Hyte's Thicc Q80 Trio, introduced in January of this year, is among the more visually appealing AIO 360mm liquid coolers available on the market. Unfortunately, Hyte has identified a manufacturing defect that causes the coolant to leak; therefore, Hyte has recommended that all owners cease using the cooler and contact the company or their reseller for assistance.
Following the launch of the liquid cooler, Hyte says it received numerous reports from buyers indicating that certain units were leaking and causing staining of the packaging with coolant. The company responded promptly by securing the affected units and dispatching them to the manufacturer for failure analysis.
According to the OEM's report, "a fragile internal component" inside the Thicc Q80 Trio is the culprit. Although the report does not specify the exact nature of the component, the manufacturer believes it is vulnerable to damage during transportation, which explains why the cooler is leaking even before installation into a case. Nevertheless, it is a critical component as it significantly influences the proper functioning of the cooler or may ultimately lead to its failure.
The unspecified component is located within the cooler, making it inaccessible for the user to observe whether it's leaking or not. Hyte has assured its customer base that this issue is isolated and exclusively pertains to the Thicc Q80 Trio. Earlier models, such as the Thicc Q60, remain unaffected as the two coolers do not share the same design.
Hyte is uncertain how many of the shipped units are affected. Therefore, to be on the safe side, the company recommends that all Thicc Q80 Trio owners stop using the liquid cooler and uninstall it from their system as soon as possible.
Hyte has already informed its network of distributors and resellers to cease the sale of the Thicc Q80 Trio. Concerning returns, customers who purchased the liquid cooler directly from Hyte will be issued full refunds and will receive additional instructions regarding the proper disposal of the unit. Furthermore, Hyte will engage with authorized resellers to contact end-users who have acquired the Thicc Q80 Trio and provide them with appropriate guidance on subsequent actions.
The risks of liquid coolers leaking are, naturally, unavoidable. Although such instances are relatively infrequent, they are nonetheless possible. A Google search will likely yield numerous user reports of leaks, even from prominent brands such as Corsair, Cooler Master, or Thermaltake.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
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thestryker It's a shame to see how much of a struggle getting another AIO out the door has been for Hyte. I was really hoping they'd be able to get a decent lineup of 240/360 double radiators out with and without the screen. With this it sure seems like we may have seen the end of the road for Hyte's AIOs.Reply -
CrazyCarrot911 Reply
Do you mean there are companies out there who handle such things differently ?Asurea said:This is how you handle a mistake with your product correctly!
**Irony OFF** -
derekullo Reply
I'm still not convinced.Asurea said:This is how you handle a mistake with your product correctly!
Why hide which part is the "fragile internal component"?
I can only assume they mean the cabling itself was made as cheaply as possible. -
ingtar33 Reply
unlikely.derekullo said:I'm still not convinced.
Why hide which part is the "fragile internal component"?
I can only assume they mean the cabling itself was made as cheaply as possible.
it's more likely there is something inside the product which is sharp, and puncturing the tubing during shipping. possibly a manufacturing oversite, or just a quality control issue. I suspect they're not saying what because it ultimately doesn't matter.
that plus it makes it hard to determine the legit RMA and fluid leak damage restitution requests from the people taking advantage of this situation to score a new system. by not announcing what's leaking it makes it hard for people using this to score new eq to fake a leak convincingly. -
teeejay94 Reply
I agree and with all the success Hyte has had especially with the Y70 they should have known better to begin with, you don't ever just go as cheap as possible if you have to charge more for your products than planned boohoo for Hyte sell it for more then, maybe with a Ver 2.0 update or even a V3 I'll look at getting one of these for my 12900KF. Hopefully they actually fix this and not just band aid itderekullo said:I'm still not convinced.
Why hide which part is the "fragile internal component"?
I can only assume they mean the cabling itself was made as cheaply as possible.