cooler, I just had one because I got it in a great deal from the classifieds.

[johnny5c]

Most Corsair, NZXT, and Thermaltake AIOs are made by Asetek so you'd expect similar failure rates across those brands.

[Snipergod87]

Also the lifetime for pumps is very low compared to any other computer component, the warranty is often designed around the lifetime of the pump

[Windows7ge]

What you're describing is something called Planned Obsolescence. There's also a practice where a product is designed to be manufactured to fit within a certain price bracket and this also results in less than optimal component choice and this typically reduces the products life span. Using these parts this is what you can expect for almost all similar products.

 

Custom water cooling is a little different where you pay the cost but you get something that's built to last. The laning D5 pumps are rated to last 5 years. Mines approaching 4 and still running flawlessly.

[For Science!]

23 minutes ago, Yose17 said:

 

I would agree that the distribution of failure is very bimodal, for some it lasts years and for some it keeps breaking. I attribute this largely to user error. There are quite a few differences between air cooler fans and how an AIO pump/fan combo needs to set up. Incorrect speed/voltage applied to the time can affect the lifetime of the pump. High fluid temperatures can also lead to premature permeation and also pump failures. Coolants can change properties too.

 

Some of these things are discuss below:

 

[Yose17]

So basically, I should expect modern AIOs to fail...?

[Yose17]

28 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I would agree that the distribution of failure is very bimodal, for some it lasts years and for some it keeps breaking. I attribute this largely to user error. There are quite a few differences between air cooler fans and how an AIO pump/fan combo needs to set up. Incorrect speed/voltage applied to the time can affect the lifetime of the pump. High fluid temperatures can also lead to premature permeation and also pump failures. Coolants can change properties too.

 

Some of these things are discuss below:

 

So basically, I should expect modern AIOs to fail...?

[For Science!]

34 minutes ago, Yose17 said:

So basically, I should expect modern AIOs to fail...?

My opinion is that, it depends on your ability to set it up correctly. While an AIO is far simpler than a custom loop, it still has more considerations than just putting a heat sink on and mounting some fans.

 

I have used Asetek design AIOs with no problem and I don't have a noise problem even with stock fans. Another aspect of this is people set up the fan curve in a totally unsensible manner and then proceed to complain that the fans are loud.

 

A well maintained AIO will last anywhere between 5-10 years, but after that kind of period, yes, either the pump will fail or the coolant would have permeated out of the tubes. So if you want a CPU/GPU cooler that lasts indefinitely, then an AIO is not for you.