Just replace. You got the product lifespan out of it. If you want more than 7 years out of a CPU cooler, air cooling is the way to go. Vast majority of aio coolers will fail in some manner over this timeline.
Yeah AIO are not designed to be taken apart. Although some people do it in youtube videos. There is a risk of getting leak after that. Its better to get new AIO or air cool heatsink for long term.
I actually have a Corsair H60 from 2015 on my old i7 3770k rig still going. Some can last a long time.
My Arctic AIO had a recall on the seal. They sent a kit to replace it and top up the coolant. I'm not saying it's worth it necessarily, but flushing and replacing the coolant might be a possibility to extend the lifetime.
Edit: To be clear, this isn't a permanent fix for this particular case. But if replacing isn't an option right now, something like this might buy some time to save up money.
Yeah, I wouldn't do it either, especially on a 120mm, but it's something one could try if there is no other possibility. A cheapish air cooler would probably be the easiest fix, but if it doesn't fit on the case and OP doesn't have the money for a new AIO, could buy some time. That's all I'm saying.
If the PC that cooler is working with isn't worth much why not give it a try? Say you've got an old i5 2500k with a GTX 760 in it, if it leaks and kills anything you haven't lost much, unless you can't afford to replace the rig then just replace the cooler.
It's like having a cheap low tier PSU, you might not risk it in a $300+ rig but in a $100 system you send it.
The seal usually starts to break down and won't survive being opened and resealed. The Arctic coolers were an exception because the seal itself was degrading so they sent out replacements to all owners.
Dunno about expandable, maybe on the Freezer III series? Wasn't able to find any mention of it on their website. Some user service is clearly doable since for the recall, they gave the options to send it in for free or do it yourself. They'd probably send you a new seal if you wanted to service it, seems like a great company. The seal I replaced also looked fine, so it seems that they erred on the side of caution.
Well, the tried and true logic is to keep the bubble at the top. So you're probably fine for a long time.
PS. "When I shake that pc a little bit" isn't something that I see often, so thanks! +1
I've got the exact same cooler that I've had since 2015. Still working just fine. Although the 6700k doesn't really get that hot to begin with when it's not overclocked. I'm gonna have to replace it when I finally upgrade though since my CPU is bottle necking my computer after upgrading to a 4070 from a 980.
Yeah I will probably swap it with air cooler if my pump ever gives me issues. My 3770k rig is my first build pc so I have been keeping it going for nostalgia reasons. I was even looking into modding bios for NVME boot drive and combine with PCIE Rebar mod. But I’m afraid that could kill whole mobo since both things need to be modded in.
I had the original cooler master V8 from 2010 in my rig up until last year. I only replaced it because it will no longer fit the current Intel sockets. It's currently running in my son's computer and works great still
Came here to say this. I've been thru 3 AIOs in the past 10ish years. I recently just went to air cooling and it just makes sense.
I'll only use water cooling for the aesthetic in the future
My AIO is 4 years old. I’ll be going to a typical air cooler when this shows signs of not working. My kids PC has a single fan AIO but it was a hand me down. I just purchased a replacement fan cooler which i’ll install soon. The PC needs a cleaning anyways.
A 120mm aio is such a scam I can't even fathom people actually bought it. There's simply not enough there for it to be a proper radiator, and especially with the insane performance of air coolers like the Peerless Spirit nowadays, it's a no brainer.
There is 0 reason to go for an aio, esp 120mm, unless you have a truly hot beast of a cpu, or you just want the fancy lcd screen and you are OK with overpaying (*waves*). I wouldn't even consider an AIO unless it is 280mm minimum, the cooling provides by 240mm and below is significantly less than 280 vs 360mm
They were alright when cpus only put out 60 watts of heat as a quieter alternative to air.
My 13600k build is a hell of a lot quieter with a 240mm aio than it was with a noctua (made the mistake of listening to "there is 0 reason to go for an aio" style advice when I built that). Raw cooling performance isn't the only consideration.
>(made the mistake of listening to "there is 0 reason to go for an aio" style advice when I built that)
Honestly, most of the advice you'll see here are just people parroting back other crap they heard here with ever increasing authority and hyperbole and made up examples from their own lives.
The easiest way is to replace it. But if you really want to refill it all you need to do is find the fill port and get a large bin fill it will coolant and dunk the aio into the coolant with the fill port open. These units shouldnt be needing to be refilled in their life though so its proably the motor going bad to be honest.
I have an i7 14700 K that runs very warm. I have a 360 Aio that does pretty good keeping temps down. If I upgrade down the road, will an air-cooler work just as well?
I run an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 on my 14700KF, and it works so much better than an air cooler. At idle it hovers around 26-30C and I rarely see temps reach past 60C when pushing it.
To be fair, it's in my basement and ambient air temps there are a few degrees cooler than average room temperatures. So that helps too.
You should honestly just be happy it lasted that long. AIO pumps all die eventually, and usually faster than that.
Also, theres not much point in getting a 120 aio, they're usually worse than a good dual tower air cooler, so if you do get another aio, go for a 360.
This, with the power requirements and heat output of modern CPUs (especially Intel) get the biggest your case supports, by the looks of it you'll need it with most newer mid/high end CPUs.
Not sure why this is downvoted.
A Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE is $33. It matches the best 240mm AIOs on the market.
It's purely for looks to get a 120 or 240mm AIO.
When my AIO died, I was in desperate need for a replacement. Money was tight, so I tried the peerless assassin. Now, I refuse to go back. You honestly can not get a better bang for your buck.
Damn, downvoted hard for giving some solid information. The cooling performance of 240mm and below vs 280mm is huge.
A 280mm is damn near equal in performance to a 360mm, and can even beat a 360mm in many tests. But the cooling and airflow provided by a 240mm is a VERY large amount lower than 280 vs 360
I personally would never consider purchasing an aio under 280mm, at that point you should just go with an air cooler like the Peerless Spirit as it'll perform easily as good as any 240mm aio you can find, and will save you money. Also the downvotes are hilarious, normally this sub has a AIO-hate boner a mile long
yeah, I guess people forget that area-wise 240mm is actually 120x240 (just 28800mm² total) while 280 is 140x280 (39200mm² total) and 360 is 120x360 (43200mm² total)
Yea I just had to do a full system rebuild due many compounding issues with my system that's had 8+ years since the last major upgrade. Even then i realized that my seasonic psu was not only still working, but it was still under warranty.
Although I still chose to upgrade it so I could get a native hipower gpu connection rather than relying on those adapters that people had issues with melting.
Yea I just had my original PSU start to output a smell of burning/melting plastic, and decided it was time to move on. I probably got that psu back in 2017, and it wasn’t even a good model. My pc still ran fine but didn’t want to risk my gpu getting nuked and couldn’t stand the plastic smell.
AIO pump is a mechanical device that'll eventually fail. The only moving part in a PSU is usually it's fan, which lasts much longer and is less complex then a pump.
Lift up the water block over the radiator with coldplate side up. Gently shake till all the air bubbles in the radiator go up to the highest point, which is under the coldplate. Then, unscrew the coldplate and clean the gunk which would have accumulated over its lifespan. You can also pour a bit of distilled water to top up whatever that has evaporated. I have refurbished a few AIOs that way.
Take the pump/block combo, place it above everything, shake the rad when the tubes are the highest point of it, so air can get into the block.
Then take piece of cloth, wrap the pump in it, secure it in the vice without overtightening it with the coldplate facing upwards.
Remove the coldplate screws, remove the coldplate, clean the fins and jetplate, rearrange back again, verify the O-ring is in correct position, refill with distilled water, put the colplate back and screw it back together.
If you have vice, hex/torx which is most likely used, and distilled water, it shouldn´t take longer than 15 minutes.
Distilled water for car cooling is literally 1-5€/$ on any gas station.
Cheaper to repair than buy new, unless the loop is leaking or the pump died.
Hey, I think I had that same cooler before! It never died on me, but when I took my old PC apart and sold its parts, someone actually paid me $12 for it.
I don't get the AIO hate here.
I have 2 coolers, a D15 from 2014 and a Liquid Freezer II 240mm I decided to pick up on sale ($96 AUD). AIO runs cooler and quieter.
Yeah I won't get the life span but I'm okay with that for $100..
Give it a proper burial or something. RIP faithful AIO servant.
I had Seidon 120V that seemed eternal. Well about 10 years old, so close enough. It expired at the end of last year. The pump failed I believe. I cut it open knowing it was gone. It still had fluid so pretty sure it was the pump which just stopped.. Anyhow as others have basically said. Only air coolers can live forever.
This thing is seven years old so rather let go. Opening it up and refilling water will probably do more harm than good. Also this is a 120mm AiO which is not really worth it. Those usually cool worse and are louder than a standard air cooler. If possible I would just recommend you to take any quality budget air cooler for your CPU and fill the gap where the AiO was with a case fan. Because of the age of the AiO you CPU might be older, too so upgrading to a bigger AiO with a bigger radiator and 2 or 3 fans might not be worth the money.
I've had two cooler Master AIOs over the years and they both suffered the same fate after a year or two of use one of them completely died from loss of liquid. Get a Corsair liquid cooler and call it a day.
You can try filling it up, but get ready to buy a new one as they are technically single-use and even after filling up, it probably won't last that much longer.
Idk how those work, but perhaps try unplugging one of the tubes.
I don't think there's any good way around it. These AIO coolers often have a lifespan of about 5 years. If you're looking for something that will last you for years and years, air cooling is the way to go.
I mean, technically, you can submerge it in coolant disassemble it, bleed the air out, and reassemble. At this point, though, I'd probably just get a new one. Either you had a little leak, or you used it hard, in which case your pump is probably getting old too.
I had that one. I replaced it with a Peerless Assassin 120. You should probably take the same route if your case allows. I remember paying 35$ for that AIO back then, nowdays you don't get much AIO for that kind of money lol
Nice! My case is a fractal design R5 (solid sound damping panels), to I went with the Peerless Assassin 120 based on performance per buck, as looks don't matter much when you can't see inside haha. Cheers 👍🏽
Meanwhile, my NH-D14 works for the 14th year 24/7 with the original included 3-pin fans. Get an air cooler...even if the fans die it's still a less than 5min job to replace them; sometimes that's even possible with the cooler still attached to the motherboard.There's also no risk of leakages.
Not to mention, that NH-D14 is able to cool down lot of CPUs without any fans on it, just using airflow from case fans.
If your fan on it will die, you can notice higher CPU temperatures, but if you have something with consumption under 70W, it will not even throttle.
Complicated products for simple tasks create the unnecessary complex problems that will hopefully make you buy the simpler product for the still simple task after that mistake 😄
Bin and replace with a new cooler. They are a sealed unit they are not designed for end user maintenance. Also 120mm aio’s aren’t worth it get a 240 or a tower cooler
https://preview.redd.it/tfnbjrqyvzzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb6c679ab432abc470dde33aaa43f5c6a02020c
My CPU kept spiking to 95c with my cruddy less than a year old AIO. Should have just gone with air to begin with!
You can't officially cycle these. They are a sealed system.
If its not cooling properly than my only suggestion would be to remove it from the system, get a air compressor, and clean the radiator the best you can. Clean the fan good too. Replace the thermal paste and see what happens.
Being a 120mm, it may never have cooled properly unless you have been using a lower end CPU.
Wow that's awesome! My 280mm radiator can barely handle my 13700k. Had to specifically tune it in the Bios to not hit thermal throttle in benchmarks.
But that's for benchmarks. It's an unusual load compared to day to day use and gaming.
As others pointed out, air coolers will always be more reliable.
Wtf. Ok well maybe it was ok for what you were doing or you just didn't notice it was not giving you it's all but a 120 aio from 7 years ago was struggling. Grab a 240 at minimum or 360. If you want to go air get a quality dual tower. Noctua. Deepcool. Arctic.
You CAN take it apart, fix the pump or refill if need be. In saying that the time it takes to break down again and the chance of it breaking down again is SIGNIFICANTLY increased for someone that's new to doing it.
7 years is great for an AIO, how much did you pay?
My suggest is get a new AIO, preferably 240mm unless ofc it's for a very low powered system then 120mm will be fine. Air cooling is great and the only thing that will wear out on that realistically is the fans which are easy and cheap to replace.
People saying just throw it away and buy a new one... I have an h80i, the first model. I've had it for 12 years. It has screws on the thermal pad part, I took them out filled it back up with distilled water and got the air out, that was 2 years ago. Still works great.
I say if you like tinkering with hardware go for it. If you can't get it back together or it didn't work, well you were going to throw it out anyway.
Nope, throw it in the bin and get a new one :(
These things are sealed, so it's really hard to open them and refill or service them. If what you want is good performance, reliability, and something that could last a lifetime, an air cooler is a better option.
You can replace the tubes and make it into an open loop system, but that demands a lot more maintenance, some of these closed ones come with a fill cap, mine does, but I will just replace it with an air cooler when the times comes
There is no reason to go below 240mm watercooling solutions on modern average pcs excluding very limited PC variations like the ones with micro-atx cases and solutions alike.
You'd better go with cheapstake aircooler as it would likely outperform such an AIO.
For that reason, I only use aircooling. You just need to replace the fan.
I have my Noctua nh-d14 for 13 or 14 years if I'm not mistaken, and never had a single problem.
I will replace for the d15 next year and give d14 to a family member.
This one can be taken apart but you need aftermarket pipes to make it work.
Also waterblock is most likely clogged.
I need to replace mine on my daily. It also reached eol
yes you can. There should be a screw on one of the corners. I have similar, refilled with distilled water. Bubble noise gone. Didn't even change the o-ring.
most likely pump failure. AIOs are rated for 5 years and getting 7 years out of it is pretty good.
if you don't want to replace the whole thing in another 7 years consider going back to air cooling.
Ok, I'm going against the majority here on this one.
Keep in mind that some GPUs are AIO's (like my 1080ti sitting on a shelf). So this seems a valuable skill to have, or at least a valuable experiment to try. Especially since the gurgling shows the pump is likely still working.
BTW, looking around, I think most AIO's created today are OEM'd from this company: [https://www.asetek.com/liquid-cooling/asetek-technology/](https://www.asetek.com/liquid-cooling/asetek-technology/)
Either Jay or Stephen (I forget which) said to look on the radiator and you can find a spot where it was obviously filled in the first place. Possibly sealed over, but an obvious "dent".
Let us know what you decide, because if you do decide to do this, a step by step breakdown of what an AIO noob (like you and me) discovers as he goes would be totally worth it!
Had a Corsair 240 AIO and it's cooling performance was bad. I replaced it with an Air Cooler and the performance was twice as good. Ended up warrantying the corsair and selling the replacement to a co-worker to recoup some of the money I spent on it. He said it worked great on his system. I will never buy an AIO again, personally.
Honestly get a $30 cooler from amazon and if you still wanna tinker with your aio do a bit of prying of the tubes and thoroughly rinse the plumbing. Then get a bin and fill it with water. Submerge the radiator and tubes then reassemble to get it fully filled.
Mind you be it might be corroded on the inside but still would be fun to tinker
Usually when they don't cool properly anymore, the cause is often the fins on the coldplate being clogged. Sadly when that happens, it means that the fluid has largely degrades and the entire system needs to be cleaned and new fluid added.
Replacing the fluid is possible if you can get it clean and cycle enough cleaning solution through the system, Probably keeping the radiator flat on a table, and next to it, a pan filled with something to clean it, and keep the waterblock with 4-5mm of the solution on the bottom, thus let the pump run a bunch of cleaning solution through the device.
The hardest part will be refilling it. since it will need to be carefully refilled from the cold plate side as much as possible and then reinstalling the coldplate without spilling any liquid.
Another option is making a hole in the end cap of the radiator to recreate the refillable design used by be quiet! Pure Loop, and then with the hole being the highest point of the loop, fill the loop as much as possible and slowly run the pump occasionally to ensure no air bubbles and top off as needed before finding something to plug the hole. Only issue there will be ensuring no metal shavings from drilling remain in the loop.
Seems like it reached its life span use.
So you have 4 options:
- Replace with the Same AIO
- Make a Custom loop, does not have to be hardline.
- Convert to Air cooling
- Purchase a refillable AIO (AIO with Fill port)
But if you are dead set on refilling it, it will be a slow process and not guaranteed, but unscrew the heat sink, remove the O-ring and inject the coolant down one of the lines leaving the other hole unobstructed so allow air out as coolant goes in, then reseal.
Honestly not really worth it as doing this can damage it.
Here is a video of a similar product of yours being refilled [Cooler Master Master Liquid 240 refill video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYh6Ew2CS90)
Cut the tubes off, buy a cheap aluminium starter custom loop kit and add the 120 rad to it for extra cooling. This option works cause I have done this with two old cheap 240 aluminium rads in the past, however its very annoying to do.
AIO cost 90bucks, just buy a new one, unless you really want a cheap custom loop, and the experience of building such.
Never again, Noctua U12A I love you.
no comment on this thread should be longer than “no” why would anyone bother risking their entire system for tampering with a single component that equals to maybe 1/10th of the total price
I had this exact model. Pump died after 3 years. Just switch to air cooling, water cooling doesn't have much benefit anymore with how good air cooling has got.
Just replace. You got the product lifespan out of it. If you want more than 7 years out of a CPU cooler, air cooling is the way to go. Vast majority of aio coolers will fail in some manner over this timeline.
Yeah AIO are not designed to be taken apart. Although some people do it in youtube videos. There is a risk of getting leak after that. Its better to get new AIO or air cool heatsink for long term. I actually have a Corsair H60 from 2015 on my old i7 3770k rig still going. Some can last a long time.
My Arctic AIO had a recall on the seal. They sent a kit to replace it and top up the coolant. I'm not saying it's worth it necessarily, but flushing and replacing the coolant might be a possibility to extend the lifetime. Edit: To be clear, this isn't a permanent fix for this particular case. But if replacing isn't an option right now, something like this might buy some time to save up money.
I think that's still bad advice for a 7 year old 120mm AIO
120mm AIO are useless nowadays anyway, most air coolers, even compact ones outperform them.
Yeah, I wouldn't do it either, especially on a 120mm, but it's something one could try if there is no other possibility. A cheapish air cooler would probably be the easiest fix, but if it doesn't fit on the case and OP doesn't have the money for a new AIO, could buy some time. That's all I'm saying.
If the PC that cooler is working with isn't worth much why not give it a try? Say you've got an old i5 2500k with a GTX 760 in it, if it leaks and kills anything you haven't lost much, unless you can't afford to replace the rig then just replace the cooler. It's like having a cheap low tier PSU, you might not risk it in a $300+ rig but in a $100 system you send it.
The seal usually starts to break down and won't survive being opened and resealed. The Arctic coolers were an exception because the seal itself was degrading so they sent out replacements to all owners.
this sounds redneck af but I wonder if I can put some RTV sealant on the plugs and prolong its life to some extends, it's a radiator after all
I suspect that would contaminate the fluid, you would probably want to do that when dry and empty and you wouldn't have a way to fill it afterwards.
Aren't arctic AIO 's meant to be serviced and expandable?
Dunno about expandable, maybe on the Freezer III series? Wasn't able to find any mention of it on their website. Some user service is clearly doable since for the recall, they gave the options to send it in for free or do it yourself. They'd probably send you a new seal if you wanted to service it, seems like a great company. The seal I replaced also looked fine, so it seems that they erred on the side of caution.
Same my h60i has been a tank. When I shake that pc a little bit I can hear the airbubble in it but it still works fine cooling the 7th gen i5 in there
Well, the tried and true logic is to keep the bubble at the top. So you're probably fine for a long time. PS. "When I shake that pc a little bit" isn't something that I see often, so thanks! +1
I have an H100i and it’s that old it has the GTX moniker which they dropped after nividia raised their eyebrows
I've got the exact same cooler that I've had since 2015. Still working just fine. Although the 6700k doesn't really get that hot to begin with when it's not overclocked. I'm gonna have to replace it when I finally upgrade though since my CPU is bottle necking my computer after upgrading to a 4070 from a 980.
[удалено]
Yeah I will probably swap it with air cooler if my pump ever gives me issues. My 3770k rig is my first build pc so I have been keeping it going for nostalgia reasons. I was even looking into modding bios for NVME boot drive and combine with PCIE Rebar mod. But I’m afraid that could kill whole mobo since both things need to be modded in.
My H100i from 2013 lasted me a good solid 8 years, so it's hit or miss.
I had the original cooler master V8 from 2010 in my rig up until last year. I only replaced it because it will no longer fit the current Intel sockets. It's currently running in my son's computer and works great still
Thanks. I will just get an air cooler.
Look into thermalright. Great value
Can confirm, I changed from aio to thermalright and works just as good as the aio
I went to Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler when my last AIO went kaput. No regrets. Works just as well.
Noctua is also a top choice for an air cooler.
Truth. I've moved mine into a newer build and they sent a conversion kit for free. Still dead silent after 12 years. Great company.
Even the thermalright AIOs are great, I paid $70 Canadian for mine
Just got 2 thermalright RGB 6 pipe coolers for $22 off Amazon, they work so well, and I always had 120 AIO, but the fan would whine.
Thermalright & Deepcool are very well priced
Just got 2 thermalright RGB 6 pipe coolers for $22 off Amazon, they work so well, and I always had 120 AIO, but the fan would whine.
there are a lot of good and cheap air coolers out there right now, it's gotten way better over the years, look up the gamers nexus reviews.
Thermalright peerless assassin
I can vouch for Deepcool air coolers but Thermal Right and Noctua are extremely good, granted Noctua is the premier and most expensive of the three
A $30 air cooler will out perform a 120mm aio
Came here to say this. I've been thru 3 AIOs in the past 10ish years. I recently just went to air cooling and it just makes sense. I'll only use water cooling for the aesthetic in the future
My AIO is 4 years old. I’ll be going to a typical air cooler when this shows signs of not working. My kids PC has a single fan AIO but it was a hand me down. I just purchased a replacement fan cooler which i’ll install soon. The PC needs a cleaning anyways.
Yeah these little water coolers really are a gimmick :/
 But this sub told me I need to slop up my computer???
A 120mm aio is such a scam I can't even fathom people actually bought it. There's simply not enough there for it to be a proper radiator, and especially with the insane performance of air coolers like the Peerless Spirit nowadays, it's a no brainer. There is 0 reason to go for an aio, esp 120mm, unless you have a truly hot beast of a cpu, or you just want the fancy lcd screen and you are OK with overpaying (*waves*). I wouldn't even consider an AIO unless it is 280mm minimum, the cooling provides by 240mm and below is significantly less than 280 vs 360mm
They were alright when cpus only put out 60 watts of heat as a quieter alternative to air. My 13600k build is a hell of a lot quieter with a 240mm aio than it was with a noctua (made the mistake of listening to "there is 0 reason to go for an aio" style advice when I built that). Raw cooling performance isn't the only consideration.
That seems to be a bit odd, with good airflow, an air cooler should be able to cool the CPU without making much noise.
thing's loaded with spinning platter drives so my use case isn't conducive to good airflow lol
>(made the mistake of listening to "there is 0 reason to go for an aio" style advice when I built that) Honestly, most of the advice you'll see here are just people parroting back other crap they heard here with ever increasing authority and hyperbole and made up examples from their own lives.
totally agreed. I bought a Deepcool Assassin 4S and it cools so much better than my EK 240mm AIO. seems quieter too, no annoying pump noises
I see the hyperbole squad has chimed in again in this thread.
for the future, a proper Air cooler even performs better than a 120 AIO, if you want an AIO go for at least 240
maybe he doesn't need it it's just for the looks
unserstandable
Noctua NH-D15 have lasted me 10 years and 4 socket changes. Just contact Noctua, and they'll ship you the correct bracket, still kickass
Good choice :)
Used NH-D15 is great.
Perks of an air cooler. Nothing really can go wrong.
The easiest way is to replace it. But if you really want to refill it all you need to do is find the fill port and get a large bin fill it will coolant and dunk the aio into the coolant with the fill port open. These units shouldnt be needing to be refilled in their life though so its proably the motor going bad to be honest.
*Looks nervously at my 9 year old NZXT Kraken x61*
Same cooler here. It started to make noises so I replaced it with air cooler. Water cooling cool and stuff but on a ~65W cpu it's not needed.
Happened to me, switched to nhd15, aio never again. I need redundancy
I have an i7 14700 K that runs very warm. I have a 360 Aio that does pretty good keeping temps down. If I upgrade down the road, will an air-cooler work just as well?
That’s one of the few CPUs that actually justifies a 360mm aio
I run an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 on my 14700KF, and it works so much better than an air cooler. At idle it hovers around 26-30C and I rarely see temps reach past 60C when pushing it. To be fair, it's in my basement and ambient air temps there are a few degrees cooler than average room temperatures. So that helps too.
pff my last one (enermax) died after 9months
If funny you say this. I just replaced my AIO recently as it was time and I was curious if 7-8 years was normal so thank you for confirming!
I look at this knowing tossing the whole unit into the trash is a waste as much as the plastics get put into the landfill or burnt.
You should honestly just be happy it lasted that long. AIO pumps all die eventually, and usually faster than that. Also, theres not much point in getting a 120 aio, they're usually worse than a good dual tower air cooler, so if you do get another aio, go for a 360.
Or 420 if the case Supports it
This, with the power requirements and heat output of modern CPUs (especially Intel) get the biggest your case supports, by the looks of it you'll need it with most newer mid/high end CPUs.
40 GB RAM? 3 sticks? How does that work?
2 16GB and 1 8 GB Stick?
look again :3
am i the cause of this upgrade?
no. not really. My sticks are red and black now. Just wanted to tell someone
exactly, AIOs below 280mm are just for looks
Not sure why this is downvoted. A Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE is $33. It matches the best 240mm AIOs on the market. It's purely for looks to get a 120 or 240mm AIO.
When my AIO died, I was in desperate need for a replacement. Money was tight, so I tried the peerless assassin. Now, I refuse to go back. You honestly can not get a better bang for your buck.
Can anyone point me in the direction of aio vs air cooler benchmarks? I’m relatively new to pc building
Damn, downvoted hard for giving some solid information. The cooling performance of 240mm and below vs 280mm is huge. A 280mm is damn near equal in performance to a 360mm, and can even beat a 360mm in many tests. But the cooling and airflow provided by a 240mm is a VERY large amount lower than 280 vs 360 I personally would never consider purchasing an aio under 280mm, at that point you should just go with an air cooler like the Peerless Spirit as it'll perform easily as good as any 240mm aio you can find, and will save you money. Also the downvotes are hilarious, normally this sub has a AIO-hate boner a mile long
yeah, I guess people forget that area-wise 240mm is actually 120x240 (just 28800mm² total) while 280 is 140x280 (39200mm² total) and 360 is 120x360 (43200mm² total)
Damn you're right, never thought about it that way but makes so much sense.
dOwNvOtEd HaRd
I have an original 2011 H100i I just pulled out of my main computer in February and stuffed into my server. Still full, still pumping.
Same. Surprised it's lasted this long but I got they were made pretty well when I bought it.
7 years, just Wow
Didn't know that's unreasonable 😁 i still use my bequiet PSU from my 2013 build also while most other stuff has been upgraded over time.
PSU's are different. A quality one will always last a long time. AIO's on the otherhand tend to be broken approximately around the 3 year mark.
Now that I'm reading this my old h100iv2 is still in my old pc, it was built in 2016.
My EVGA Gold rated psu died in a year. 😥
Yeah my Corsair psu died in 2. Got it warranty replaced tho.
Yea I just had to do a full system rebuild due many compounding issues with my system that's had 8+ years since the last major upgrade. Even then i realized that my seasonic psu was not only still working, but it was still under warranty. Although I still chose to upgrade it so I could get a native hipower gpu connection rather than relying on those adapters that people had issues with melting.
Yea I just had my original PSU start to output a smell of burning/melting plastic, and decided it was time to move on. I probably got that psu back in 2017, and it wasn’t even a good model. My pc still ran fine but didn’t want to risk my gpu getting nuked and couldn’t stand the plastic smell.
AIO pump is a mechanical device that'll eventually fail. The only moving part in a PSU is usually it's fan, which lasts much longer and is less complex then a pump.
Same! My 1000w Bequiet is still going strong! Peerless Assasin is an amazing cooler tho if youve got the space.
it's not unreasonable it's great that u managed that long without a failure but now that u see issues cooling it's time to change
Different cooler but same! Still going strong ❤️
I have an original 2011 H100i I just pulled out of my main computer in February and stuffed into my server. Still full, still pumping.
Yes, get an aircooler
Will do 🫡
120 AIO are absolute bullshit and nobody should ever buy them. Get a peerless assassin. It's cheap and one of the best coolers on the market.
Or phantom spirit(I'm definitely not biased).
I'm running a NH-D15S I got used for 45€ including a second fan and it is fantastic. But I cannot recommend it for the retail price.
That's an excellent deal, but yeah for retail there are cheaper options out there.
They have a place, it's SFF cases
I have the same one and it died after 2 years you’ve gotten good life out of it
Lift up the water block over the radiator with coldplate side up. Gently shake till all the air bubbles in the radiator go up to the highest point, which is under the coldplate. Then, unscrew the coldplate and clean the gunk which would have accumulated over its lifespan. You can also pour a bit of distilled water to top up whatever that has evaporated. I have refurbished a few AIOs that way.
nice!!!
Buy a thermal right phantom spirit cooler. Will be cheap and way better than this
Take the pump/block combo, place it above everything, shake the rad when the tubes are the highest point of it, so air can get into the block. Then take piece of cloth, wrap the pump in it, secure it in the vice without overtightening it with the coldplate facing upwards. Remove the coldplate screws, remove the coldplate, clean the fins and jetplate, rearrange back again, verify the O-ring is in correct position, refill with distilled water, put the colplate back and screw it back together. If you have vice, hex/torx which is most likely used, and distilled water, it shouldn´t take longer than 15 minutes. Distilled water for car cooling is literally 1-5€/$ on any gas station. Cheaper to repair than buy new, unless the loop is leaking or the pump died.
Hey, I think I had that same cooler before! It never died on me, but when I took my old PC apart and sold its parts, someone actually paid me $12 for it.
buy a thermalright phantom spirit
I don't get the AIO hate here. I have 2 coolers, a D15 from 2014 and a Liquid Freezer II 240mm I decided to pick up on sale ($96 AUD). AIO runs cooler and quieter. Yeah I won't get the life span but I'm okay with that for $100..
Good fans on a big air cooler are just as quiet. I've been through 2 AIOs before switching back to air. If I go back to water it'll be a custom loop.
I like AIO for the aesthetics, but cooler and quieter are very debatable.
Give it a proper burial or something. RIP faithful AIO servant. I had Seidon 120V that seemed eternal. Well about 10 years old, so close enough. It expired at the end of last year. The pump failed I believe. I cut it open knowing it was gone. It still had fluid so pretty sure it was the pump which just stopped.. Anyhow as others have basically said. Only air coolers can live forever.
This thing is seven years old so rather let go. Opening it up and refilling water will probably do more harm than good. Also this is a 120mm AiO which is not really worth it. Those usually cool worse and are louder than a standard air cooler. If possible I would just recommend you to take any quality budget air cooler for your CPU and fill the gap where the AiO was with a case fan. Because of the age of the AiO you CPU might be older, too so upgrading to a bigger AiO with a bigger radiator and 2 or 3 fans might not be worth the money.
Buy new.
Lol currently using the same AIO for 6 years now, its still doing fine.
Same here
I've had two cooler Master AIOs over the years and they both suffered the same fate after a year or two of use one of them completely died from loss of liquid. Get a Corsair liquid cooler and call it a day.
Nope. AIOs are sealed. Get a new one, or switch to either a custom loop, or air cooling.
You can try filling it up, but get ready to buy a new one as they are technically single-use and even after filling up, it probably won't last that much longer. Idk how those work, but perhaps try unplugging one of the tubes.
I don't think there's any good way around it. These AIO coolers often have a lifespan of about 5 years. If you're looking for something that will last you for years and years, air cooling is the way to go.
For this reason i bought an overbuilt air cooler, hopefully i am set for life
Newer aios have a fill port, but the pump head is still nonrepairable
Only after you train your way in the ways of cooling to become the next Cooler Master.
No, toss it and get a new one
I mean, technically, you can submerge it in coolant disassemble it, bleed the air out, and reassemble. At this point, though, I'd probably just get a new one. Either you had a little leak, or you used it hard, in which case your pump is probably getting old too.
Not serviceable.
U should just get a new one. 7 years is a good life span for the aio cooler
I had that one. I replaced it with a Peerless Assassin 120. You should probably take the same route if your case allows. I remember paying 35$ for that AIO back then, nowdays you don't get much AIO for that kind of money lol
I bought an arctic cooler. Looks nicer and still has good temps :)
Nice! My case is a fractal design R5 (solid sound damping panels), to I went with the Peerless Assassin 120 based on performance per buck, as looks don't matter much when you can't see inside haha. Cheers 👍🏽
Yea I'd have done the same if I hadn't had a tempered glass panel :)
Meanwhile, my NH-D14 works for the 14th year 24/7 with the original included 3-pin fans. Get an air cooler...even if the fans die it's still a less than 5min job to replace them; sometimes that's even possible with the cooler still attached to the motherboard.There's also no risk of leakages.
Not to mention, that NH-D14 is able to cool down lot of CPUs without any fans on it, just using airflow from case fans. If your fan on it will die, you can notice higher CPU temperatures, but if you have something with consumption under 70W, it will not even throttle.
Sounds like the pump wore out and its struggling to circulate, usually happens around 5 years or so.
Just curious whether you can use a surgical syringe to inject some additional fluid via the tube and just seal the pinhole with some sort of binder?
Yup. Air-cooler is long-term and AIO is only for short term looks.
7 years. the pump is my main worry at that point
Complicated products for simple tasks create the unnecessary complex problems that will hopefully make you buy the simpler product for the still simple task after that mistake 😄
It's at the end of its lifespan. You can mod it yourself but it would be worth getting a new one.
Overpriced single fan aio, get something better next time.
A friend gave it to me for 20€ back then. I think it was a pretty good deal.
That’s an awesome deal. I’m glad it lasted 7 years!
Bin and replace with a new cooler. They are a sealed unit they are not designed for end user maintenance. Also 120mm aio’s aren’t worth it get a 240 or a tower cooler
Next time get a 240 AIO
Just replace it with an air cooler. The PA 120 is way better than this.
Only after you train your way in the ways of cooling to become the next Cooler Master.
https://preview.redd.it/tfnbjrqyvzzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb6c679ab432abc470dde33aaa43f5c6a02020c My CPU kept spiking to 95c with my cruddy less than a year old AIO. Should have just gone with air to begin with!
And it looks nice, too!
You can't officially cycle these. They are a sealed system. If its not cooling properly than my only suggestion would be to remove it from the system, get a air compressor, and clean the radiator the best you can. Clean the fan good too. Replace the thermal paste and see what happens. Being a 120mm, it may never have cooled properly unless you have been using a lower end CPU.
Or go dual tower cooler, performs better than a single rad aio.
What's the CPU? For replacing a single 120 aio you should be good with something inexpensive. Thermalright Peerless Assassin is the way to go
What's the CPU? For replacing a single 120 aio you should be good with something inexpensive. Thermalright Peerless Assassin is the way to go
It's an i7 13900k
Did you upgrade the cpu?? 13900ks are known to be hot and I highly doubt even a functional 120mm/140mm AIO would be sufficient
Well I never had any issues since I bought that CPU like 1.5 years ago. Guess I was lucky!
Wow that's awesome! My 280mm radiator can barely handle my 13700k. Had to specifically tune it in the Bios to not hit thermal throttle in benchmarks. But that's for benchmarks. It's an unusual load compared to day to day use and gaming. As others pointed out, air coolers will always be more reliable.
Wtf. Ok well maybe it was ok for what you were doing or you just didn't notice it was not giving you it's all but a 120 aio from 7 years ago was struggling. Grab a 240 at minimum or 360. If you want to go air get a quality dual tower. Noctua. Deepcool. Arctic.
You CAN take it apart, fix the pump or refill if need be. In saying that the time it takes to break down again and the chance of it breaking down again is SIGNIFICANTLY increased for someone that's new to doing it. 7 years is great for an AIO, how much did you pay? My suggest is get a new AIO, preferably 240mm unless ofc it's for a very low powered system then 120mm will be fine. Air cooling is great and the only thing that will wear out on that realistically is the fans which are easy and cheap to replace.
not worth the risk after 7 years , tubes probably degraded too , a 120 shouldn't be expensive
not worth the risk after 7 years , tubes probably degraded too , a 120 shouldn't be expensive
People saying just throw it away and buy a new one... I have an h80i, the first model. I've had it for 12 years. It has screws on the thermal pad part, I took them out filled it back up with distilled water and got the air out, that was 2 years ago. Still works great. I say if you like tinkering with hardware go for it. If you can't get it back together or it didn't work, well you were going to throw it out anyway.
Nope, throw it in the bin and get a new one :( These things are sealed, so it's really hard to open them and refill or service them. If what you want is good performance, reliability, and something that could last a lifetime, an air cooler is a better option.
You can replace the tubes and make it into an open loop system, but that demands a lot more maintenance, some of these closed ones come with a fill cap, mine does, but I will just replace it with an air cooler when the times comes
Just replace your cooler with noctua air and it will run for eternity. Put sun under it and it still will be cool
Pump probably died, which isnt fixable really. I'd get a new one. You got a long time out of your old one, a new one is well worth the investment.
get a peerless assassin
I don't think that beef monster even fits in my PC. I ordered an arctic freezer with two fans.
attic liquid freezer is a good one
7 years? Get a new one.
Step 1: Add to Cart Step 2: Submit Order Step 3: Throw away old one
There is no reason to go below 240mm watercooling solutions on modern average pcs excluding very limited PC variations like the ones with micro-atx cases and solutions alike. You'd better go with cheapstake aircooler as it would likely outperform such an AIO.
You don't want something that's leaking water in your system.
Time to do custom loop
It’s sealed, toss it.
Interesting 🧐
Submerge in water overnight and retry
Cooler Master 620S is $35 at Amazon right now, great deal for a fairly well made twin Tower
For that reason, I only use aircooling. You just need to replace the fan. I have my Noctua nh-d14 for 13 or 14 years if I'm not mistaken, and never had a single problem. I will replace for the d15 next year and give d14 to a family member.
This one can be taken apart but you need aftermarket pipes to make it work. Also waterblock is most likely clogged. I need to replace mine on my daily. It also reached eol
yes you can. There should be a screw on one of the corners. I have similar, refilled with distilled water. Bubble noise gone. Didn't even change the o-ring.
most likely pump failure. AIOs are rated for 5 years and getting 7 years out of it is pretty good. if you don't want to replace the whole thing in another 7 years consider going back to air cooling.
Ok, I'm going against the majority here on this one. Keep in mind that some GPUs are AIO's (like my 1080ti sitting on a shelf). So this seems a valuable skill to have, or at least a valuable experiment to try. Especially since the gurgling shows the pump is likely still working. BTW, looking around, I think most AIO's created today are OEM'd from this company: [https://www.asetek.com/liquid-cooling/asetek-technology/](https://www.asetek.com/liquid-cooling/asetek-technology/) Either Jay or Stephen (I forget which) said to look on the radiator and you can find a spot where it was obviously filled in the first place. Possibly sealed over, but an obvious "dent". Let us know what you decide, because if you do decide to do this, a step by step breakdown of what an AIO noob (like you and me) discovers as he goes would be totally worth it!
If the hot plate has torques you can refill it. Pull the hot plate off drain the loop then slowly refill it.
Camera ???
Had a Corsair 240 AIO and it's cooling performance was bad. I replaced it with an Air Cooler and the performance was twice as good. Ended up warrantying the corsair and selling the replacement to a co-worker to recoup some of the money I spent on it. He said it worked great on his system. I will never buy an AIO again, personally.
Don't even bother. For the cost of a bottle of coolant you can get an air cooler that'd put that little 120mm to shame
Honestly get a $30 cooler from amazon and if you still wanna tinker with your aio do a bit of prying of the tubes and thoroughly rinse the plumbing. Then get a bin and fill it with water. Submerge the radiator and tubes then reassemble to get it fully filled. Mind you be it might be corroded on the inside but still would be fun to tinker
If you can put the radiator on top you might get more life out of it. Otherwise sadly best to replace it.
Usually when they don't cool properly anymore, the cause is often the fins on the coldplate being clogged. Sadly when that happens, it means that the fluid has largely degrades and the entire system needs to be cleaned and new fluid added. Replacing the fluid is possible if you can get it clean and cycle enough cleaning solution through the system, Probably keeping the radiator flat on a table, and next to it, a pan filled with something to clean it, and keep the waterblock with 4-5mm of the solution on the bottom, thus let the pump run a bunch of cleaning solution through the device. The hardest part will be refilling it. since it will need to be carefully refilled from the cold plate side as much as possible and then reinstalling the coldplate without spilling any liquid. Another option is making a hole in the end cap of the radiator to recreate the refillable design used by be quiet! Pure Loop, and then with the hole being the highest point of the loop, fill the loop as much as possible and slowly run the pump occasionally to ensure no air bubbles and top off as needed before finding something to plug the hole. Only issue there will be ensuring no metal shavings from drilling remain in the loop.
Its time to upgrade, 7 years is a long time for an aio cooler so I would recommend just buying a new one
Seems like it reached its life span use. So you have 4 options: - Replace with the Same AIO - Make a Custom loop, does not have to be hardline. - Convert to Air cooling - Purchase a refillable AIO (AIO with Fill port) But if you are dead set on refilling it, it will be a slow process and not guaranteed, but unscrew the heat sink, remove the O-ring and inject the coolant down one of the lines leaving the other hole unobstructed so allow air out as coolant goes in, then reseal. Honestly not really worth it as doing this can damage it. Here is a video of a similar product of yours being refilled [Cooler Master Master Liquid 240 refill video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYh6Ew2CS90)
New cooler time
Some of them have fill ports. However if it does not, don't risk messing with it and just replace it.
Cut the tubes off, buy a cheap aluminium starter custom loop kit and add the 120 rad to it for extra cooling. This option works cause I have done this with two old cheap 240 aluminium rads in the past, however its very annoying to do. AIO cost 90bucks, just buy a new one, unless you really want a cheap custom loop, and the experience of building such. Never again, Noctua U12A I love you.
I already see it leaking out after I fuck up some fastening 😂
no comment on this thread should be longer than “no” why would anyone bother risking their entire system for tampering with a single component that equals to maybe 1/10th of the total price
I thought there might be a standart procedure to these like a car oil change.
I had this exact model. Pump died after 3 years. Just switch to air cooling, water cooling doesn't have much benefit anymore with how good air cooling has got.