Water Cooling Question

Stage 2 H2O is a closed (sealed) loop 240mm cooler from Corsair.  it is maintenance free.  life expectancy of the pump is 50,000 hours at 10-degrees C over ambient temp if i'm not mistaken.  so, roughly 5-6 years before pump failure, which i believe puts you past their warranty. 

to put that into perspective, i think all of the DDC and D5 pumps offered by EK have the same lifetime expectancy.  however, not all pumps are created equal and different manufacturers have better or worse reputations for quality.  i have no idea who manufactures the pumps going onto Corsair CLCs.  i believe EK uses well regarded Xylem manufactured pumps. 

in any case, LC pc's aren't maintenance-free.  you still need to clear dust built up in the rads/fans even with CLCs.  leaks are still possible with CLC coolers as well, so regular inspection is advised.  and if a pump goes out you could suffer component damage if you don't catch it right away, especially on overclocked procs and graphics. 

for most folks a good air cooler is all they'll ever need.  however, there are advantages to LC.  you can usually run the fans at lower speeds and still cool as well as a comparable air cooler with less noise.  with an air cooler you'll never need to worry about a pump breaking down or fluid leaking, but you'll still have to look out for fan issues (bearing wearing out, etc.). 


Edited by db188 - 17 Aug 2017 at 8:19pm