MSI 360 AIO clogged after about 8 months...

[WIMMPYIII]

MSI 360 AIO clogged after about 8 months...
I bought This AIO over a year ago and didnt finish the build as I was waiting for a 3080 but ended up with a 3090 after waiting for months. Everything ran great to start. I ran a lazy auto OC because temps were so low I just didnt take the time to go further.
Last week a woke up to my PC waiting in the BIOS. Tried rebooting several times with failed boot. Dialed things back and got it to boot but it was running hot. RPMs on pump showed that it was running fine. Tried several paste re apps with no change.
Then I went to taking apart the AIO. Opened and drained from the block, about a cup and a half of chunky milky fluid. The block was chuck full of white goop blocking the flow path to the copper fins. blasted the ports with air and filled it back with water the best I could and and was still getting just as bad or worse temps then before. Took it apart again this time taking the pump out of the rad, drained yet more chunky milk. Tested the pump on a system fan fork from another system ran fine and strong. I tired blasting the rad with a garden hose jet and got quite a bit more white junk out. Topped it back off with water and ran it, temps went from idle 60s to 23c.

This is discouraging for me for my first introduction to liquid cooling if you can even call an AIO that. I feel like a flow meter would have diagnosed this issue way faster.
I have an Artic freeze II 360 AIO coming this weekend to replace this AIO. I dont know how long the current one will last running well water.
Is this a common experience with AIOs in general? Would I be much better off going with a custom all copper liquid cooling loop? Should I just go back to air for reliability?

MSI Z490, 16GB gskill 3600, intel 10700k, nvidia 3090 founders,

 

[EarthDog]

I'd call it more of bad luck than anything. Sorry you had that experience. I'd imagine you can rma the unit for a new one that wouldn't do that.

 

[WIMMPYIII]

I'd call it more of bad luck than anything. Sorry you had that experience. I'd imagine you can rma the unit for a new one that wouldn't do that.

I thought about that but I wanted to rip it apart and figure out what actually went wrong in it and figured by the time i did an RMA I'd be out for at least a week vs 2 days of buying a new one on Amazon.
At the moment I am running 70c Max with all cores 5.1 on tap water. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

 

[WIMMPYIII]

The new ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 Oddly runs a little warmer then the one i fixed and filled with water. I am getting 25-27c idle temps. High of 78c running CPUZ stress test.

I had to hack the front framing of of my case out to get it to fit because it is a good 30% thicker then the msi rad. With the front panel on you would never know it got butchered so badly. I Secured it with machining wire. Darn 3090 is just so long!

 

[Blaylock]

I've successfully avoided AIOs due to multiple stories just like this on this forum. Yes, they can be slightly better than a large tower cooler, but they also require close monitoring and do not last nearly as long. I have done a few custom water cooling loops but these require routine maintenance every once a year or so. For me, that's not an issue as my gaming rig is constantly evolving and getting upgrades at least once a year.

If you're the type of user who builds a rig and uses it for a few years without maintenance, I would suggest a large air cooler. If you like to keep your system dust-free and are cleaning it every 6 months to a year an AIO is a good option, though expect to need to replace it every couple of years (3-5). If you're like me and constantly expanding, upgrading, cleaning, and evolving, then a custom loop is a good option, though it can also be a nuisance. LOL

Note: This is just my opinion. I know several people that run custom loops for 5 years before cleaning and a few that have been running AIOs for about the same amount of time without issues. You should just find what's right for you and your use.

P.S. Welcome to the Forums!

 

[Woomack]

If you're the type of user who builds a rig and uses it for a few years without maintenance, I would suggest a large air cooler. If you like to keep your system dust-free and are cleaning it every 6 months to a year an AIO is a good option, though expect to need to replace it every couple of years (3-5). If you're like me and constantly expanding, upgrading, cleaning, and evolving, then a custom loop is a good option, though it can also be a nuisance. LOL

I started to hate liquid cooling in general. If it gets dirty then it's a lot of work to make it clean again. If you get AIO then you have to count it won't live much longer than its warranty so let's say 2 years. If you want a custom loop then it's expensive (prices for custom loop components are getting ridiculous).
There is no point to build a custom loop for the CPU only and for GPUs, only full cover blocks have any point right now. So count +$250 to every graphics card. Most of those who build new and expensive PC won't use old cooling parts so it's like $500 for the cooling only.
My luck is that every pump I had, was living for ~1-2 years max and I had some expensive series. The last one died after a year and it was EK. Right now, I have an EK combo with res and it started to make weird noises when it was running at a lower speed. I had to replace tubes and liquid in the loop after about 4 months because of weird stains - EK liquid, tubes, pump/res, block and rad ... everything was new and I had to clean everything after 4 months

So really, if you have a graphics card with air cooling, then for the CPU is also better a larger air cooler. It doesn't require much time for cleaning and in the worst case have to replace a fan after some longer time.

 

[Blaylock]

Fully agree, except most people will get more time from their pumps. I still think there's something funny going on with your power. IIRC you were killing motherboards like monthly or something. Did you ever figure anything out about that?

 

[Woomack]

Motherboards? I don't remember. I guess it was something about Gigabyte Z87/97 but it was the motherboard's fault and already some years ago. Even the guy who bought one of them (replaced to the new one) from me, made RMA 2 months later I was using them only for benching and in total were 5 as I remember.
I have no problems with electricity. I have 5 PC running 24/7 and 2 of them run like that for ~4 years (I replaced the hardware with something better but there were no issues). I don't even have a PSU under 80+ Gold at home.
With pumps I have no idea. 2 could overheat but I had 6 or something in ~5 years. It's when you put a pump that works at max 60°C into an SFF where the CPU runs at 90°C all the time The last pump died in a large PC / Lian-Li O11 +2x360 rads. Most were Laing DDC. The last one which still works but was starting to make weird sounds at a lower speed is EK Quantum Kinetic with a D5 pump. It's in this rig. I changed the graphics card to RX6700XT as I was worried about the pump and motherboard temps. It runs much cooler than the RX6800XT (which is a better option for mining anyway ).