Are corsair liquid coolers really maintenance free?

These closed loop coolers are not true watercoolers. If you read the reviews the higher end H80 and H100 are about as good as the higher end air coolers but they are louder and more expensive. If case space is not a problem you are better off with a good air cooler.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5054/corsair-hydro-series...

To answer your question more specifically, yes

Those things are by and large fit and forget, obviously it is common sense to keep an eye out for leaks, but you don't need to top up or otherwise maintain them
Other options for W/c are as Anort says, Real water, a custom built loop designed and assembled by you, although the budget goes way up from a H80's reciept
Moto

Just make sure to remember to clean out the dust routinely. Even water cooling setups are susceptible to dust build up because they're just a beefed-up air cooling with a water loop.

I had an H50. I really don't think this line/type are worth it. They get saturated with heat- the radiator, lines, etc spreading heat over a wider area in your system and not really doing a good job of keeping things cool. I've done better with a $29 heat sink and fan. You'll need to get into more expensive stuff and use trial and error to find the best solutions. In the end spending tons of money when the best thing would have been NOT getting into it at all. Nothing beat a good old fashioned after market heat sink and fan combo.

I agree that the H50's originally had issues however Corsair have sorted out teething problems and the later variants seem to be solid solutions (in the right scenario ofc)
In any system a routine once-over with the air can or similar is a given,
but I find that people who spend good money to have a top line Pc will attend to cleaning more readily, in the same way that custom Bike/car owners will be 'always washing the damn thing'
I disagree on the 'Nothing beat a good old fashioned after market heat sink and fan combo' comment, I would say a halfarsed watercooling attempt is often outperformed by an aircooler,(In which case yes, shouldn't have bothered or made more effort)
but a decent loop should outperform air easily
disclaimer: By decent W/c I don't personally consider all in ones to be decent  
Moto

guess you missed this ... ????

"You'll need to get into more expensive stuff and use trial and error to find the best solutions. In the end spending tons of money when the best thing would have been NOT getting into it at all"


and who said anything about not maintaining the system ?

Not at all, I assumed the Op to have the required level of intellect to draw the message from that himself,
Bad water can, and often will be beaten by a good air set up.

I merely disliked the particular stament which I quoted because it is false,
there are cooling solutions out there that will beat a HS and fan,
and again,
*In any system a routine once-over with the air can or similar is a given*
I assumed a certain level of nous from the reader and that most 'enthusiasts' whether water or aircooling will clean their Pc from time to time, as opposed to office Pc's or usual home Pc's (which never get cleaned till they break)

I wasn't picking at you so don't misunderstand my post as an attack,
It wasn't intended as one, and still isn't.
Moto

Always love these threads.

some things are best left unsaid.

Yes, closed loop coolers are maintenance free, but you still need to blow dust out of the radiator like you would the heatsink of an air cooler.

PC's aren't 'maintenance free' by any means...why would you think a cooling solution would be?