I had the exact issue. My 5800x3d was hitting high 90's with my 240mm Galahad. They shipped me 3 replacements without having to return mine, because they kept shipping me black units - 2 black ones before finally getting me the white one, and told me to keep all 3 of them plus the broken one! Lian Li customer service is amazing!
I had the exact same issue with the exact same cooler model. Lian Li quickly sent me a new one when I contacted them, so that's good. Nice to see that you are covering the issue!
And if you’ve peeled the S/N sticker away and also thrown the box away… you will not get it replaced 🙃 but still good work Lian Li ALMOST helping everyone ❤️
I think I am affected too, because my idle temps sit around 54 to 63 Celcius but when opening the browser I get spikes to 80ish numbers. I also feel that one tube is definetly warmer than the other one. I bought it around August 2021 and watch myself tweaking fancurves over and over for at least 6 months now with some to no better results. I also thought about reapplying thermal paste but now I am thinking about actually messaging LianLi to compensate this. Do you have any advice on what steps I should do next since its my first build I want to stay on the safer site.. Update: I asked Lian Li to send me another one and after I think 2 weeks I got my new AiO. I also linked this video in my request TYSM!
Can 100% confirm this story. Around late March/early April this year I started having random system crashes. At first I did my regular diagnosing, but eventually I started getting overheating warnings after the crashes, so I monitored the CPU temps, and temps were much higher than normal. Idle in the 60s, full load around 82-84, and with spiky load it would get up to 89°C (for some reason constant loads apparently improved the flow of liquid, so a stresstest wouldn't crash the system, but short spikes would). So first thing I did was a full clean and remount with fresh thermal paste, but the result was pretty much unchanged. So on April 25th I contacted Lian Li support asking them how to proceed from here, if they have any advice (at that point I didn't know there was a widespread issue). The support contact immediately responded "I told the factory to send you a new unit, if you don't get it within 22 days message me again" without any other questions or asking for the defective unit to be sent back. While that did seem like really good support, it also immediately made me realize: they know exactly what's going on and want to get this dealt with as quickly and silently as possible. Received my replacement unit on the 9th of May, so well within the 22 days, but since I have an ITX build swapping the AiO is a more complex process, so I decided to wait until the weekend to swap (the old cooler was barely hanging on, I could still use the system with a heavy power limit on the CPU). Then on May 12th Igorslab posted on his news page a huge discussion thread (that blew up and got the whole coverage started) about failing Galahad AiOs, and suddenly everything came together for me. I still went ahead and installed the new unit on the 13th, and it was performing perfectly like new, so even if the problem persisted I could still keep this unit running while I figure out what to do. Next week on the 15th of May Lian Li released their public statement (the one Greg reads in the video at 14:03), and I was relieved to read that the issue had been addressed and my new unit wouldn't be affected, but I was also mad at Lian Li for not releasing any statement earlier after they've known about the problem for over a year. Could have saved me a lot of troubleshooting had I known this was a widespread issue. So apparently Lian Li and MSI (and some other AiO brands like Enermax) are using the same supplier Company Apaltek. And they had a flaw in their manufacturing process where the individual parts of the radiator got soldered twice without being properly cleaned afterwards. This left some residue inside the radiator, that over time reacts with the liquid in the loop and corrodes the aluminium inside the radiator, causing it to flake out, and the flakes start collecting in the CPU block forming the goo shown in the video. Most likely all brands that sourced their radiators from Apaltek during that time were affected, some of them decided to deal with the issue openly, Lian Li tried to keep it quiet until it got out of control. Not really the kind of response a customer would expect, but apparently this is the new norm now, companies don't want to admit any fault of their own because that would cause a huge wave of RMA requests.
I remember when GN Steve covered this it was also odd that it took Lian Li this long to fully announce this issue. Arctic’s AIOs were affected once but Arctic was pretty on top of things Which is kind of funny as someone who’s always cheaper out with ID Cooling AIOs they’ve never had any issues whatsoever
Most people don't experience these issues, even in affected models. The failure rate of this clogging problem is still super low. If you sell 10,000 units and 400 of them have an issue, it's still very unlikely you, personally, would have a problem, even though that's a "high" failure rate.
Remember the arctic case. "We detected some problem in gasket that may effect in future so here is service kit or you can do RMA". I took the service kit and I still have some liquid left on that bottle.
Of course it could take companies 6 months or a year to go back through all there manufacturing logs to see where the problem lies and compare the ones that were not affected with the ones that were affected. Companies hate doing auditing of their manufacturing processes as in some cases it takes resources they need to make money. So from a company perspective 6 month to a year is a good time rate to do their investigations and report any negatives they find and fix the problem area. From a consumer perspective it is a long time in the dark.
Confirmed they're still doing this to this day, just got mine yesterday to replace S/N 2021. Great vid! gave me peace of mind knowing its not just my rig
I reached out to Lian li about this yesterday and haven’t heard back yet. How long did the entire replacement process take? My PC won’t even run for 5 minutes without shutting down.
So I submitted the trouble ticket 26DEC, they replied the day later, no tracking provided but the pump came in 07JAN. I was also on vacation and out of town at the time so the slow shipping didn't bother me that much
I requested replacement yesterday , got an email to confirm my shipping address today , i will make sure to update this . Update : got a reply to confirm my address , no questions asked , replacement on the way.
Exactly similar thing happened with me but the AIO was from Silverstone, PF 240 ARGB. The temps used to climb to 80-90° just on idle. As it was just out of warrant period, Silverstone distributer declined replacement and said its not even serviceable. Opened it up, cleaned the gunk thoroughly, flushed with white vinegar and then with distilled water multiple times. Finally filled it with a 1:2 part mix of red automotive coolant and distilled water. Tough part was to fill it properly and remove the air bubbles. Works great now, actually better than what it was brand new. Idle temps at 25° now. Used CoolerMaster Cryo Fuze Violet thermal paste during re-installation. Given it is Core i7 10700k I will say that's a win. Will see how long it lasts before I get a replacement.
Having the same issue with a enermax 240 aio. How did you end up getting it refilled and removing all the air bubbles out? Im having a hard time myself with it lol
@@ecko90044 This was really the toughest part. What helped was that the AIO could be disassembled and has a fill port on the radiator as well. Still to remove the air bubbles, first disconnect the radiator and pipes from the AIO pump. Then using a medial syringe (with the needle removed) and keeping the pipes vertical, push the coolent mix slowly into one pipe till it comes out of the second pipe. U would need an extra set of hands for the process. Then connect the pipes back, keeping the radiator still, without tilting or changing its position. Once done, maintaining the same position, open the copper plate on the aio, and fill the pump chamber slowly using the syringe till the brim. Close it back avoiding any spills. Test it to check if everything works properly. If there is any gurgling sound, disconnect the aio, open the fill port on the radiator and slowly shake till air bubbles come to the top. Fill some more coolent with the syringe through the fill port. Shake gently and repeat till bubbles are gone. Close it up and retest. Remember being slow and steady is the key here.
@@sherichander I have the same problem with a ID cooling, after 2 days of trying to understand what was going on I stumble upon this video. Do you think just cleaning the goo and the microfins would make it work for some time ? When you said you flush with white vinegar, it was only the pump head or inside the tubes as well ?
@@maurogrimau6733 Unfortunately just cleaning the goo doesn't work as the whole coolant is for sure contaminated by now. I flushed everything the pump, pipes and radiator.
Thanks Greg! I didn't even know this was a problem yet. I built a pc for my nephew in sept 2022. He has been tell me that his pc was running "funny" I figured it was because he maxed out his HD space. After chatting with him I saw his radiator was full of dust so I showed him how to clean it. However I never tested the temps, until now. Thank you for all the things you do for he PC community. Your truly awesome man! thanks again! 🤟
I am currently using a 9.5 year old H55 Corsair AIO that has cooled 5 different CPUs at this point. I have pictures to prove it. One year is unacceptable. The list: FX-8320, i5-2500K, i7-3770, i5-10400F, and currently a i5-11600K still going strong!
Thanks Greg for going to bat for the consumer again. AIO's are not cheap, and these companies should be in touch with their client base and have their ear to the ground on issues like this so PR is not damaged and their reputation grows positive rather than negative. Great content!
The actually are cheap. In both ways - the have reduced cost becaus ethey cut a lot of corners; low quality pumps, aluminium radiators, small tubing because a) they have to pay Asetek for the patented design and b) they still have to compete with top tier aircoolers that have been shown multiple times to be as good as liquid coolers while also being cheaper and have much less critical points of failure than AIOs. Liquid cooling is expansive and risky. AIOs made it way more accessible to a lot of people, but there's a reason for that.
Used your code for Windows 10 - Thanks, one of the few ads I've benefited from. - Also! Contacted Lian Li and they are sending out my replacement out the same day. Their customer service is actually great! Thanks again
That split flathead bit is for removing screws with a ball in the head. At my job we call them X-ray screws/bits (no idea what the official/technical designation of them is) and the tools are marked as "for trained operators only" or something like that. We use them to hold lead shielding over certain areas of an electron microscope to prevent X-ray leak from the column. It is a funky looking screw head and sometimes the ball falls out (almost looks like a small ball bearing), forcing you to use regular flathead driver to extract the darned thing, because the small prongs of the bit slip out so easily.
These clogging issues have done a good job in helping decide that I'm never going to use an aio in my personal rig. I know there are good ones, but there's always gonna be the voice in the back of my head saying "what if"
Likewise. Ive always been fascinated by the way they look but given the recent trend of clogging issues with them I think I have opted against it for anything I personally touch. Id rather not risk the PC overheating and possibly burning out components that could get rather pricey to replace
it don't matter the likely hood of it happening to you is low and even if it dose your pc with thermal throttle and shut down to prevent damage. further more hard ware failure is hard to avoid sometimes but is extremely low chances but never zero. ive build many a pc in my time and had to RMA few things here and there but it should never scare you outta of buying or using something. at least with AN ALL IN ONE or AIO as you put it, you should be covered if any part of it fails as appose to a custom loop where many, many parts can be the failure point and might no be covered so to speak.
While it may have taken them awhile to make an official announcement later than expected; they at the very least have been very easy to get replacements out to anyone who had issues. Additionally they sent me a replacement without having to send the old/broken one back. No downtime if the unit was still usable.
I can confirm that their RMA process for the affected AIOs is at an accelerated pace. I filed for a RMA of my 360 Galahad on the Friday evening before Memorial Day, got an email on Memorial Day saying they were sending a replacement, the replacement was at my door step by the next Friday. 7 days total time for the new cooler to get to my door.
If I'm not mistaken, GN's Steve said in a recent video that Lian Li and MSI's AIO liquid coolers are in fact made by the same third-part manufacturer. So it's not that the two situations were similar, they're the exact same situation. Big fuckup from someone in that factory...
*as long as you keep your dust filters clean, and regularly dust out your PC. But I agree. Liquid cooling has always felt like a gimmick full of uneccessary work and headaches.
@@TrepidDestiny Yeah water cooling takes a lot of work but I think the biggest tradeoff is that it looks nicer so you get rewarded for the work you put in.
@@baddriversofthenorcalarea500 If the aio dropped temperatures by nearly 60 Celsius, I believe either you previously forgot to put the thermal paste or your fans were not spinning. If temperatures dropped TO nearly 60 Celsius then it's fine.
Gregory, my man, I have a lot to tell about that particular AIO cooler. I had one and had a HELL of an experience with it. In August 2021 I built myself a new PC. I chose an AMD Ryzen 7 5800x processor and paired it with a Lian Li Galahad 240 AIO (white version). I bought the components through Amazon and received them at my home in Santiago, Chile. I assembled the PC and everything went fine for a few months. Then, in February or March 2022, I was in the heat of a battle in "Just Cause 4" when my PC suddenly shut off! When I turned it back on, the BIOS said that there was a CPU temperature problem. The sensors indicated that the pump and fans from the AIO were working fine, so I thought the culprit was the processor. I learned that particular processor ran very hot, so I nicknamed it "El Calentón", which in English would translate as "The Hot One" or "The Horny One", depending on the context. So I tried everything, including undervolting the CPU. I can't remember how many times I reapplied thermal paste to the CPU, thinking the problem was there. I didn't realize before the cause of the problem because every time I tried something new or reapplied thermal paste, the temps seemed to improve. Finally, around July 2022 I recorded my high temps while gaming on an undervolted CPU and reported the problem to Lian Li. They acknowledged the situation and they very quickly sent me a replacement AIO (with no fans, since mine ran Ok). You know what I did with the replacement AIO? I sold it back there in Chile (including my Lian Li fans, which were working properly). Then I bought myself a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler, which is huge and not fancy-looking like the Lian Li Galahad AIO cooler, and a couple of Noctua fans. It's a bulky cooler and it might not fit every PC case and motherboard out there, but it sure solved the problem for me and it works beautifully. I highly recommend it over an AIO cooler, which is supossed to last between 3 and 5 years, but mine lasted only about 7 months. That was how "El Calentón" was tamed! About two months ago, my family and I moved to the USA, to an area to the North of Atlanta, Georgia. I have a Microcenter store nearby, in Duluth (the one you visited and showed in one of your videos a few weeks ago) and I'm planning to build a PC for my oldest boy. For his build I'm pairing an Intel Core i7 12700KF processor with a Noctua NH-U12A air cooler.
Ran into same problem and contacted Lian Li last week. Said they are replacing. I am waiting shipping information. It has been 6 days as of this morning. Good and helpful video, thank you. Mine is from July 2021
I had the same issue with my Lian Li Gallahad 360 AIO and they happily sent me a free replacement which has been working great ever since. Excellent customer service
Greg Just got my Galahad 360 AiO white unit replacement directly from LianLi with no return required. GLAD A COMPANY DEAL LIKE THIS cheers from portugal
I think that LianLi have had the benefit of seeing MSI cop heat first. I honestly feel that majority of the AIO kits have been affected by the same/similar issues. I went through 3 ThermalTake AIO units within 12 months for the exact same symptoms. The last unit I had enough so pulled the cold plate off and saw the build up. Oddly enough (and possibly pure coincidence) but the radiator design is same as the LianLi radiator (assume possible same supplier). Keep up the great work.
I got a Lian Li Galahad 240 as well, that failed for the same reason. I contacted Lian Li, and sent them my proof of purchase. Lian Li was very cool about it, and sent me a new one free of charge. They actually screwed up, and sent me a white one, even though the one I purchased was black. I sent them another email basically saying that the one I originally had was black, and I really don't want a white one. I really didn't expect them to send me ANOTHER one, but they did! I haven't had a single issue with the replacement in over a year of daily use. They also told me that I could just keep the white one, and I didn't need to send it back. I ended up giving it to my friend. I am very happy with Lian Li, and the way they handled this was top-notch. So many companies could take a lesson from them. It's not the failures that make the company, it's the way they handle the failures! While I agree with you, Greg, on most of what you're saying, I will say that the people who don't notice when their AIO is failing are not the kind of people who are going to look out for statements from a manufacturer saying that their product is defective, and it's impossible for a manufacturer to reach their consumers directly, especially if the consumer isn't looking for that information. So it is what it is. I think they did a great job
I had the MSI radiator, it had issues 3 months after use. Was not aware they did a recall/RMA PSA. So I bought the Lian LI 360 AIO, thinking its high quality and what not. Today my system randomly shut down. I go to Bios, check temp, its at 79 C., same with Hwinfo etc. Guess it finally gave out after a year of use. Just my luck for buying 2 faulty AIOs. Atleast I can plug in the new MSI one I have in the box while I wait for Lian Li.
Steve from Gamer Nexus actually talked with the people from Hyte, where they talk about Alpetek, the OEM for both MSI and Lian LI and they're open about the issues on clogging. Lian Li has handled the issue way better than MSI with most customer actually receiving instant replacement units. If I'm not mistaken also, Lian Li has also changed their OEM.
I wrote them on May 20th, still waiting for a response. Even wrote them again today. The SN of mine falls into the group that was stated on their site, which I found out from GN's video. (Back to you, Steve). Thanks for taking this apart and sorry for your patron (Dennis) who had such a bad clog like this. That hurt my soul. :(
It'd be awesome to watch you clean and refill the AIO with fresh coolant, bleed it, and see if it functions well again. That would be super cool to watch!
Thank you for this video. I've been going crazy the past few days trying to figure out why my computer was hitting ridiculous temps when just using a web browser.
Greg, I've had enough of this water cooler. I've gone through two RMAs and the pump keeps failing. The third time, I took the replacement from the RMA and sold it. Lian Li is nothing but trouble with water coolers. Now i`m use thermalright PA120 Se... Now i`m love my aircooler
I had the same issue with my Galahad back in Dec 2021, LianLi asked me to take a video of temps before sending me a replacement. They didn't ask for the old unit back. The thing is... the replacement they sent me was either a refurb or open box item, and the dated serial number for the replacement is older than the new ones they listed which states it shouldn't be impacted. Hoping this one also doesn't get clogged, seems to be ok so far.
I must say that after contacting them with this problem they shipped it about 3 days later with FedEx international priority and it was literally in hand less than 24 hours after shipping from tawain to texas
This is hilarious at this point how AIOs are failing like this. I had Corsair H110 (original version, no rgb) and it ran 24/7 for over 7 years, cooling overclocked FX8350 with a total system downtime in 7+ years being only 7days total. It never had any problems with cooling the CPU and ran perfectly fine until i switched to Noctua and AM4. Credit where credit is due, good job Corsair, lol!
My first-gen Corsair H80i failed exactly like this a few years ago after 7 years of service, first on an FX-4350 and then an i5-4690k. Maybe I was an outlier, maybe it's not necessarily brand specific, I dunno.
My 6 year old AIO is starting to make a quiet clicking sound so I thought I would see what could be the problem. After watching this, I think I will just buy a new one and not worry to much about repairs! Also, thanks for the promo code. Finally got rid of that water mark I was too lazy to worry about till now!
I just bought the gallahad 360 3 months back. The serial number on mine seems to indicate it to be a newer generation. I will come back to this video and comment if I ever start experiencing issues with it.
Hey Greg. So I have been through 3 of these. The good is that they always send a new one... Just anoying to swap em out. Good on Lian Li for always sending new units.
Thanks Greg! I had this exact issue with this exact AIO a while back and I didn't think to RMA it (I just bought a different AIO outright). I will be reaching out to LianLi and seeing if I can get a replacement. Hopefully it hasn't been too long, but the Serial number does look elligible. Fingers crossed
March 21/2024, I can confirm the RMA process still going strong no questions asked and my replacement on the way . Update: march 26 got the tracking number today. Update march 31 received the replacement without the fans. Thank you man for the RMA tip+ this video helpd me to disassemble clean and refill the old aio.
I have a Corsair 360mm AIO that I bought at Fry’s. So that says just how old the thing is, 6 years at least. It’s been in continuous use on my machines since. 8700k, R93950 then R95950, it still works like a champ. Really glad I didn’t go with the off brand that the sales guy recommended “they’re all just asetek, so there’s no difference.” 🤦♂️
According to Lian-Li (and other vendors), the issue was that some of the units went through a 2nd time soldering and QC missed that the residue from the solder caused corrosion with coolant over time. This particular manufacturer of the AIO has been warned by Lian-Li and others that there is zero tolerance for 2nd time soldering of the radiator and increased QC scrutiny for each batch.
Great spotlight on this issue Greg! I'll be going back to air cooling once my AIO dies...and it will. The tech behind air cooling had surpassed any expectations I've had since 1996 lol. But I don't overclock anymore and games are so GPU dependent theses day that the demand for water cooling will narrow. IMO. Keep up the good work and thanks for the fix or flops!
Where i worked construction for a long time those heating elements get clogged a lot and thats kind of what they look like but over the years it solidifies
Just last week I noticed that the hotspot on my GPU was running up to 105°C in my custom loop, while gaming, and the normal GPU temp was creeping up to almost 80°C. I just disassembled the GPU waterblock, and cleaned the fins, and my temps dropped back down to a nice chilly 50°C, with the hotspot around 65-70°C. And mine was not even that gunked up, just a few bits of green/blue corrosion on the fins. But Lian Li kind of shot themselves in the foot with those antitamper screws. They could easily have just told people how to clean the units. It's basically a 5 minute job, with a bit of care, and you're done.
I discovered this exact problem a week ago. My AiO was up and running for about . As of now, Lian Li still fulfills their promise of replacing the Galahad I AiOs quickly and without much trouble. I reported the problem on December 14. They replied within 10 hours and the replacement is already on it's way and is destined to arrive today (Dec. 22). The exchange process deserves probs, but to figure this out still took me a lot of time, because i hadn't heard of the general issues with the Galahad before. If it all goes well from here, i may consider their products for future hardware despite this flaw. Otherwise the Galahad will become my first and last Lian Li product.
Just wanted to say that its been fun watching your channel grow and that your always finding ways to keep your viewers waiting for the next video by not staying stale I think maybe making some content about sfx pc builds would be nice to see.
I just had my Galahad 360 RMA’d and everything was fine after. I was reaching 90C and higher on low end games and just by switching tasks. Liam Li were amazing and everything went perfectly.
Fair play for sending it in for the greater good, I would have stripped it down myself and tried to clean it and refill it to get some more use out of it.
Apparently the problem is only affecting very early units. My white 360 was a Pre-order so it was very early indeed. I am running a 5800X3D so I didn't really notice it, It's not a Hot chip. From the time I contacted Lian Li it took 6 Days to recieve a new unit without the fans. They sent it Fed-Ex overnight from Taiwan. The shipping probably cost more than the radiator and pump unit. No need to send the old one back, it's trash anyway. I did need to provide Proof of purchase which could be a problem for a brick and mortar store buyer who tossed their receipt.
I saw the reference to this on GN about a month ago. My Galahad 240 seemed to be ok, but the temps were a little higher than I had expected, but I had switched CPU at the same time so put it down to that. I bought the Galahad in September 2022 but I had a serial before the number listed so got in touch with Lian Li on a Saturday afternoon. Sunday afternoon I got a response that they would send out a replacement and not to bother sending the old one back and to expect the replacement within 26 days. As it turned out the replacement showed up this week, less than a fortnight after the issue was raised and whilst the box it came in looked a little worse for wear, it came with all the fixtures and fittings as the original (no fans obviously). All in all a great RMA experience for someone who doesn't have a broken AIO, perhaps not so much for someone with temps that you were showing. But as you say, they weren't exactly proactively reaching out to consumers and how was I able to purchase an affected AIO 6 months after they started RMAing devices?
Things can sit in a warehouse or on store shelves for a long time before being sold, and the company has no clue where they all are, that's why it is hard to just simply recall all the units.
I had a Lian Li Galahad 240 AIO in my rig about a year ago. I was living in Japan, and one day my CPU temps would spike to 70 degC while idling on windows and climb to 90s when I moved the mouse. I had to rush out to the nearest PC shop in the city and I lived outside of Tokyo so specialty store were few and far between. I grabbed a 280 from corsair, pulled out the Galahad, and everything went back to normal; did even better than before. I didn't have my tools yet so I couldn't go and open it up to check for clogging but the PC workshop I took it to thought that was the issue. I didn't buy the Galahad in Japan and the warranty window from the seller I got it from in my home country had already closed. The Galahad performed solidly for the 13 months I had it. I was supposed to hang on to it till I got back from Japan but I had to come home in a jiffy (cuz of stuff with my job) and I couldn't fit it in my luggage back home anymore so we had to part ways at the recycling center.
I wish i had seen this video before i dismantle half my computer to find the problem, I bought my Galahad early 2022, haven't had any problems until now when CPU went over +100C even when the cooling pump and fans where working fine, This videos just gave me the answer why, thank you. I have been thinking on trying their newer Galahad 2 Trinity which got relesed summer 2023, if it is worth giving Lian-Li a second change that is.. Or might just go with Asus ROG strix LC III
I think I’m having the same issue-repeated thermal paste about 20 times now 😂. Just noticed thsy one tube is extremely hotter than the other. Thanks Greg.
would love for you to clean out/flush units like these. then retest with new fluid and see if that fixes the issue. then even possibly return these units/gain permission to use these in fix or flip videos as upgrades.
This may have already been discussed, but I'll mention it anyway. That bit that you used is called a spanner or snake-eye bit. I often wondered about it myself as I have the exact same IFixIt kit that you do. And you are using them to deal with the security screws you are using them on. If I learned nothing else from this video, I at least learned for what those bits are designed. Thanks!
Very interesting. I have been convinced within myself that manufacturers all got a bad batch of coolant from a supplier that cut too many corners in recent years and the coolant was just more prone to this issue.
I'm from Brazil, I bought a MSI AIO, it clogged in less than 4 months... No RMA in Brazil, lost my money and went back to Air Cooling... The MSI Brazil representative didn't even reply... Sad, since we have all the major brands local here and like Kingston and Corsair, they all have RMA in Brazil...
I think the issue here is to develop a form of fluid to clean out the AIO before use. Most manufacturers especially low cost ones are putting just untreated fluids in there which will cause algae bloom. Something that kills algae is Methelyne Blue Hydrate. It kills the spores and keeps the loop free from having another bloom. A good way to clean your AIO before or just adding it to the loop if refilling or just before turning it on and letting it run for a bit to allow the solution to circulate.
We went through 4 of them in 2 years. My son and I each had a new 360mm crap out, replaced through an RMA and those units also crapped out. We have since switched to Corsair and haven’t looked back.
I had the same problem with my Galahad 360 which I purchased in October 2021. I must have one of the old stock as they stated they had fixed the problem in the manufacturing process in the October, however in June 2022 my temps were suddenly high on idle, I changed thermal paste as a first fix and this didn't solve the problem, contacted my supplier vIa RMA and it was replaced without question, disappointing that an official statement has taken so long to get out to the public.
Thanks to this video i watched yesterday im getting an new 360 sent out. I was wondering why my temps were slowly rising over time now i know why, and im getting a replacement. Much appreciated, thanks very much 👍
I actually have a 360 galahad. after watching the GN info on it, I decided to be proactive. while mine has not failed yet (I don't use it heavily) I reached out to Lian Li and they sent a replacement fairly quickly... Granted I had to send the serial number and proof of purchase (from 2020), at least they sent a replacement without the hassle and said I can keep the old one. wish they would have been more upfront about it, but least they are replacing them even if they haven't fully failed.
I built my new rig just last year, and the shop that I purchased my parts from asked me why I chose an air cooler for my 5800x than an AIO. I told them because air coolers don't clog.
My friend and I both had early Galahad 240s. Both ceased to function. Both were repla...well his was replaced twice and lian li were super smooth with the replacements. Was waiting on ya covering this. Also noticed mine had issues unless it was plugged into cpu opt for power and refused the aio connectors at one point entirely. These aio's are stubborn it seems
Well I may as well ask the community. My rig (i5 12400f, gigabyte 3070) went black screen yesterday. I checked both ram sticks, removed the GPU and tried out a gigabyte 2070 that was running just minutes before the test, I did the cmos both battery and pins and still nothing. The weird thing is that when plugged into a monitor that has a 5 minute sleep timer it makes it sleep instantly. Tried multiple monitors with the same result, it almost seems like it is stuck in a sleep mode protocol that is looping. Everything is under warranty so I'm worried about taking it all apart and damaging something myself and voiding that. Any ideas?
Nzxt has the same issue on the H1 Case AIO. I simply cleaned it and refilled with proper fluid. Works now like a charm. The gunk in the H1 AIO was really disgusting.
My 360 Galahad, purchased in Jan '22 but manufactured in Nov '21, still runs like a champ currently. Sitting at 31C right now while watching this video, BUT I do have the site bookmarked cause my SN starts 202111 and I watch temps closely so that if it does start to change I'm RMA it immediately.
AIOs have always had issues (noisy/dead fans and pumps) but the gunk that builds up in some of them in the last few years sounds more like a issue that normally shouldnt happen. I dont remember what AIO my friend bought in 22 but the AIO was failing after 7 months and the replacement he got through RMA made it ~10 months until cooling performance dropped again so he asked them for a refund.
I am having this issue right now but my galahad was made in April 2022. My 13900k idles at 65+C but still stays at around 80C at load. So I guess mine is partially blocked. LianLi confirmed they will send me a replacement free of charge and don't have to return the old one. I'll take my pump apart when I receive the replacement.
My aio which is the galahad 360 with st120 fan has the same issue except mine goes over 100c But lian li immediately offered me a replacement which they had post the next day Just waiting on it delivery I have to respect the fact that they offered me a replacement immediately
Hello Mr. Greg. You didn’t share how to fix such problem. If you dont have the possibility to replace the cooler. I spent the last 7 hours just to fix mine because I really can’t afford buying one and i have to study and to use the pc in general. I have aqua 240 crouger. The problem was the exact one that you show in the video. And simply i fixed it after getting the tubes off the motor. And just filled with water and muriatic acid. And just kept blowing into the tubes till a lot of orange pieces came out and that took me like an hour to do it. And then made sure its filled with water no air bubbles. Got it back together and boom 💥 the thing was running brand new. Before i do this it was 95-100 degrees when i reach the windows desktop. And i feel great about it. And you helped a lot thank you much for your videos 🤜🏻🤛🏻
seems like a good use for my idea of using solid carbide drill shank's to make super sharp bitey screw driver tips since you could push down hard while turning and the bladed edge of that nearly diamond hard bit will deform those slopes that normally let the screw driver slip up and out of the screw, (its like it is pre- stripped going the direction of loosening them. lol)
Every time I hear about issues with AIO's I'm even more happy I went with air cooling. I blow the dust out every 3 months. That's it. System runs just as cool as the day I bought it and I have a couple spare fans just in case one dies.
One thing i've always been curious about and maybe you can make a video on is attempting to revive an AIO like this? Will Soaking it in vinegar and flushing it fix it? Also using something that does gunk up like that over time would help as well. Just generally curious if something like this can be fixed to avoid unneeded waste. Thanks Techno.
Hey, a bit late on the reply here - but in my experience ive done this in order to avoid waste, works fine after a flush and clean with vinegar- replaced with new coolant.
Some manufacturers shouldn't make certain things imo. Look at MSI. They make GPUs and motherboards very well, but they lack in aios. Asus? They do well with GPUs, but design motherboards that blow up ryzen 7000 CPUs. Lian Li? They are solid with cases and fans, but not aios.
Lian-li has by so far one of the best customer supports at the consumer pc market. I have 10 lian-li UNI-infinity fans in my system in 3 stacks and had a problem with a stack of 4. even before confirming, and dissasembling the stack they had shipped 4 new fans. later it was confirmed one of the fans had a broken pin causing the whole stack loose connection. I live in norway and it's a realy good consumer warranty by law here.. but here i would have had to disassemble the stack and return the broken fan to get a new one. ... so guess i have 13 in my rig now.. my thickest radiator(60mm) has push pull now :D
im one of those having similar problem thats why im here... used it for 2-3 years.. Temp inceeases by months... until this month it went 80-90c... then replaced with aircooler thermalright . . i loved their casings , fans... but coolers i dont know.. hope they will replace mine asap.
Greg, I have 2 SilverStone Technology Permafrost AIO's that have failed, these are the 3rd and 4th units from them as they constantly fail and they now refuse to stand behind their warranty, I have a 240 and 360 and can send to you for inspection.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for always going to bat for consumers. We need this.
I had the exact issue. My 5800x3d was hitting high 90's with my 240mm Galahad. They shipped me 3 replacements without having to return mine, because they kept shipping me black units - 2 black ones before finally getting me the white one, and told me to keep all 3 of them plus the broken one! Lian Li customer service is amazing!
I had the exact same issue with the exact same cooler model. Lian Li quickly sent me a new one when I contacted them, so that's good. Nice to see that you are covering the issue!
And they sent it to Peru with no issues at all
Thanks for sharing!
And if you’ve peeled the S/N sticker away and also thrown the box away… you will not get it replaced 🙃 but still good work Lian Li ALMOST helping everyone ❤️
Me too!!!
I think I am affected too, because my idle temps sit around 54 to 63 Celcius but when opening the browser I get spikes to 80ish numbers. I also feel that one tube is definetly warmer than the other one. I bought it around August 2021 and watch myself tweaking fancurves over and over for at least 6 months now with some to no better results. I also thought about reapplying thermal paste but now I am thinking about actually messaging LianLi to compensate this.
Do you have any advice on what steps I should do next since its my first build I want to stay on the safer site..
Update: I asked Lian Li to send me another one and after I think 2 weeks I got my new AiO. I also linked this video in my request TYSM!
Can 100% confirm this story. Around late March/early April this year I started having random system crashes. At first I did my regular diagnosing, but eventually I started getting overheating warnings after the crashes, so I monitored the CPU temps, and temps were much higher than normal. Idle in the 60s, full load around 82-84, and with spiky load it would get up to 89°C (for some reason constant loads apparently improved the flow of liquid, so a stresstest wouldn't crash the system, but short spikes would).
So first thing I did was a full clean and remount with fresh thermal paste, but the result was pretty much unchanged. So on April 25th I contacted Lian Li support asking them how to proceed from here, if they have any advice (at that point I didn't know there was a widespread issue). The support contact immediately responded "I told the factory to send you a new unit, if you don't get it within 22 days message me again" without any other questions or asking for the defective unit to be sent back.
While that did seem like really good support, it also immediately made me realize: they know exactly what's going on and want to get this dealt with as quickly and silently as possible. Received my replacement unit on the 9th of May, so well within the 22 days, but since I have an ITX build swapping the AiO is a more complex process, so I decided to wait until the weekend to swap (the old cooler was barely hanging on, I could still use the system with a heavy power limit on the CPU). Then on May 12th Igorslab posted on his news page a huge discussion thread (that blew up and got the whole coverage started) about failing Galahad AiOs, and suddenly everything came together for me. I still went ahead and installed the new unit on the 13th, and it was performing perfectly like new, so even if the problem persisted I could still keep this unit running while I figure out what to do.
Next week on the 15th of May Lian Li released their public statement (the one Greg reads in the video at 14:03), and I was relieved to read that the issue had been addressed and my new unit wouldn't be affected, but I was also mad at Lian Li for not releasing any statement earlier after they've known about the problem for over a year. Could have saved me a lot of troubleshooting had I known this was a widespread issue.
So apparently Lian Li and MSI (and some other AiO brands like Enermax) are using the same supplier Company Apaltek. And they had a flaw in their manufacturing process where the individual parts of the radiator got soldered twice without being properly cleaned afterwards. This left some residue inside the radiator, that over time reacts with the liquid in the loop and corrodes the aluminium inside the radiator, causing it to flake out, and the flakes start collecting in the CPU block forming the goo shown in the video. Most likely all brands that sourced their radiators from Apaltek during that time were affected, some of them decided to deal with the issue openly, Lian Li tried to keep it quiet until it got out of control. Not really the kind of response a customer would expect, but apparently this is the new norm now, companies don't want to admit any fault of their own because that would cause a huge wave of RMA requests.
I remember when GN Steve covered this it was also odd that it took Lian Li this long to fully announce this issue. Arctic’s AIOs were affected once but Arctic was pretty on top of things
Which is kind of funny as someone who’s always cheaper out with ID Cooling AIOs they’ve never had any issues whatsoever
Most people don't experience these issues, even in affected models. The failure rate of this clogging problem is still super low. If you sell 10,000 units and 400 of them have an issue, it's still very unlikely you, personally, would have a problem, even though that's a "high" failure rate.
thats because arctic make their own AIO. lian li and msi to my knowledge were using OEMs so it easier for arctic to have through inspection
Remember the arctic case. "We detected some problem in gasket that may effect in future so here is service kit or you can do RMA". I took the service kit and I still have some liquid left on that bottle.
Of course it could take companies 6 months or a year to go back through all there manufacturing logs to see where the problem lies and compare the ones that were not affected with the ones that were affected. Companies hate doing auditing of their manufacturing processes as in some cases it takes resources they need to make money. So from a company perspective 6 month to a year is a good time rate to do their investigations and report any negatives they find and fix the problem area. From a consumer perspective it is a long time in the dark.
Confirmed they're still doing this to this day, just got mine yesterday to replace S/N 2021. Great vid! gave me peace of mind knowing its not just my rig
I reached out to Lian li about this yesterday and haven’t heard back yet. How long did the entire replacement process take? My PC won’t even run for 5 minutes without shutting down.
So I submitted the trouble ticket 26DEC, they replied the day later, no tracking provided but the pump came in 07JAN. I was also on vacation and out of town at the time so the slow shipping didn't bother me that much
@@boygarlic thanks bro
Np. Good luck on the down days of the rig
I requested replacement yesterday , got an email to confirm my shipping address today , i will make sure to update this .
Update : got a reply to confirm my address , no questions asked , replacement on the way.
Exactly similar thing happened with me but the AIO was from Silverstone, PF 240 ARGB. The temps used to climb to 80-90° just on idle. As it was just out of warrant period, Silverstone distributer declined replacement and said its not even serviceable. Opened it up, cleaned the gunk thoroughly, flushed with white vinegar and then with distilled water multiple times. Finally filled it with a 1:2 part mix of red automotive coolant and distilled water. Tough part was to fill it properly and remove the air bubbles. Works great now, actually better than what it was brand new. Idle temps at 25° now. Used CoolerMaster Cryo Fuze Violet thermal paste during re-installation. Given it is Core i7 10700k I will say that's a win. Will see how long it lasts before I get a replacement.
Having the same issue with a enermax 240 aio. How did you end up getting it refilled and removing all the air bubbles out? Im having a hard time myself with it lol
@@ecko90044 This was really the toughest part. What helped was that the AIO could be disassembled and has a fill port on the radiator as well. Still to remove the air bubbles, first disconnect the radiator and pipes from the AIO pump. Then using a medial syringe (with the needle removed) and keeping the pipes vertical, push the coolent mix slowly into one pipe till it comes out of the second pipe. U would need an extra set of hands for the process. Then connect the pipes back, keeping the radiator still, without tilting or changing its position. Once done, maintaining the same position, open the copper plate on the aio, and fill the pump chamber slowly using the syringe till the brim. Close it back avoiding any spills. Test it to check if everything works properly. If there is any gurgling sound, disconnect the aio, open the fill port on the radiator and slowly shake till air bubbles come to the top. Fill some more coolent with the syringe through the fill port. Shake gently and repeat till bubbles are gone. Close it up and retest. Remember being slow and steady is the key here.
@@sherichander I have the same problem with a ID cooling, after 2 days of trying to understand what was going on I stumble upon this video. Do you think just cleaning the goo and the microfins would make it work for some time ? When you said you flush with white vinegar, it was only the pump head or inside the tubes as well ?
@@maurogrimau6733 Unfortunately just cleaning the goo doesn't work as the whole coolant is for sure contaminated by now. I flushed everything the pump, pipes and radiator.
Thanks Greg! I didn't even know this was a problem yet. I built a pc for my nephew in sept 2022. He has been tell me that his pc was running "funny" I figured it was because he maxed out his HD space. After chatting with him I saw his radiator was full of dust so I showed him how to clean it. However I never tested the temps, until now. Thank you for all the things you do for he PC community. Your truly awesome man! thanks again! 🤟
Content like this is amazing. Thank you and the viewers that are willing to participate.
I am currently using a 9.5 year old H55 Corsair AIO that has cooled 5 different CPUs at this point. I have pictures to prove it. One year is unacceptable.
The list: FX-8320, i5-2500K, i7-3770, i5-10400F, and currently a i5-11600K still going strong!
update ? if it is still running?
My son have a 4-5 years old Corsair h100i and his temps are still fine.
Love your videos and thanks for taking the time to explore these issues
Thanks Greg for going to bat for the consumer again. AIO's are not cheap, and these companies should be in touch with their client base and have their ear to the ground on issues like this so PR is not damaged and their reputation grows positive rather than negative. Great content!
The actually are cheap. In both ways - the have reduced cost becaus ethey cut a lot of corners; low quality pumps, aluminium radiators, small tubing because a) they have to pay Asetek for the patented design and b) they still have to compete with top tier aircoolers that have been shown multiple times to be as good as liquid coolers while also being cheaper and have much less critical points of failure than AIOs.
Liquid cooling is expansive and risky. AIOs made it way more accessible to a lot of people, but there's a reason for that.
Used your code for Windows 10 - Thanks, one of the few ads I've benefited from. - Also! Contacted Lian Li and they are sending out my replacement out the same day. Their customer service is actually great! Thanks again
That split flathead bit is for removing screws with a ball in the head. At my job we call them X-ray screws/bits (no idea what the official/technical designation of them is) and the tools are marked as "for trained operators only" or something like that. We use them to hold lead shielding over certain areas of an electron microscope to prevent X-ray leak from the column. It is a funky looking screw head and sometimes the ball falls out (almost looks like a small ball bearing), forcing you to use regular flathead driver to extract the darned thing, because the small prongs of the bit slip out so easily.
These clogging issues have done a good job in helping decide that I'm never going to use an aio in my personal rig. I know there are good ones, but there's always gonna be the voice in the back of my head saying "what if"
same, nh-d15 for life
Likewise. Ive always been fascinated by the way they look but given the recent trend of clogging issues with them I think I have opted against it for anything I personally touch. Id rather not risk the PC overheating and possibly burning out components that could get rather pricey to replace
it don't matter the likely hood of it happening to you is low and even if it dose your pc with thermal throttle and shut down to prevent damage. further more hard ware failure is hard to avoid sometimes but is extremely low chances but never zero. ive build many a pc in my time and had to RMA few things here and there but it should never scare you outta of buying or using something. at least with AN ALL IN ONE or AIO as you put it, you should be covered if any part of it fails as appose to a custom loop where many, many parts can be the failure point and might no be covered so to speak.
if air cooling could get the job done for you, no need to go AIO other than the fancy LED screen on top of the CPU
@@leeksoup3199same 1 month ago nh u9s chromax black aircooler😊
While it may have taken them awhile to make an official announcement later than expected; they at the very least have been very easy to get replacements out to anyone who had issues. Additionally they sent me a replacement without having to send the old/broken one back. No downtime if the unit was still usable.
would you give me the old one? I'll fix it for use.if possible.
I can confirm that their RMA process for the affected AIOs is at an accelerated pace. I filed for a RMA of my 360 Galahad on the Friday evening before Memorial Day, got an email on Memorial Day saying they were sending a replacement, the replacement was at my door step by the next Friday. 7 days total time for the new cooler to get to my door.
Agreed mine did this last year after a year of use and they immediately replaced it 2 weeks from Taiwan to NZ where I am
If I'm not mistaken, GN's Steve said in a recent video that Lian Li and MSI's AIO liquid coolers are in fact made by the same third-part manufacturer. So it's not that the two situations were similar, they're the exact same situation. Big fuckup from someone in that factory...
Another reason why I love air cooling, not as fancy as AIO water cooled builds but won't ever clog
*as long as you keep your dust filters clean, and regularly dust out your PC. But I agree. Liquid cooling has always felt like a gimmick full of uneccessary work and headaches.
@@TrepidDestiny Yeah water cooling takes a lot of work but I think the biggest tradeoff is that it looks nicer so you get rewarded for the work you put in.
@@RobertReital Both my desktops are in wood cases, the cases are the cool factor, you can't see the insides.
@@TrepidDestiny I purchased an AIO for the first time every a few days ago. Was super easy to install, and dropped temps by nearly 60C.
@@baddriversofthenorcalarea500 If the aio dropped temperatures by nearly 60 Celsius, I believe either you previously forgot to put the thermal paste or your fans were not spinning. If temperatures dropped TO nearly 60 Celsius then it's fine.
Gregory, my man, I have a lot to tell about that particular AIO cooler. I had one and had a HELL of an experience with it.
In August 2021 I built myself a new PC. I chose an AMD Ryzen 7 5800x processor and paired it with a Lian Li Galahad 240 AIO (white version). I bought the components through Amazon and received them at my home in Santiago, Chile. I assembled the PC and everything went fine for a few months. Then, in February or March 2022, I was in the heat of a battle in "Just Cause 4" when my PC suddenly shut off!
When I turned it back on, the BIOS said that there was a CPU temperature problem. The sensors indicated that the pump and fans from the AIO were working fine, so I thought the culprit was the processor. I learned that particular processor ran very hot, so I nicknamed it "El Calentón", which in English would translate as "The Hot One" or "The Horny One", depending on the context. So I tried everything, including undervolting the CPU. I can't remember how many times I reapplied thermal paste to the CPU, thinking the problem was there. I didn't realize before the cause of the problem because every time I tried something new or reapplied thermal paste, the temps seemed to improve.
Finally, around July 2022 I recorded my high temps while gaming on an undervolted CPU and reported the problem to Lian Li. They acknowledged the situation and they very quickly sent me a replacement AIO (with no fans, since mine ran Ok). You know what I did with the replacement AIO? I sold it back there in Chile (including my Lian Li fans, which were working properly). Then I bought myself a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler, which is huge and not fancy-looking like the Lian Li Galahad AIO cooler, and a couple of Noctua fans. It's a bulky cooler and it might not fit every PC case and motherboard out there, but it sure solved the problem for me and it works beautifully. I highly recommend it over an AIO cooler, which is supossed to last between 3 and 5 years, but mine lasted only about 7 months. That was how "El Calentón" was tamed!
About two months ago, my family and I moved to the USA, to an area to the North of Atlanta, Georgia. I have a Microcenter store nearby, in Duluth (the one you visited and showed in one of your videos a few weeks ago) and I'm planning to build a PC for my oldest boy. For his build I'm pairing an Intel Core i7 12700KF processor with a Noctua NH-U12A air cooler.
Ran into same problem and contacted Lian Li last week. Said they are replacing. I am waiting shipping information. It has been 6 days as of this morning. Good and helpful video, thank you. Mine is from July 2021
GG on letting the company know what is going on. Huge fan of your content!
I had the same issue with my Lian Li Gallahad 360 AIO and they happily sent me a free replacement which has been working great ever since. Excellent customer service
I reached out to Lian li yesterday about this problem. Still haven’t heard back. How long did the entire replacement process take?
@brianjamesesq747 I think they responded in 1 or 2 days. The shipment from Taiwan to the US took about 2 weeks but they shipped it right away
@@MadMaxwellP216 thanks for the reply.
Greg Just got my Galahad 360 AiO white unit replacement directly from LianLi with no return required.
GLAD A COMPANY DEAL LIKE THIS
cheers from portugal
To their credit, they've sent me an AIO, and a couple of fans to the UK, via warranty, without ever asking for me to return the faulty products
I think that LianLi have had the benefit of seeing MSI cop heat first.
I honestly feel that majority of the AIO kits have been affected by the same/similar issues.
I went through 3 ThermalTake AIO units within 12 months for the exact same symptoms. The last unit I had enough so pulled the cold plate off and saw the build up.
Oddly enough (and possibly pure coincidence) but the radiator design is same as the LianLi radiator (assume possible same supplier).
Keep up the great work.
This is why i don’t drive a car, they break. My bicycle does just fine. Says air cooled person to AIO owner.
I got a Lian Li Galahad 240 as well, that failed for the same reason. I contacted Lian Li, and sent them my proof of purchase. Lian Li was very cool about it, and sent me a new one free of charge. They actually screwed up, and sent me a white one, even though the one I purchased was black. I sent them another email basically saying that the one I originally had was black, and I really don't want a white one. I really didn't expect them to send me ANOTHER one, but they did! I haven't had a single issue with the replacement in over a year of daily use. They also told me that I could just keep the white one, and I didn't need to send it back. I ended up giving it to my friend. I am very happy with Lian Li, and the way they handled this was top-notch. So many companies could take a lesson from them. It's not the failures that make the company, it's the way they handle the failures! While I agree with you, Greg, on most of what you're saying, I will say that the people who don't notice when their AIO is failing are not the kind of people who are going to look out for statements from a manufacturer saying that their product is defective, and it's impossible for a manufacturer to reach their consumers directly, especially if the consumer isn't looking for that information. So it is what it is. I think they did a great job
I had the MSI radiator, it had issues 3 months after use. Was not aware they did a recall/RMA PSA. So I bought the Lian LI 360 AIO, thinking its high quality and what not. Today my system randomly shut down. I go to Bios, check temp, its at 79 C., same with Hwinfo etc. Guess it finally gave out after a year of use. Just my luck for buying 2 faulty AIOs.
Atleast I can plug in the new MSI one I have in the box while I wait for Lian Li.
Steve from Gamer Nexus actually talked with the people from Hyte, where they talk about Alpetek, the OEM for both MSI and Lian LI and they're open about the issues on clogging. Lian Li has handled the issue way better than MSI with most customer actually receiving instant replacement units. If I'm not mistaken also, Lian Li has also changed their OEM.
I wrote them on May 20th, still waiting for a response. Even wrote them again today. The SN of mine falls into the group that was stated on their site, which I found out from GN's video. (Back to you, Steve). Thanks for taking this apart and sorry for your patron (Dennis) who had such a bad clog like this. That hurt my soul. :(
It'd be awesome to watch you clean and refill the AIO with fresh coolant, bleed it, and see if it functions well again. That would be super cool to watch!
yeah he missed the opportunity
Agree. I also have a dead AIO, which I am sure it is also clogged. Got a replacement cooler, and I am ready to tear down my original AIO.
@@mikeycrackson Maybe this is one for JayzTwoCents to jump on ?
This makes me think that, unless you're overclocking, AIO's are way more probematic than a good air cooler.
Thank you for this video. I've been going crazy the past few days trying to figure out why my computer was hitting ridiculous temps when just using a web browser.
You're very welcome!
The more videos like these that I watch the more I want to use air cooling for the next planned build. Thank you sir!
Great for Liam Li once they finally recognized the issue with a no questions asked.
Greg, I've had enough of this water cooler. I've gone through two RMAs and the pump keeps failing. The third time, I took the replacement from the RMA and sold it. Lian Li is nothing but trouble with water coolers. Now i`m use thermalright PA120 Se... Now i`m love my aircooler
I had the same issue with my Galahad back in Dec 2021, LianLi asked me to take a video of temps before sending me a replacement. They didn't ask for the old unit back. The thing is... the replacement they sent me was either a refurb or open box item, and the dated serial number for the replacement is older than the new ones they listed which states it shouldn't be impacted. Hoping this one also doesn't get clogged, seems to be ok so far.
they need to stop putting oatmeal in the fluid
I must say that after contacting them with this problem they shipped it about 3 days later with FedEx international priority and it was literally in hand less than 24 hours after shipping from tawain to texas
This is hilarious at this point how AIOs are failing like this.
I had Corsair H110 (original version, no rgb) and it ran 24/7 for over 7 years, cooling overclocked FX8350 with a total system downtime in 7+ years being only 7days total.
It never had any problems with cooling the CPU and ran perfectly fine until i switched to Noctua and AM4. Credit where credit is due, good job Corsair, lol!
My first-gen Corsair H80i failed exactly like this a few years ago after 7 years of service, first on an FX-4350 and then an i5-4690k. Maybe I was an outlier, maybe it's not necessarily brand specific, I dunno.
My 6 year old AIO is starting to make a quiet clicking sound so I thought I would see what could be the problem.
After watching this, I think I will just buy a new one and not worry to much about repairs!
Also, thanks for the promo code. Finally got rid of that water mark I was too lazy to worry about till now!
I just bought the gallahad 360 3 months back. The serial number on mine seems to indicate it to be a newer generation. I will come back to this video and comment if I ever start experiencing issues with it.
Hey Greg. So I have been through 3 of these. The good is that they always send a new one... Just anoying to swap em out. Good on Lian Li for always sending new units.
I’ve learned so much from watching the fix or flop vids.
Thanks!
Thanks Greg! I had this exact issue with this exact AIO a while back and I didn't think to RMA it (I just bought a different AIO outright). I will be reaching out to LianLi and seeing if I can get a replacement. Hopefully it hasn't been too long, but the Serial number does look elligible. Fingers crossed
March 21/2024, I can confirm the RMA process still going strong no questions asked and my replacement on the way .
Update: march 26 got the tracking number today.
Update march 31 received the replacement without the fans.
Thank you man for the RMA tip+ this video helpd me to disassemble clean and refill the old aio.
Just out of curiosity... Is it possible to disassemble the AIO, clean, and then refill with fresh coolant?
I have a Corsair 360mm AIO that I bought at Fry’s. So that says just how old the thing is, 6 years at least. It’s been in continuous use on my machines since. 8700k, R93950 then R95950, it still works like a champ. Really glad I didn’t go with the off brand that the sales guy recommended “they’re all just asetek, so there’s no difference.” 🤦♂️
According to Lian-Li (and other vendors), the issue was that some of the units went through a 2nd time soldering and QC missed that the residue from the solder caused corrosion with coolant over time. This particular manufacturer of the AIO has been warned by Lian-Li and others that there is zero tolerance for 2nd time soldering of the radiator and increased QC scrutiny for each batch.
how shit thank you so much I bought mine awhile ago but always felt that it ran hot you prolly saved me tons of money in the future true legend
Great spotlight on this issue Greg! I'll be going back to air cooling once my AIO dies...and it will. The tech behind air cooling had surpassed any expectations I've had since 1996 lol. But I don't overclock anymore and games are so GPU dependent theses day that the demand for water cooling will narrow. IMO. Keep up the good work and thanks for the fix or flops!
Where i worked construction for a long time those heating elements get clogged a lot and thats kind of what they look like but over the years it solidifies
Dammit, Greg. I have the Wilhelm Scream as an alert on my phone and I thought it was going off when you showed the gunk.
Just last week I noticed that the hotspot on my GPU was running up to 105°C in my custom loop, while gaming, and the normal GPU temp was creeping up to almost 80°C.
I just disassembled the GPU waterblock, and cleaned the fins, and my temps dropped back down to a nice chilly 50°C, with the hotspot around 65-70°C. And mine was not even that gunked up, just a few bits of green/blue corrosion on the fins.
But Lian Li kind of shot themselves in the foot with those antitamper screws. They could easily have just told people how to clean the units. It's basically a 5 minute job, with a bit of care, and you're done.
I discovered this exact problem a week ago. My AiO was up and running for about . As of now, Lian Li still fulfills their promise of replacing the Galahad I AiOs quickly and without much trouble. I reported the problem on December 14. They replied within 10 hours and the replacement is already on it's way and is destined to arrive today (Dec. 22). The exchange process deserves probs, but to figure this out still took me a lot of time, because i hadn't heard of the general issues with the Galahad before.
If it all goes well from here, i may consider their products for future hardware despite this flaw. Otherwise the Galahad will become my first and last Lian Li product.
Just wanted to say that its been fun watching your channel grow and that your always finding ways to keep your viewers waiting for the next video by not staying stale I think maybe making some content about sfx pc builds would be nice to see.
Thanks for the support and feedback! Will see what we can do in the ITX department 👍
I just had my Galahad 360 RMA’d and everything was fine after. I was reaching 90C and higher on low end games and just by switching tasks. Liam Li were amazing and everything went perfectly.
in the future I'm going for a Be quiet air cooler and peace of mind!
Fair play for sending it in for the greater good, I would have stripped it down myself and tried to clean it and refill it to get some more use out of it.
Apparently the problem is only affecting very early units. My white 360 was a Pre-order so it was very early indeed.
I am running a 5800X3D so I didn't really notice it, It's not a Hot chip. From the time I contacted Lian Li it took 6 Days to
recieve a new unit without the fans. They sent it Fed-Ex overnight from Taiwan. The shipping probably cost more than
the radiator and pump unit. No need to send the old one back, it's trash anyway. I did need to provide Proof of purchase
which could be a problem for a brick and mortar store buyer who tossed their receipt.
I saw the reference to this on GN about a month ago. My Galahad 240 seemed to be ok, but the temps were a little higher than I had expected, but I had switched CPU at the same time so put it down to that. I bought the Galahad in September 2022 but I had a serial before the number listed so got in touch with Lian Li on a Saturday afternoon. Sunday afternoon I got a response that they would send out a replacement and not to bother sending the old one back and to expect the replacement within 26 days. As it turned out the replacement showed up this week, less than a fortnight after the issue was raised and whilst the box it came in looked a little worse for wear, it came with all the fixtures and fittings as the original (no fans obviously). All in all a great RMA experience for someone who doesn't have a broken AIO, perhaps not so much for someone with temps that you were showing. But as you say, they weren't exactly proactively reaching out to consumers and how was I able to purchase an affected AIO 6 months after they started RMAing devices?
I should mention that I'm in the UK.
Things can sit in a warehouse or on store shelves for a long time before being sold, and the company has no clue where they all are, that's why it is hard to just simply recall all the units.
I had a Lian Li Galahad 240 AIO in my rig about a year ago. I was living in Japan, and one day my CPU temps would spike to 70 degC while idling on windows and climb to 90s when I moved the mouse. I had to rush out to the nearest PC shop in the city and I lived outside of Tokyo so specialty store were few and far between. I grabbed a 280 from corsair, pulled out the Galahad, and everything went back to normal; did even better than before. I didn't have my tools yet so I couldn't go and open it up to check for clogging but the PC workshop I took it to thought that was the issue. I didn't buy the Galahad in Japan and the warranty window from the seller I got it from in my home country had already closed. The Galahad performed solidly for the 13 months I had it. I was supposed to hang on to it till I got back from Japan but I had to come home in a jiffy (cuz of stuff with my job) and I couldn't fit it in my luggage back home anymore so we had to part ways at the recycling center.
I wish i had seen this video before i dismantle half my computer to find the problem, I bought my Galahad early 2022, haven't had any problems until now when CPU went over +100C even when the cooling pump and fans where working fine,
This videos just gave me the answer why, thank you.
I have been thinking on trying their newer Galahad 2 Trinity which got relesed summer 2023, if it is worth giving Lian-Li a second change that is..
Or might just go with Asus ROG strix LC III
Been running my Deepcool 280mm since I built my work PC. Been good. Hoping the new Lian Li 140mm fans keep it quiet and cooler.
Its crazy this video went up today. I have a clogged deepcool aio that is 6 months old and today deepcool just straight up refused to warranty it.
I think I’m having the same issue-repeated thermal paste about 20 times now 😂. Just noticed thsy one tube is extremely hotter than the other. Thanks Greg.
would love for you to clean out/flush units like these. then retest with new fluid and see if that fixes the issue. then even possibly return these units/gain permission to use these in fix or flip videos as upgrades.
This may have already been discussed, but I'll mention it anyway. That bit that you used is called a spanner or snake-eye bit. I often wondered about it myself as I have the exact same IFixIt kit that you do. And you are using them to deal with the security screws you are using them on.
If I learned nothing else from this video, I at least learned for what those bits are designed. Thanks!
Very interesting. I have been convinced within myself that manufacturers all got a bad batch of coolant from a supplier that cut too many corners in recent years and the coolant was just more prone to this issue.
I'm from Brazil, I bought a MSI AIO, it clogged in less than 4 months... No RMA in Brazil, lost my money and went back to Air Cooling... The MSI Brazil representative didn't even reply... Sad, since we have all the major brands local here and like Kingston and Corsair, they all have RMA in Brazil...
I think the issue here is to develop a form of fluid to clean out the AIO before use. Most manufacturers especially low cost ones are putting just untreated fluids in there which will cause algae bloom. Something that kills algae is Methelyne Blue Hydrate. It kills the spores and keeps the loop free from having another bloom. A good way to clean your AIO before or just adding it to the loop if refilling or just before turning it on and letting it run for a bit to allow the solution to circulate.
We went through 4 of them in 2 years. My son and I each had a new 360mm crap out, replaced through an RMA and those units also crapped out. We have since switched to Corsair and haven’t looked back.
I've been using two Raijintek orcus AIOs, a 240mm and a 280mm for a few years now and they are still going strong
I had the same problem with my Galahad 360 which I purchased in October 2021. I must have one of the old stock as they stated they had fixed the problem in the manufacturing process in the October, however in June 2022 my temps were suddenly high on idle, I changed thermal paste as a first fix and this didn't solve the problem, contacted my supplier vIa RMA and it was replaced without question, disappointing that an official statement has taken so long to get out to the public.
Thanks to this video i watched yesterday im getting an new 360 sent out. I was wondering why my temps were slowly rising over time now i know why, and im getting a replacement. Much appreciated, thanks very much 👍
Great to hear!
Good to see you on Paul’s channel in Taiwan!! Cool!
I actually have a 360 galahad. after watching the GN info on it, I decided to be proactive. while mine has not failed yet (I don't use it heavily) I reached out to Lian Li and they sent a replacement fairly quickly... Granted I had to send the serial number and proof of purchase (from 2020), at least they sent a replacement without the hassle and said I can keep the old one. wish they would have been more upfront about it, but least they are replacing them even if they haven't fully failed.
How about an AIO repair guide?
this is why I prefer air coolers, despite the noise
I built my new rig just last year, and the shop that I purchased my parts from asked me why I chose an air cooler for my 5800x than an AIO. I told them because air coolers don't clog.
My friend and I both had early Galahad 240s. Both ceased to function. Both were repla...well his was replaced twice and lian li were super smooth with the replacements. Was waiting on ya covering this. Also noticed mine had issues unless it was plugged into cpu opt for power and refused the aio connectors at one point entirely. These aio's are stubborn it seems
Well I may as well ask the community. My rig (i5 12400f, gigabyte 3070) went black screen yesterday.
I checked both ram sticks, removed the GPU and tried out a gigabyte 2070 that was running just minutes before the test, I did the cmos both battery and pins and still nothing.
The weird thing is that when plugged into a monitor that has a 5 minute sleep timer it makes it sleep instantly. Tried multiple monitors with the same result, it almost seems like it is stuck in a sleep mode protocol that is looping. Everything is under warranty so I'm worried about taking it all apart and damaging something myself and voiding that.
Any ideas?
Nzxt has the same issue on the H1 Case AIO.
I simply cleaned it and refilled with proper fluid. Works now like a charm.
The gunk in the H1 AIO was really disgusting.
It's not just a Lian Li problem because by couger aio had the exact same gunk build up underneath the heat plate.
My 360 Galahad, purchased in Jan '22 but manufactured in Nov '21, still runs like a champ currently. Sitting at 31C right now while watching this video, BUT I do have the site bookmarked cause my SN starts 202111 and I watch temps closely so that if it does start to change I'm RMA it immediately.
AIOs have always had issues (noisy/dead fans and pumps) but the gunk that builds up in some of them in the last few years sounds more like a issue that normally shouldnt happen. I dont remember what AIO my friend bought in 22 but the AIO was failing after 7 months and the replacement he got through RMA made it ~10 months until cooling performance dropped again so he asked them for a refund.
Yup this happened to me few months ago … I had insurance and they didn’t have the same aio in store so microcenter let me choose any cooler I wanted
I am having this issue right now but my galahad was made in April 2022. My 13900k idles at 65+C but still stays at around 80C at load. So I guess mine is partially blocked. LianLi confirmed they will send me a replacement free of charge and don't have to return the old one. I'll take my pump apart when I receive the replacement.
I was indeed puzzled about why the sudden idle temp jump and tried to reseat and re-paste multiple times and nothing helped.
My aio which is the galahad 360 with st120 fan has the same issue except mine goes over 100c
But lian li immediately offered me a replacement which they had post the next day
Just waiting on it delivery
I have to respect the fact that they offered me a replacement immediately
New studio looks clean, Greg.
Hello Mr. Greg. You didn’t share how to fix such problem. If you dont have the possibility to replace the cooler.
I spent the last 7 hours just to fix mine because I really can’t afford buying one and i have to study and to use the pc in general.
I have aqua 240 crouger.
The problem was the exact one that you show in the video. And simply i fixed it after getting the tubes off the motor. And just filled with water and muriatic acid. And just kept blowing into the tubes till a lot of orange pieces came out and that took me like an hour to do it. And then made sure its filled with water no air bubbles. Got it back together and boom 💥 the thing was running brand new.
Before i do this it was 95-100 degrees when i reach the windows desktop. And i feel great about it. And you helped a lot thank you much for your videos 🤜🏻🤛🏻
seems like a good use for my idea of using solid carbide drill shank's to make super sharp bitey screw driver tips since you could push down hard while turning and the bladed edge of that nearly diamond hard bit will deform those slopes that normally let the screw driver slip up and out of the screw, (its like it is pre- stripped going the direction of loosening them. lol)
Every time I hear about issues with AIO's I'm even more happy I went with air cooling. I blow the dust out every 3 months. That's it. System runs just as cool as the day I bought it and I have a couple spare fans just in case one dies.
One thing i've always been curious about and maybe you can make a video on is attempting to revive an AIO like this? Will Soaking it in vinegar and flushing it fix it? Also using something that does gunk up like that over time would help as well. Just generally curious if something like this can be fixed to avoid unneeded waste. Thanks Techno.
Hey, a bit late on the reply here - but in my experience ive done this in order to avoid waste, works fine after a flush and clean with vinegar- replaced with new coolant.
Some manufacturers shouldn't make certain things imo. Look at MSI. They make GPUs and motherboards very well, but they lack in aios. Asus? They do well with GPUs, but design motherboards that blow up ryzen 7000 CPUs.
Lian Li? They are solid with cases and fans, but not aios.
Lian-li has by so far one of the best customer supports at the consumer pc market. I have 10 lian-li UNI-infinity fans in my system in 3 stacks and had a problem with a stack of 4. even before confirming, and dissasembling the stack they had shipped 4 new fans. later it was confirmed one of the fans had a broken pin causing the whole stack loose connection. I live in norway and it's a realy good consumer warranty by law here.. but here i would have had to disassemble the stack and return the broken fan to get a new one. ... so guess i have 13 in my rig now.. my thickest radiator(60mm) has push pull now :D
im one of those having similar problem thats why im here... used it for 2-3 years.. Temp inceeases by months... until this month it went 80-90c... then replaced with aircooler thermalright . . i loved their casings , fans... but coolers i dont know.. hope they will replace mine asap.
Greg, I have 2 SilverStone Technology Permafrost AIO's that have failed, these are the 3rd and 4th units from them as they constantly fail and they now refuse to stand behind their warranty, I have a 240 and 360 and can send to you for inspection.