I can only say... LOL

[MrToad]

So... After more than two months with my computer parts sitting idle on a shelf I find a window of opportunity, six golden hours of a Sunday all for myself.

I gather momentum, seize the moment and start assembling the loop. Everything carefully cleaned, planned, prepared...

I put everything together, start leak test. Today I come back from work with a smile on my face. The loop is been running for 19 hours straight with no leaks.

Brilliant. I take all the rest of the components, I put the inside the case, make a very careful cable routing. Looks great. I even take a couple of pictures for the posterity. Finally I fire it up and... poof.

Guess what? Two out of five VRegs are crushed. The tension of the pipes must have displaced the block enough to chip the ceramic insulation. That's one IN9 dead. Back to square one. Minus 230 quid of course.

Now I know why the factory heatsink has "legs" and there's a large gap between it and the VRegs, filled by a thick thermal pad. I knew these things were delicate, but...

If I buy the same model of motherboard I will certainly steer clear of this block. Painful and expensive lesson though.

In fact, providing I don't plan to SLI, I will most likely ditch the 680i platform all together, which has given me nothing but a sour taste in my mouth from day one (believe it or not, from the three weeks I had the computer assembled on air, I got roughly three days of stability), and get a 965.

Anyway, I vented my miseries and now I feel ever so slightly better. Time for bed.

[IanY]

Huh? We still don't know which block you are referring to, or which size tubing. All I read was that its an Abit IN9 mobo.

[KaptCrunch]

don't take that to the cliffs if still boots up. what was you using for tubing ?

[mcoffey]

sorry to hear Toad, hate hearing stuff like that. gl and don't give up.

andyc

[MrToad]

The mosfet block was the one from mips-computer.de

Tubing was 5/8" OD.

And yes, I will be throwing it from a cliff I'm afraid. Well, not really, because is hardly environmentally friendly. Dispose of it in a civilized manner most likely. In the topmost VReg the insulation chipped enough to expose the core, which entered in contact with the block and short circuited.

No one to blame but myself really. I bought this MB the very day it became available on the UK, which is a very stupid thing to do unless you have plenty of time and money to spare. Ever since I haven't been able to get anything right, which of course, has led to the only possible outcome. Disaster.

[ranker]

The mosfet block was the one from mips-computer.de

Tubing was 5/8" OD.

And yes, I will be throwing it from a cliff I'm afraid. Well, not really, because is hardly environmentally friendly. Dispose of it in a civilized manner most likely. In the topmost VReg the insulation chipped enough to expose the core, which entered in contact with the block and short circuited.

No one to blame but myself really. I bought this MB the very day it became available on the UK, which is a very stupid thing to do unless you have plenty of time and money to spare. Ever since I haven't been able to get anything right, which of course, has led to the only possible outcome. Disaster.

No warranty to use over in the UK? In the future I'd recommend EVGA boards if they carry it over there. The lifetime warranty is fantastic and I've definately put it to use multiple times over the past year due to various "accidents" and "projects" with different video cards.

[sanhacker]

@MRToad
Just curious if you know what did in those R50 resistors. To much torque, not an even torque, or something else.

Thanks and I'm sorry to hear about your board.

[SparkyJJO]

No warranty to use over in the UK? In the future I'd recommend EVGA boards if they carry it over there. The lifetime warranty is fantastic and I've definately put it to use multiple times over the past year due to various "accidents" and "projects" with different video cards.

Except warranties don't cover user error.

[MrToad]

@MRToad
Just curious if you know what did in those R50 resistors. To much torque, not an even torque, or something else.

Not enough torque.

The mounting mechanism is just two M3 countersunk bolts, one each side. Upon tightening I noticed the PCB warping, which made me worry about crushing the VRegs on the exterior while allowing for bad contact on the remaining ones.

My best guess is that although it felt tight enough, it wasn't. When I assembled the loop the block was sitting flat on top of them. After the leak test period I noticed that it was tipped to the left, right where the insulation was chipped.

Maybe a spring mounting solution would be more suitable, or perhaps a backplate of some sort.

[MrToad]

No warranty to use over in the UK? In the future I'd recommend EVGA boards if they carry it over there. The lifetime warranty is fantastic and I've definately put it to use multiple times over the past year due to various "accidents" and "projects" with different video cards.

If the board would have been faulty, which for me equals failing while being used in the way it was designed to be, I would have no problems whatsoever on RMA-ing it.

However, crushing the VRegs while assembling a WC-ing loop IMHO doesn't fall into that category. And I'm certain the people who do the inspections @ Abit would agree with me.

[JargonGR]

I have the same board (second one actually) and had the exact same thing happening to me when I tried to mount a generic waterblock on those fragile VRMs. I had also cut off the heatpipe coolers so it was also impossible to retunr. However, I went out and bought a second one, replaced the heatpipes with the ones from the board and returned it to the shop (big retail chain) I bought it from and played the fool. They credited me and I immediately bought something else (that I needed) a 10MP Canon digital camera (payed some extra) so at the end all was good.

Now I am runnign an E6600@3.7Ghz rock stable and my memory @ 960MHZ 24/7 coupled with 8800GTX SLI.

So I am happy with the board right now but it sucks that all the older (except the new EVGA ones) 680i boards suck at high FSBs with the Quad cores.

By the way why don't you return the board the same way I did? On the other hand OCUK technicians are not exactly like the ignorants from where I bought my board from.

[Polizei]

More of a "woops" instead of a "lol" to me, but whatever floats your boat... ;)

Sorry for your loss. :(

[SparkyJJO]

I have the same board (second one actually) and had the exact same thing happening to me when I tried to mount a generic waterblock on those fragile VRMs. I had also cut off the heatpipe coolers so it was also impossible to retunr. However, I went out and bought a second one, replaced the heatpipes with the ones from the board and returned it to the shop (big retail chain) I bought it from and played the fool. They credited me and I immediately bought something else (that I needed) a 10MP Canon digital camera (payed some extra) so at the end all was good.

Now I am runnign an E6600@3.7Ghz rock stable and my memory @ 960MHZ 24/7 coupled with 8800GTX SLI.

So I am happy with the board right now but it sucks that all the older (except the new EVGA ones) 680i boards suck at high FSBs with the Quad cores.

By the way why don't you return the board the same way I did? On the other hand OCUK technicians are not exactly like the ignorants from where I bought my board from.

That is a little dishonest there, returning a board because you broke it isn't right :nono: Do you realize that people that do that are part of the cause of higher costs for all of us? I don't know about others, but I don't appreciate it.

[Fr3ak]

Sorry for your loss, but at least the way you handle the loss is great :)

[MrToad]

More and more LOL.

Due to time constraints I can only do major alterations on the computer during the weekend. Well, to be specific two weekends a month.

So... I do a bit of research, and finally I decide that the Asus Commando is the motherboard I want. No need for more 680i grief providing I'm definitely not going to SLI.

I place the order, along with some more tubing because once the 5/8" tube goes in the 1/2" barbs there's no way on earth you can remove it without ruining it.

30 mins ago the courier turns up with the delivery. Plenty of tubing but no motherboard.

Honestly, there's times when I think I should just give up and go to live in Mongolia and learn how to hunt with eagles.

[Growly]

Honestly, there's times when I think I should just give up and go to live in Mongolia and learn how to hunt with eagles.I've felt this way more often than I'd like to admin - sometimes, when absolutely none of your computers will work - when you sit down to do some fun trolling / gaming, and your hard drives crap out, you wish you were a Mongolian eagle hunter.

Don't give up :D

[Polizei]

My buddy felt the same way when he wanted to upgrade his eMachines into a gaming machine.

Bought a new powersupply and 7800GT. Found out power supply is "too powerful" for his motherboard. Buys new motherboard. Forgets that his case is mATX, motherboard is ATX. Buys new case. Realizes he forgot thermal goop. Realizes case has insufficient cooling, buys fans and mods case.

He just couldnt win in that situation... just gotta keep chugging on.