Well, here's a data point for those interested...my trusty Swiftek MCP-655B water pump (Laing D5 motor with variable-speed control) passed away suddenly this afternoon.  It had been vibrating for several months, so i suspected the end may be near.

It was first put into service in early 2009 and used nearly daily, I'd say an average of 8 hours a day.   That's about 32,000 hours on the pump...it's advertised mean time between failures is 50,000 hrs.

I have kept a spare D5 pump motor and O-ring around since I first built the water loop, and replacement was an easy-peasy non-event...drain and blow out the system with air, unscrew the big knurled ring from the pump by hand, pull out the motor and O-ring, mate the new motor and O-ring with the pump housing, replace and hand-tighten the big retainer ring, refill, leak test, and back in business.  Down time maybe 2 hours including an hour on the leak test.  It was about due for its annual flush and refill anyway.

 

Interesting read, Bob. Now I am glad I did not gown down the loop road, otherwise a failure like this for a novice like me would have been calamity, never mind apoplectic!

Think I'll persevere with my AIO, my first venture into water-cooling.

1 hour ago, vc10man said:

Interesting read, Bob. Now I am glad I did not gown down the loop road, otherwise a failure like this for a novice like me would have been calamity, never mind apoplectic!

Think I'll persevere with my AIO, my first venture into water-cooling.

Actually, my point was kind of the opposite.  With an AIO, you don't have the option of replacing just the pump motor when it fails (and they do fail)...you have to replace the entire AIO unit--radiator, pump/water block and all.  Replacing the pump motor on my MCP-655B was as simple as unscrewing a retaining ring, pulling the motor off of the housing, putting another one in, and tightening down the retaining ring.  A *lot* less hassle than it would be with an AIO, which would entail going into the cabinet, pulling the water block off the CPU, removing the radiator assy, and then replacing the entire unit, including having to clean the thermal paste residue off of the CPU case and re-applying it along with the new water block.

Anyway, 11 years was a pretty good run for the original...that pump has lasted me through five different builds (i7-975K, i7-2600K, i7-4790K, i7-7700K, and i7-8086K).

 

That’s pretty good. Even better, It sounds like the system shut itself down before it overheated and there were no leaks.

9 hours ago, w6kd said:

Actually, my point was kind of the opposite.  With an AIO, you don't have the option of replacing just the pump motor when it fails (and they do fail)...you have to replace the entire AIO unit--radiator, pump/water block and all.  Replacing the pump motor on my MCP-655B was as simple as unscrewing a retaining ring, pulling the motor off of the housing, putting another one in, and tightening down the retaining ring.  A *lot* less hassle than it would be with an AIO, which would entail going into the cabinet, pulling the water block off the CPU, removing the radiator assy, and then replacing the entire unit, including having to clean the thermal paste residue off of the CPU case and re-applying it along with the new water block.

Anyway, 11 years was a pretty good run for the original...that pump has lasted me through five different builds (i7-975K, i7-2600K, i7-4790K, i7-7700K, and i7-8086K).

 

Fair valid argument point, Bob.

10 hours ago, w6kd said:

Actually, my point was kind of the opposite.  With an AIO, you don't have the option of replacing just the pump motor when it fails (and they do fail)...you have to replace the entire AIO unit--radiator, pump/water block and all.  Replacing the pump motor on my MCP-655B was as simple as unscrewing a retaining ring, pulling the motor off of the housing, putting another one in, and tightening down the retaining ring.  A *lot* less hassle than it would be with an AIO, which would entail going into the cabinet, pulling the water block off the CPU, removing the radiator assy, and then replacing the entire unit, including having to clean the thermal paste residue off of the CPU case and re-applying it along with the new water block.

Anyway, 11 years was a pretty good run for the original...that pump has lasted me through five different builds (i7-975K, i7-2600K, i7-4790K, i7-7700K, and i7-8086K).

 

 

 

The point of course is that Laing D5 pumps are pretty sizeable units. Known for their quality and longevity. AIO pumps on the other hand are a different ball game. They are miniaturised and don't really have the sturdiness and reliability of a Laing D5. Sure, they often last beyond the warranty periods, but compared to a D5 they are mediocre. So I'm not surprised a Laing D5 has lasted that long. 

In fact, if it were feasible to include a famously reliable D5 in an AIO, then we would rarely worry about pump failure. Leaks would remain the only concern. 

Edited January 22, 20206 yr by martin-w