Rampage III Gene fullcover waterblock?

[MrToad]

Just a little word of warning... Tolerance in the mosfet area is very tight indeed.

I've just fried my R3Gene with the block... First it was shorting the components to the right of the block (on the CPU socket side) which made the PSU automatically switch off after a fraction of a second of powering on (good for Corsair's short circuit protection!). The motherboard did survive this.

However, when I repositioned the block it made contact with that grey cube marked with a "C" just below the EATX power socket, and that did kill the poor thing.

Not trying to blame anyone but myself, Eddy is not responsible for different manufacturing tolerances or less than ideal mounts, just a word of advice.

Second motherboard I insulated the perimeter using kapton tape and now is all good and dandy not the most sightly approach if you're after bling though

[guilleguillaume]

psygnosi this can't be good :

[Tackleberry]

Plastic top touching insulated capacitors doesn't pose a threat IMO.

[MrToad]

Plastic top touching insulated capacitors doesn't pose a threat IMO.

The problem is not in the capacitors, is in the contacts of those... I guess CMOS voltage references? Just an educated guess , I mean the grey rectangular prisms to the left of the CPU socket and on the other side the contacts of what I guess again is a power inductor (grey cube marked with a "C" below the EATX power connector)

And nope, the delrin top doesn't make contact with anything, and if it did the only problem is mechanical (it wouldn't let the block sit properly) but certainly not electrical

[psygnosi]

[QUOTE=guilleguillaume;4632183]psygnosi this can't be good :

Mine is working fine without any problems....

psygnosi

[Tackleberry]

The problem is not in the capacitors, is in the contacts of those... I guess CMOS voltage references? Just an educated guess , I mean the grey rectangular prisms to the left of the CPU socket and on the other side the contacts of what I guess again is a power inductor (grey cube marked with a "C" below the EATX power connector)

And nope, the delrin top doesn't make contact with anything, and if it did the only problem is mechanical (it wouldn't let the block sit properly) but certainly not electrical

I was reffering to guilleguillaume's encircled capacitors.

[guilleguillaume]

I mean that one of the capacitors encircled is bent. As i saw on the pics it's bent but well it would matter for me but maybe for others not ^^

[MrToad]

[QUOTE=psygnosi;4632933]

psygnosi this can't be good :

Mine is working fine without any problems....

psygnosi

Good good... Mine is not

Thought the kapton tape had fixed the issues, but not, didn't...

The moment I tighten the screws on the mosfet side of the block, motherboard stops powering up. Thing is, if I don't tighten them there's no good contact with the mosfets...

Funny thing is, I've insulated completely the block, yet still happens...

Either the block is flexing the board (although I can't really see it) or something else is going on...

Any ideas?

[Warranty_Void]

There is most likely a dry solder joint under or around the block.

[MrToad]

There is most likely a dry solder joint under or around the block.

Possible, but is the second board that behaves like this... Coincidence?

[Warranty_Void]

The only thing I can think of is that the block is shorting out or causing an open circuit on the board with pressure when you tighten up the block, It could be that is it miss shaped in some way. If you have fully insulated the block pressure can be the only issue I can see. I take it you've try using washers on the screws.

[MrToad]

The only thing I can think of is that the block is shorting out or causing an open circuit on the board with pressure when you tighten up the block, It could be that is it miss shaped in some way. If you have fully insulated the block pressure can be the only issue I can see. I take it you've try using washers on the screws.

Yep, I'm using the supplied nylon washers on the screws...

Gonna change the thermal pads just in case they have absorbed some kind of metal residue (after all I was modding the case in the same room) and that's what's causing the issue...

[MrToad]

Righty, second R3Gene down... I've tried every possible mount I could but in the end the board no longer boots... permanently...

Good thing I took insurance against accidental damage when I made the purchase so both the block and the board are going back, maybe I'll get third time lucky when I receive the replacement ones...

[Diverge]

I've been on the fence about purchasing this block for my R3G, and think I will hold off a bit to see how your 3rd experience goes.

[tiborrr]

Please remove the 3rd party gray spacer you have put on the FB block on the NB contact area and use ONLY the encased spacers!

[Tackleberry]

Righty, second R3Gene down... I've tried every possible mount I could but in the end the board no longer boots... permanently...

Good thing I took insurance against accidental damage when I made the purchase so both the block and the board are going back, maybe I'll get third time lucky when I receive the replacement ones...

You did remove foil from thermal pad, right?

[c22]

Guess he didn't. And I hope so for that, because I just got my R3Gene at home already running at 4,4 GHz after 10 minutes of tweaking, but still want to put nb and mosfet area under ek block. But I can see some issues are possible so I will hold on for now..

[tiborrr]

Again, please note that the grey distancer/shim around the X58 NB core is not a part of FB-R3Gene waterblock and should not be used with this block!

[MrToad]

Please remove the 3rd party gray spacer you have put on the FB block on the NB contact area and use ONLY the encased spacers!

I did, sorry I didn't give more info. The last four mount attempts were without the foam spacer, but didn't change the outcome, board was still refusing to power on.

The only way I could make it power on was leaving the screws loose, thus making poor contact (I did take it off to check how loose I could leave the screws without compromising contact)... In the very last attempt I thought I had hit the sweet spot, but I was wrong there was too much "play" so when I fitted the tubing on the barbs the block "tipped" and crushed the NB, taking a chip off the corner, shorting it with a beautiful flash of intense blue light and sending the board to meet it's maker (pun intended )

Still I don't give up, I have a new board and block coming next week

You did remove foil from thermal pad, right?

Yes, I did. I was just putting it back while tinkering with the block because thermal pads are crap magnets, and crap doesn't conduct heat very well

Thanks a lot for the input tho, and I'll make sure I don't use the foam spacer next time, saves me the aggro of removing it... Even with citrus solvent that adhesive was stubborn!

Edit: for the record I will repeat myself, I don't think there's anything wrong with the EK block, all this trouble is most likely consequence of bad luck and a naughty batch of R3Gene boards... After all both boards come from the same supplier and batch, and it is far more likely that a batch of motherboards has different tolerances when it comes to soldering hundreds of components than it is for EK to machine a block of copper "wrong", and we already have a testimony of the EK block working fine.

[Vetalar]

I have a new board and block coming next week

You got BALLS man!!! i'll giveup after second kill. wish You luck next time. (that MOBO is in my wishlist for X-mass ) but block will be custom made to make all tolerances clear...

[zeropluszero]

just ordered mine.
had been using a C12P whilst on air and it was running lovely, put the cpu under water last night, and felt the mosfet/chipset sinks, very very hot.
my case will have very little airflow in this area, so i guess i'll have to use the block.

[MrToad]

Well, received my replacement board and block today, so here goes board #3, block #2 and attempt #18...

@tiborr:

Any suggestions apart from NOT using the NB foam protector?

I'm still not happy leaving the SMCs of the NB exposed under a huge block of copper, so I suppose I'll cover them with kapton tape (is 0.07 mm thick so I sincerely doubt it will have any impact on the mount at all and it gives me peace of mind...)

I would really appreciate any constructive directions as I'm starting to feel rather inadequate after all this hardware destruction and failed mounts.

[Vetalar]

since crushing northbridge last time try to connect tubing first and THAN attach block to MOBO

[MrToad]

since crushing northbridge last time try to connect tubing first and THAN attach block to MOBO

Thanks for that

It actually happened because the block tilted as I couldn't really apply much mounting pressure or the board would not POST. I was really hoping for a mount that achieves proper mounting pressure this time, but if that's not achievable I'll keep in mind your suggestion

@tiborr:


Another little niggle... Instructions say I should have two thermal pads:

90 x 15 x 1mm
60 x 25 x 0.5mm

I have those and also a 44 x 15 x 1mm. Now according to the instructions the 1 mm one go on top of the board and the 0.5 mm one under the board... However the 0.5 mm one is not big enough to cover the mosfets on the bottom of the board...

Now, I could use the 90 x 15 x 1mm on the mosfets adjacent to the CPU socket and the 44 x 15 x 1mm on the mosfets adjacent to the NB (they're the right size and the right thickness according to the instructions) but the remaining 0.5mm one as I said is not big enough to cover the mosfets under the board. I had to use a separately purchased sheet of 0.5mm thermal pad to do all the previous attempts. However, I've run out of it now...

More over, the 90 x 15 x 1mm pad is not long enough to cover both sets of mosfets on the top of the board, so an educated guess is that the "extra" 44 x 15 x 1mm pad was included to make up for it.

So, summarizing, have I got it right and it goes like this:

90 x 15 x 1mm goes on the mosfets adjacent to the CPU socket
44 x 15 x 1mm goes on the mosfets adjacent to the NB
60 x 25 x 0.5 covers some of the mosfets on the back of the board, and get a life to cover the rest...

Edit: I could cut the 60 x 25 in half and have two 60 x 12.5 pads which are long enough the cover them, but not quite wide enough, really really tight there...

[MrToad]

I've raised a ticket with EK to see if Eddy can point me in the right direction with this...

Daring maybe but not foolhardy