Can anyone help me with what's going on with my block?

[Sparky]

EK's site said to use some polish. I thought it was odd, but

[NaeKuh]

EK's site said to use some polish. I thought it was odd, but

cuz it would probably keep your blocks inside shiny, they get less complaints, until you polish a great surface area on the inside of the block, where they get another form of complain...

ie... my gpu is too hot... whats wrong.... problems..


But then again sparky u know me...

When a vendor tries to say YOU NEED TO DO THIS... If it makes no sense i tell them, no... YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR US OR I'LL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.. :P

But seriously Tibor, you guys need to clean new blocks yourselfs... and inspect for stuff like this.
Not trying to vendor bash, but the last thing i would want is to force ANY NEWBIE to open a GPU block up.
If the GPU block ages, or the oring is warped from sitting in storage, your asking the member to suffer HARD.

And trust me.. I and a lot of other guys who been doing this a lot longer then even some vendors have all agree... Opening a GPU block = MAJOR PITFA typically followed by a lot of bad words and a lot of ranting as well as your fingers being laced with vasoline as a final hail mary b4 u give up and end up buying a new gpu block!!!!!!!!!!!

[Alexandr0s]

I'm with Naekuh on this one. Even though it wont mess up the warranty, a user should never have to open their GPU block by recommendation of the manufacturer. It's a major PITA, and I would recommend sparing any and everyone from having to do such a thing. Cleaning those blocks after manufacturing really should be the manufacturer's job.

[Church]

NaeKuh & Alexandr0s: "But seriously Tibor, you guys need to clean new blocks yourself" / "Cleaning those blocks after manufacturing really should be the manufacturer's job" - was there anywhere stated that user received block in such stained state? IIRC in OP user wrote that those stains appeared "within 2 days of the loop running". So EK should be responsible for prechecking/rinsing/cleaning loops of anybody that bought their blocks? Guys, please be more attentive when reading please

[PiLsY]

Churchy of you add a new part to an existing loop and stuff starts to grow on it (and nowhere else) its pretty obvious it was on the new block out the box. Be interesting to know what it was - doubt algae could grow that fast?

[Copie]

Interesting comparison.

1x GTX480 block (brand new EN as well) after 5 days with silver + distilled



Now what i did was, pulled the loop apart, cleaned and flushed the entire loop several times, replaced that block with another brand new one (all in the same batch, purchased at the same time) and filled it with EK clear coolant (was epic cheap as part of the sale EK was having on it)
This is what they look like after 5 days (keep in mind the 'dirty' block is not in the loop at all, and hasnt been touched since being removed)



Little difficult to see as i cannot take photos for , but they are crystal clean.

Just food for thought.

[kevink82]

Custom loop is a DIY hobby, and last time i check it requires regular maintenance..... so anyone who cant open up a block to clean it should get one of those h80 stuff cause sooner or later you gonna run into problems.

[Alexandr0s]

NaeKuh & Alexandr0s: "But seriously Tibor, you guys need to clean new blocks yourself" / "Cleaning those blocks after manufacturing really should be the manufacturer's job" - was there anywhere stated that user received block in such stained state? IIRC in OP user wrote that those stains appeared "within 2 days of the loop running". So EK should be responsible for prechecking/rinsing/cleaning loops of anybody that bought their blocks? Guys, please be more attentive when reading please

Then please tell me why EK devoted an entire page to this problem? Apparently, it's not as rare as you would think and, in my opinion, the responsibility of EK to fix.

[Kozato]

Keep us posted after it has been back in use for a while and let us know if it returns.

Nice job cleaning it up. But yes, keep us posted on any recurrences.

I will update you guys whether the stain comes back or not.

not suposed to use polish..

it leaves a coat on your top layer which hinders thermal transfer.

Your suposed to wipe the residue, and then wipe again so you get bare metal instead of polish.


Glad to see it was just a stain and not actual breakage of nickle....

I couldn't clean off the stain without the use of the polish. But after that I washed off the residue of the polish off with some gentle soap and warm water, so there shouldn't be any problems.

cuz it would probably keep your blocks inside shiny, they get less complaints, until you polish a great surface area on the inside of the block, where they get another form of complain...

ie... my gpu is too hot... whats wrong.... problems..


But then again sparky u know me...

When a vendor tries to say YOU NEED TO DO THIS... If it makes no sense i tell them, no... YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR US OR I'LL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.. :P

But seriously Tibor, you guys need to clean new blocks yourselfs... and inspect for stuff like this.
Not trying to vendor bash, but the last thing i would want is to force ANY NEWBIE to open a GPU block up.
If the GPU block ages, or the oring is warped from sitting in storage, your asking the member to suffer HARD.

And trust me.. I and a lot of other guys who been doing this a lot longer then even some vendors have all agree... Opening a GPU block = MAJOR PITFA typically followed by a lot of bad words and a lot of ranting as well as your fingers being laced with vasoline as a final hail mary b4 u give up and end up buying a new gpu block!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm with Naekuh on this one. Even though it wont mess up the warranty, a user should never have to open their GPU block by recommendation of the manufacturer. It's a major PITA, and I would recommend sparing any and everyone from having to do such a thing. Cleaning those blocks after manufacturing really should be the manufacturer's job.

I agree on this. I was kind of surprised when the stains appear on the newer EN blocks which were not supposed to have problems and then I was linked to EK's homepage asking me to dismantle the block to clean it myself.

Interesting comparison.

1x GTX480 block (brand new EN as well) after 5 days with silver + distilled



Now what i did was, pulled the loop apart, cleaned and flushed the entire loop several times, replaced that block with another brand new one (all in the same batch, purchased at the same time) and filled it with EK clear coolant (was epic cheap as part of the sale EK was having on it)
This is what they look like after 5 days (keep in mind the 'dirty' block is not in the loop at all, and hasnt been touched since being removed)



Little difficult to see as i cannot take photos for , but they are crystal clean.

Just food for thought.

You were probably lucky that your block was clean off the factory.

Then please tell me why EK devoted an entire page to this problem? Apparently, it's not as rare as you would think and, in my opinion, the responsibility of EK to fix.

If this problem is going to become a common issue then I think EK should address it before releasing it to merchants. Imagine more customers getting the same problem as I do and asked to dismantle the block to clean it only to damage the block in the process. Who's going to be responsible when that happens?

[Church]

Then please tell me why EK devoted an entire page to this problem? Apparently, it's not as rare as you would think and, in my opinion, the responsibility of EK to fix.

To lessen false positives of "damaged blocks" because of recent EK witch hunt overscared users sending in simply stained/dirty blocks and to not write each time individually reply to try cleaning first before RMA. Maybe even from my suggestions in this thread. So blocks becoming stained in loop are not as rare and it's EK responsibly to clean them? BTW, there are rumours that houses/apartments also become dusty by time. EK probably should at very least vacuum those hauses where clients that bought their blocks live.

[Alexandr0s]

Hmm, I see you're right. I must have misread something. Still, I would seriously look at other alternatives than opening up the blocks, because it can be a major PITA to fit the o-ring back in afterwards.

[NaeKuh]

NaeKuh & Alexandr0s: "But seriously Tibor, you guys need to clean new blocks yourself" / "Cleaning those blocks after manufacturing really should be the manufacturer's job" - was there anywhere stated that user received block in such stained state?

Churchy, you trying to challenge me lately? I see you questioning me a lot lately..

Hi,

I just got my EK FC-GTX580 back from RMA last weekend.

I received a new EN nickel plated version and to my surprise it came with standoff mounting instead of the previous plastic washers which requires the use of thermal paste to keep them in place.

So I tore apart my loop, rinsed everything with hot water and then distilled water and fixed everything back.

But unfortunately, within 2 days of the loop running, this happened:

^ so that tells me, the blocks were improperly cleaned... unless you want to say the OP's loop was pretainted, and it deposited on the block in 2 days time.

[Church]

NaeKuh: you think he didn't notice those stains before when installed it when it has transparent top? Imho it's very hard to install block on gpu with eyes blindfolded . however short term 2 days seems and whatever caused them, as user wrote - it was after installment. And how that makes EK responsible for pre-cleaning stains when they weren't there yet?

[paulbagz]

Churchy, you trying to challenge me lately? I see you questioning me a lot lately..

-PB

[NaeKuh]

And how that makes EK responsible for pre-cleaning stains when they weren't there yet?

because its become such a problem that EK is telling people to polish their blocks.

Do you see gabe, Sven, Six or Tim tell everyone to bust out a polish and start cleaning?

Well ive seen gabe say use pinesol on a DDC, but never to polish one of his blocks.

-PB

man i got more guys trying to be like skinnee's running around now trying to break my soap box!

if u dont have the weapons like skinnee does my soapbox is invulnerable!

*Dr Evil pinky laugh*

[skinnee]

[mav2000]

2 months in the loop and my EN Nickle 6970 block has the same problem. I think I am just going to run it this way till I take it all out for maintainance. I don't know which polish to use anyway. Btw, this is my third lc build and I kind of know what I am doing, so I am quite sure it's not user error.

[Alexandr0s]

man i got more guys trying to be like skinnee's running around now trying to break my soap box!

if u dont have the weapons like skinnee does my soapbox is invulnerable!

*Dr Evil pinky laugh*

Dude, just use Nadeshiko as a soapbox, that thing is indestructable !

[Kozato]

2 months in the loop and my EN Nickle 6970 block has the same problem. I think I am just going to run it this way till I take it all out for maintainance. I don't know which polish to use anyway. Btw, this is my third lc build and I kind of know what I am doing, so I am quite sure it's not user error.

Just find something that similar to what I use, metasol or you can try brasso. Make sure you clean the block with gentle soap to wash off the polish after you are done cleaning up.

Anyways the loop has been running for a few days and the block looks perfectly fine.