Apogee GTX

[Bun-Bun]

This is a 'non' comment: total FUD. Instead of arguing a point you make a vague allusion to somebody else's post (without saying which one, one what subject) as if that somehow proves my entire 'stance' is wrong.

Perhaps you refer an ancient thread on Alu+Copper in loops that nobody has posted on in weeks? Perhaps you refer to the new one? Perhaps you refer to this thread? I have no way of knowing.

As for those self-destructing Swiftech blocks that were anodized Alu and a copper base that everyone complained had serious corrosion, they still lasted a year, and were still working when removed - and they were anodized not plated.

I'm talking about the general issue of Alu+Cu in loops, and you have to consider surface area and proximity: those blocks were probably approaching the absolute worst case possible. Unless you were going to (say) run a current through your coolant just to really try and get some ionization going?

Sure, non-ionic water becomes ionized with time. If you're going to run Alu+Cu it might be wise to replace that coolant often. Of course, if you also care about tube clouding or bacterial buildup, then you would be doing that anyway.

That said, I now have a 10% glycol mix in my pipes and they have gone the last three months without a hint of clouding or bacterial buildup. Guess I'm just lucky huh? Sure, I've lost some cooling efficiency, but as it happens I don't care because my machine was still stable in 40C ambient and has no overlock whatsoever. Maybe I'll worry about oclocks when I have my PAs.

However, I'm not running any mixed metals, unless you count the nickel plated barbs (lol) so I don't have a risk. Those people who installed the crazy anodized blocks should have known very well what risks they were taking, and when you go back and look at the outcome, they got a year of use of them before they became a genuine hazard (if you believe the posts), by which point they were approaching obsolete anyway - and still no catastrophic failure.

In the case of the GTX, as in the case of many other Alu+Cu combinations in a loop that could practically exist, and with appropriate coolant and maintenance, you should have no problem getting two or three years out of the setup. Do you expect this stuff to last forever? You don't expect your pump or your tubes to last like a cache of Pharoah's gold, why make unrealistic expectations of your cpu block? Chances are in two years Intel and Daamit will have moved the goalposts so far that your old block will be a poor performer anyway.

Let's see what happens a year from now when people have actually been running GTX blocks. We'll see how many had catastrophic plating failure. I anticipate that even when we do see examples of it, we can trace many of those failures back to mishandling of barbs, sloppy assembly, or dodgy coolant, and again I'll bet that's destroyed more kit than all the self-destructing anodized Alu+Cu blocks ever sold. I don't mean that there won't be any faulty manufacture, just that it will be such a minor contribution to the total failures as to be unworthy of consideration.

Sure, I'll bet the majority of posters on here haven't ever destroyed a block due to mis-assembly, but this forum isn't exactly representative of the people buying w/c kit. There are people out there who are actually surprised when their Tt gear wrecks their board. There are people out there getting dealers (who have never assembled a w/c loop in their lives) to fit their gear. There are people out there who try and wedge BSP fittings into NPSM threads, or use G type o-ring fittings where there is no o-ring lip, and so on...

I admit there's a good deal of 'speculation' in here, but it would appear that Swiftech have some numbers of their own for this stuff and they are prepared to speculate on the GTX Alu top not costing them a fortune in RMAs and lost customer confidence. Given their good record of customer service, it would seem fair to assume that they're not just expecting their customers to 'suck it up' when their (so called) military spec plating fails: they have budgeted for the failure rate, and with a block of this price and publicity profile that means they aren't expecting much in the way of failure.

EDIT: Can not find the post atm... it was in this thread unless I just lost my mind... basically the jist is he has used a lot of different blocks that have had aluminum in them (anodized plated whatever) with proper additive and they all coroded within 18 months.

EDIT2: I apologize fossil. It was not in this thread I mixed them up. But here is the post (and thread) I was referring to.

Hard to tell what's solder and what isn't there...

My Swiftech blocks all ended up the same as yours despite running 10% Zerex / 90% distilled and flushing/refilling with fresh mixture every 6 months... MCW462, MCW5002, MCW20, MCW40... all the same... DD original Ali Top'd Maze4 likewise... Innovatek Rev3 CPU Block likewise...

All anodised... anti-corrosive additive used precisely to manufacturer's mix ratio for proper protection rather than clear-tubing... all still corroded within 18 months. The swiftech blocks ended up with corrosive pits around half a mm deep iirc... s'why back then I went with dangerden - no aluminium used at all...

Hey cool, I'm not the only crazy 14 year old eh? Well I'm not 13 yet, still got a few days to go And Philly Boy, I think your son already learned his share of stuff at school All kids do, sadly, and I am one of them...
Look, plating is very very durable. If I see one more BSish "the plating will come off!" I will show you my mouthpiece
Plating should be better than anodized btw...

Hey, serial, defects happen. Go grab a Quality Control and Statistics in manufacturing textbooks.