Ravynmagi
Title: Moderator
Posts:
29,978
Registered:
Dec 23, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 29,452
User ID: 572,278
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Another water cooling mishap. And all I can say is THANK GOD I was home when this happened. I stepped out of the room to make me a sandwich, came back a few minutes later and I could hear the water pump sputtering, I could smell the humidity and heat in the room. I looked at the front bay water reservoir and saw it had lowered a noticeable amount. I immediately unplugged the computer.
Opened up the case and I could see water leaking between my Crossfire connection between the two video cards. Water was puddled up on the power supply under it. *sigh*
Water cooling Crossfire cards has been such a massive pain in the ass. And this is the second time I've had a leak between the Crossfire tunnel between the cards. And definitely the worse leak I've ever had with this water cooling upset.
I took everything apart. Neither video card suffered any water damage. And I opened the power supply and I could see a nice layer of dust all along the inside, absolutely no hint that water came inside. I got extremely lucky. Again.
But everything was so freaking hot, you could smell it. And the water I drain was scalding hot. Before I yanked the power, I saw the computer was still running and looked okay. So I'm hoped the heat hadn't damaged anything. I reinstalled my stock air cooling parts and the CPU, power supply, and both video cards appear fine (though one of the stock video card heatsinks won't seat correctly).
Appears everything is fine. But I am definitely throwing in the towel on all this hassle. Had I been away much longer, I suspect there would have been the potential of a fire from either all that heat or water getting into the power supply.
Hopefully I can get some money off ebay for some of these parts.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Ravynmagi
Title: Moderator
Posts:
29,978
Registered:
Dec 23, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 29,452
User ID: 572,278
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
PS. Just running one 6950 at the moment. Due to an issue with the other heatsink. Oddly Rift actually is running better at the moment on one video card. Cool.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Rezist
Posts:
????
Registered:
????
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 0
User ID: 0
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
The 6950 is probably one of the better high end cards for performance/watt too. But yeah between the microstutter, the heat, the issues with drivers and games crossfire/sli just aren't worth it.
-----signature-----
|
|
Link to this post
|
-Mithan-
Title: VNBoard Admin
Posts:
1,000,060,379
Registered:
Mar 1, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 56,880
User ID: 13,156
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Stop wasting your time with this junk.
First ATI cards, then Water Cooling.
I thought you knew better Ravyn 
-----signature-----
I survived to the end and got nothing out of it, but hey.
|
|
Link to this post
|
Ravynmagi
Title: Moderator
Posts:
29,978
Registered:
Dec 23, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 29,452
User ID: 572,278
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
It just got too complicated. Two radiators, three water blocks, reservoir, and pump. 14 tube connections, 14 potential points of failure.
Despite several leaks, I feel pretty lucky I only damaged one video card (my first 4870 X2 died from water damage).
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Caoilin
Title: Instigator
Posts:
56,728
Registered:
Nov 20, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 54,027
User ID: 513,313
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
water cooling never struck me as a good idea. way too much potential death. and honestly if i wanted to go that route, i'd get a fish tank full of mineral oil case.
-----signature-----
"Cao is really an asexual cricket from outer space" - Bernion
"I just wish you had man bits" - ShalisR
"i'll be your dirty ignorant redneck if you will be my drugged out cripple bitch" - shaggynuts24
"again, I'm stupid" - Brandun
|
|
Link to this post
|
Ravynmagi
Title: Moderator
Posts:
29,978
Registered:
Dec 23, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 29,452
User ID: 572,278
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Caoilin posted:
water cooling never struck me as a good idea. way too much potential death. and honestly if i wanted to go that route, i'd get a fish tank full of mineral oil case.
Thought about it. But when you upgrade, you can't sell or hand those parts down to another computer, because mineral oil never comes off.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Otarala
Posts:
????
Registered:
????
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 0
User ID: 0
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
I miss using it, but I dont miss the 'never quite trusting it' feeling. Wish it could be made more failsafe.
Otara
-----signature-----
|
|
Link to this post
|
Lonestar_1
Posts:
4,224
Registered:
Aug 26, '04
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 3,775
User ID: 960,112
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
Rubbing alcohol should remove mineral oil I would think. Not sure how safe it would be to dunk a graphics card in it though.
-----signature-----
http://gimpchimp.etilader.com/display.php?user=lonestarr 3500+ solo kills & Lone Enforcer WAR - IronRock Dest- Energist, Moogabooga SWTOR - KV - Energist, Moogabooga
|
|
Link to this post
|
Seffrid
Title: Ancient One
Posts:
13,210
Registered:
Dec 21, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 12,930
User ID: 567,791
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
Having my first water cooler break and spew foul stuff all around the inside of the machine was enough for me - thankfully it was under warranty so the various affected components were replaced for me, but it was a nuisance nonetheless and I don't plan on having another one. The very principle of putting water in a computer is just wrong, I can't think what I was doing opting for it in the first place! Incidentally, the computer was switched off when it went, although still plugged in, but fortunately I was in the same room and heard it go.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Lokkie_the_Fierce
Posts:
53,284
Registered:
Dec 12, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 52,351
User ID: 748,022
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
Never understood the point. My PC is overclocked with air cooling - silent enough for my usage, and plenty cool.
-----signature-----
WARLORD OF PI Lokkie_the_Fierce (+3.14) http://c.mymovies.dk/ryejay123
|
|
Link to this post
|
Akza
Posts:
10,121
Registered:
Sep 8, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 9,783
User ID: 713,614
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Lokkie_the_Fierce posted:
Never understood the point. My PC is overclocked with air cooling - silent enough for my usage, and plenty cool.
I never watercooled my own rig but you'll understand the point in the future.
It just happens we're getting by with air cooled solutions for now. Runnin at 4.8 ghz on 2500k 24/7 myself with that huge h212+.
Pretty sure in my lifetime all high end computers will be water cooled.
I used to do special water-cooled heatsink designs for companies like intel. Miss doing that kind of work.
-----signature-----
·»Teydis ¤ Igraine«· ·»»·â€œ ¤Herra¤ “·««· http://www.backloggery.com/teylix
|
|
Link to this post
|
Aerlinthian
Posts:
66,222
Registered:
May 7, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 65,491
User ID: 94,919
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Akza posted:
Pretty sure in my lifetime all high end computers will be water cooled.
I'm doubtful of that because I believe that we will move off of silicon and onto carbon, also I envision that we will simply adopt greater amounts of parallelism and even possibly reduce frequency in the process.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
RF_YWG
Title: Pot-bellied Biker
Posts:
2,495
Registered:
Sep 23, '06
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 2,487
User ID: 1,173,129
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Aerlinthian posted:
Akza posted:
Pretty sure in my lifetime all high end computers will be water cooled.
I'm doubtful of that because I believe that we will move off of silicon and onto carbon, also I envision that we will simply adopt greater amounts of parallelism and even possibly reduce frequency in the process.
And once room temperature superconductors are discovered, you won't need to worry about heat, because there won't be any.
-----signature-----
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.†- Galileo
|
|
Link to this post
|
Nakal
Title: Moderator
Bad Moogle
Posts:
19,542
Registered:
Jul 9, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 19,238
User ID: 695,821
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
|
Yeah, the only time I can see Watercooling being useful is if you live in a hot climate without A/C or bad A/C. Otherwise, Air cooling should be just fine.
-----signature-----
Currently in the MMO unemployment line.
Can I get $15/month for not playing them?
|
|
Link to this post
|
Ravynmagi
Title: Moderator
Posts:
29,978
Registered:
Dec 23, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 29,452
User ID: 572,278
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Nakal posted:
Yeah, the only time I can see Watercooling being useful is if you live in a hot climate without A/C or bad A/C. Otherwise, Air cooling should be just fine.
That's a big part why I had been water cooling. Gets real hot here in Phoenix Arizona. And my computer room is on the west side of the house and gets much warmer than the rest of the house.
I might go with a window AC unit for the room this summer instead.
-----signature-----
(none)
|
|
Link to this post
|
Nakal
Title: Moderator
Bad Moogle
Posts:
19,542
Registered:
Jul 9, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 19,238
User ID: 695,821
|
Subject:
Finished with water cooling. For real this time.
|
Yeah I lived in Mesa for a couple of years, so I know how hot it can get there. Especially when the apartment complex would not turn on the second A/C unit until after 3 days of 95 straight....Luckily the second place I lived in had independent A/C units and was much cooler. Just.. Pricey in the summer 
-----signature-----
Currently in the MMO unemployment line.
Can I get $15/month for not playing them?
|
|
Link to this post
|
