Galvanic Reaction

Evenings Gents,

I assume you've all heard of Galvanic Reaction and I'm hoping some of you here are somewhat experts on the subject ;)

Basically I have a few questions, I'm planning on building a CPU/GPU/NB water cooled set-up in September and I'm taking to carefully plan everything. One of the issues I have ran into is that the CPU blocks tend to all use copper (rightfully so) however, while I am still trying to get a confirmation on this from ASUS), I believe the Asus Striker II Extreme Fusion Block placed on the NB contains aluminium.

1. Am I going to need a corrosion inhibitor? [Yes]
2. How effective are they? [Do they inhibit or slow down?]
3. Does their efficiency deplete over time? [How much more maintenance is required?]
4. Should anything be added to the loop when including corrosion inhibitors? [Filling tube, draining tube?]
5. Would the downsides make choosing a different motherboard/changing the NB block a better option? [Knowing I would have to change the whole heatpipe covering NB/SB/Mosfets/ect]

From a review:

"The portion of the heatsink covering the 790i SPP is extruded aluminum with a coating applied to give the illusion of copper. The integrated "Fusion" water-cooling bowl is covered with a thick copper finish inside and out ensuring there will be no issues with galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals."

So, it's not really copper, it's aluminum covered in a 'copper finish'. Personally, I wouldn't trust it to not have small flaws/scratches/etc... but that's just me.

As to your questions, if you are going to mix metals:

Yes, you'll need to use a corrosion inhibitor

An inhibitor will slow down corrosion, it won't completely eliminate it.

Done correctly with the right mix concentrations, corrosion can be slowed down enough that you'll likely have replaced everything for newer components before it becomes an issue. (Done wrong though and you'll be replacing everything a LOT sooner than you planned on :eek:)

Yes the fluid "wears out" and needs to be replaced once in awhile (I'm not 100% on this, but 3-4 months seems to be about average as opposed to 6-9 months for non-mixed-metal loops).

Yes, if you're mixing metals and have to deal with possible corrosion, you'll be increasing your maintenance as you'll need to flush the loop and clean your blocks more often.

I can't/won't recommend a particular board, but from the reviews I've read on this board, lots of reviewers seem to think it's a good board but not quite up to snuff for how expensive it is...make your own decisions there.

On a personal note though, I think trusting ANY 'stock' cooling doesn't make much sense. Heck, even air-cooling, I'm going to take apart (and/or replace) any heatsinks/fans. To correctly apply the right amount of tim at a bare minimum.....

*3h Bump*

No need to worry about corrosion, the copper is quite thick; a scratch wouldn't be enough to get to the aluminum.

Atleast it wasn't on my mobo. :rolleyes:

Ah great to hear :) Sorry about the 3h bump post, it seems I was beaten to bumping it XD

Regarding the stock TIM I'll probably take the whole heatsink off as it's cooling most of the motherboard however I was thinking more of having to change the northbridge cooler as that would then involve a separate SB, mosfets ect.

I'm really hoping you're correct in the description of the fusion block, I'll try and get a confirmation from ASUS and see if I can squeeze out a guaranty from them as damage to the fusion block from corrosion would be due to a bad unit on arrival. I really hope it is insulated properly as the fusion block is the only part of my loop that contains aluminium.