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My waterblock cracked...

AdamK47

AdamK47

Lifer
Last night as I was using my PC, the video suddenly turned off. My monitor went into standby mode. I originally thought it was my monitor that was acting up, so I tightened the DVI cable on the back of it. No luck, so I went to look at the connection at the back of the PC and could smell coolant. I was like "Ohhhhhh sh!t!" I opened up the PC and to my utter shock I found that my waterblock had actually cracked. The top of the waterblock is made of what looks like plexiglass and had cracked right where the screws attach the plexiglass to the copper base. I have had my external CoolerMaster Aquagate for 1 and 1/2 years and had no problem, but I recently replaced the old funky coolant with some new Danger Den MCT-40. Apparently I tightend the scews too much after opening and cleaning the waterblock. As the system heated up the waterblock expanded and caused too much pressure against the screws and cracked it. The MCT-40 coolant is supposed to be non-conductive to prevent such a thing from happening, but apparently it didn't. The GeForce 7800 GTX is... dead 🙁
 
That's the only reason I don't go over to water cooling. WIth my luck, that would happen to me within the very first minute of running the equipment.

Sorry to hear about your loss. GOOD LUCK, and TIME TO UPGRADE!!
 
You guys have been reading my mind. I just went to MicroCenter and picked up an Ati X1900XT. I'm also going to take out the watercooling and use the stock AMD heatsink/fan. It should run cool enough for that. The reason why I had watercooling in the first place is because I was overclocking a Prescott Pentium 4. That sucker got hot! After that I upgraded to a 1MB Socket 939 Athlon 64 3700+. I kept the watercooler since I already had the Athlon 64 mounting bracket.
 
happens to a lot of people, and i'm sorry it happened to you

personally, water cooling is a thermal solution to draw heat away from hot parts much faster than a typical HSF would. it's highly recommended that you secure expensive setups with backup gadgets that will future proof possibly defective water cooling equipment or accidents (as we have read here). some enthusiasts install water proof casing around their video cards, but still allow enough air flow to get in and out around the case, how this is achieved, I haven't figured it out myself.
 
I had the same thing happen to me. I was using a thermaltake water block, with an acrylic face plate, and it cracked and leaked all over the video card. I cleaned off the card with isopropyl alcohol, and let it dry for 3 days, and it's still working fine. I replaced the water block with a swiftech thats solid metal, so I don't have to worry about it cracking.
 
^ The card may very well be fine after being cleaned and thoroughly dried... there's a chance at least. A co-worker of mine recently dropped his iPaq in a sink w/ running water... dried it up, let it sit for a bit and it fired right up.
 
Originally posted by: jdkick
^ The card may very well be fine after being cleaned and thoroughly dried... there's a chance at least. A co-worker of mine recently dropped his iPaq in a sink w/ running water... dried it up, let it sit for a bit and it fired right up.
Click to expand...

Cool! Hope all turns out well for the original poster's card! Sounds like video card is down but not out.
 
I was gonna say, that if you still have a warrany on it, just ship it back as defective and they'll send you a new one. Of course you're not going to tell them your life's story of water cooling history.
 
Do makers of water cooling equipment have no responsibility in a case like this? It seems like not leaking water should be part of their guarantee.
 
That's why you should never buy anything but brass-topped waterblocks. I repeat, DO NOT buy a non-brass topped water block. Ever. For any reason. At all. EVER!
 
Originally posted by: fire400
I was gonna say, that if you still have a warrany on it, just ship it back as defective and they'll send you a new one. Of course you're not going to tell them your life's story of water cooling history.
Click to expand...

He said it was his fault for tightening the screws to much, thus his fault for the dead GeForce. When people abuse the warranty like this, it drives up the cost for the rest of us.
 
never get blocks with plastic in them - thermal throttle will crack it over time.

There's Swiftech which rules or everything else that leaks or gets galvanic corrosion .
 
Originally posted by: Tick
That's why you should never buy anything but brass-topped waterblocks. I repeat, DO NOT buy a non-brass topped water block. Ever. For any reason. At all. EVER!
Click to expand...

Delrin is superior to brass.
 
I just did a google search for Cracked Waterblock to see if it was a common issue and the first link I saw was to my own thread here. lol
 
Originally posted by: Nick5324
Originally posted by: fire400
I was gonna say, that if you still have a warrany on it, just ship it back as defective and they'll send you a new one. Of course you're not going to tell them your life's story of water cooling history.
Click to expand...

He said it was his fault for tightening the screws to much, thus his fault for the dead GeForce. When people abuse the warranty like this, it drives up the cost for the rest of us.
Click to expand...



They don't know that. Becides you think nobody RMAs stuff for similar reasons?
 
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: Nick5324
Originally posted by: fire400
I was gonna say, that if you still have a warrany on it, just ship it back as defective and they'll send you a new one. Of course you're not going to tell them your life's story of water cooling history.
Click to expand...

He said it was his fault for tightening the screws to much, thus his fault for the dead GeForce. When people abuse the warranty like this, it drives up the cost for the rest of us.
Click to expand...



They don't know that. Becides you think nobody RMAs stuff for similar reasons?
Click to expand...

They don't know that, but their bottom line does. The point isn't that he could get away with it; the point is that each card they replace means that every other sale was a little less profitable. Push it far enough and they have to either raise prices or stop making video cards. I know that I don't want higher prices, and I'm also a big fan of competition, as it keeps overall prices (somewhat) reasonable and encourages R&D.

Is his one RMA request going to make an impact that any of us will see? Of course not. But your post ("you think nobody RMAs stuff for similar reasons?") implies that you understand quite a few people do this.

What you are saying is he should commit fraud, but since lots of people commit this kind of fraud, it's not a big deal. Plus, the more posts like this that act like it is no big deal encourage other AT'ers to do the same in the future.

It's a big deal to me b/c I plan on buying a video card in the future, and I'd like there to be as many choices, with the best tech, as possible, at a competitive cost.

Rant over. 🙂
 
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