I had this watercooler for over 7 years and it is not cooling properly anymore. There is quite a bit of suction noise so it seems like the water is running low. Is there a point to replacing the water or should I buy a new one?
I had this watercooler for over 7 years and it is not cooling properly anymore. There is quite a bit of suction noise so it seems like the water is running low. Is there a point to replacing the water or should I buy a new one?
29 Comments
Buy new.
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.
pump in these has limited lifespan you are lucky it lasted that long on average it’s around 3 years with moderate use. unlike air coolers.
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.
buy a thermalright phantom spirit
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.
Yes, get an aircooler
Noctua DH-15
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.
7 years, just Wow
Modern AiO’s are terrible, disposable.
I have the same one and it died after 2 years you’ve gotten good life out of it
Buy a thermal right phantom spirit cooler. Will be cheap and way better than this
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.
Idk why the fuck people are saying “just replace” like drones
here is how you can refill one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYh6Ew2CS90](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYh6Ew2CS90) quite simple if you have the tools, but be wary not to fuck it up as a spill could destroy the PC
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 $12 for it.
Sounds like the pump wore out and its struggling to circulate, usually happens around 5 years or so.
Lol currently using the same AIO for 6 years now, its still doing fine.
I had this exact model. Pump died after 3 years. Just switch to air cooling, water cooling doesn’t have much benefit anymore with how good air cooling has got.
Get a Noctua that fits.
Similar performance to water without ever leaking.
Get an air cooler please
Give it a proper burial or something. RIP faithful AIO servant.
I had Seidon 120V that seemed eternal. Well about 10 years old, so close enough. It expired at the end of last year. The pump failed I believe. I cut it open knowing it was gone. It still had fluid so pretty sure it was the pump which just stopped.. Anyhow as others have basically said. Only air coolers can live forever.
I’ve had two cooler Master AIOs over the years and they both suffered the same fate after a year or two of use one of them completely died from loss of liquid. Get a Corsair liquid cooler and call it a day.
if the name ain’t corsair don’t cop it
Take the pump/block combo, place it above everything, shake the rad when the tubes are the highest point of it, so air can get into the block.
Then take piece of cloth, wrap the pump in it, secure it in the vice without overtightening it with the coldplate facing upwards.
Remove the coldplate screws, remove the coldplate, clean the fins and jetplate, rearrange back again, verify the O-ring is in correct position, refill with distilled water, put the colplate back and screw it back together.
If you have vice, hex/torx which is most likely used, and distilled water, it shouldn´t take longer than 15 minutes.
Distilled water for car cooling is literally 1-5€/$ on any gas station.
Cheaper to repair than buy new, unless the loop is leaking or the pump died.
A good air cooler will outperform a 120mm aio almost everytime nowadays. Just replace it!
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.
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?
Pump is dead. Replace. It is a sealed unit. Get a Thermalrite Peerless Assassin and save yourself the trouble of liquid coolers.