Liquid Cooling

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
Been a while since I've been on here. Most likely one for the team tomorrow but only happened this evening.... Was pretty much watching TV when my fan kicked into overdrive (I run my PC pretty hot with 3ds Max and it's never been that loud) so I quickly turned it off. Then I got the strangest smell at first I thought it was burning but then smelt like nail varnish. Clicking almost instantly I looked inside the case hoping to hell it wasn't but yeah it was... Liquid all over the case. Graphics card has a lovely huge pool on top of it and I suspect the motherboard has caught a good deal of it as well. More of a sob story than actually seeking any help...

And my house absolutely stinks now :(
 

Teaz

Godlike
Give PCS a call asap! sorry to hear that :( they should somehow sort you out if youre still have it under warranty.

Youre best is to not switch it on an leave it to air dry. just damp out any remaining liquid if any with paper towels.
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Gutted Riley, its never nice when that happens, hopefully you can remain philosophical about it :D


Aw man, at this rate looks like I'm gonna be getting the Titan :/

And what rate would that be? How many people have you seen have a leak? And how many WCed systems do you think PCS have supplied?

Never use the forums to create statistics, because they'll never be reliable. If you want a WCed system because you want that level of cooling, get one. BUT there is always a risk of leakage, albeit tiny, so if you never want there to be a chance of a leak, don't get a WC system, simples :)
 

pr1s0ner

Well-known member
I'm a simpleton really, so be nice :) but surely it should be possible to liquid cool without filling the system with something conductive????

A quick poke on youtube will show you plenty of fish tank pc's filled with oil, whats the reason for not doing the same in a contained system, would give a nice safety net if it leaked.
 

Gorman

Author Level
Oil is hard to pump and force through a radiator, only really works when submerging stuff.

Water isn't conductive, its the contaminants in the water that conduct, even "non conductive" liquids are only so if pure and within certain temperatures.
 

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
Oil is hard to pump and force through a radiator, only really works when submerging stuff.

Water isn't conductive, its the contaminants in the water that conduct, even "non conductive" liquids are only so if pure and within certain temperatures.

Would it not be better filling with distilled water then? since this has no contaminents?

As for a question earlier abut how many people we know, well, I have 3 friends with watercooled systems, one has the eco mentioned above, and two have custom watercooling loops etc etc not that I know much about them. But all three have had leaks which have ruined graphics cards. Something I wasnt prepared to risk :)

Hence my overclocked system with a titan lol.
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I believe the water cooling systems are filled with non-contaminated liquids, however as soon as they leak they probably become contaminated.
Note: I may be wrong.
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
But all three have had leaks which have ruined graphics cards. Something I wasnt prepared to risk :)

Plenty of threads on this over at Overclockers and the like. Consensus always is, a good, well made WC system has such a low chance of leaking you can't measure it. Which means of the umpteen well made WC setups in existence, some will invariably have flaws/leak. Did the 3 you reference build their own/get premade off the web/buy an Alienware? :D
 

Gorman

Author Level
Yep, corrosion etc can cause contaminants to build up in the loop and unless whatever the water hits is completely vacuum sealed and dust free its going to get contaminated at some point anyway
 

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
Plenty of threads on this over at Overclockers and the like. Consensus always is, a good, well made WC system has such a low chance of leaking you can't measure it. Which means of the umpteen well made WC setups in existence, some will invariably have flaws/leak. Did the 3 you reference build their own/get premade off the web/buy an Alienware? :D

Its a low chance, but still not one I fancy taking with 900+ of graphics cards in there. Especially with a small increase of noise using an air cooler I can have 0 chance of liquids :D.

As far as I know the ones with custom loops made them themselves, but they are both pc builders by trade, they have built plenty of high spec water cooling systems in the past, but as people have said its just one of those things, it happens occasionally. They just both happen to have had it happen coincidently quite near to eacvhother time wise.

Still even with the minimal risk, for me it is still a risk I dont think im quite willing to take.
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
All sorted and getting picked up on Monday. Hopefully it's not away too long as I had a lot of work rendering.

What generally happens if part of it needs to be replaced though as I'm guessing you guys don't stock much of these parts anymore?
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
What generally happens if part of it needs to be replaced though as I'm guessing you guys don't stock much of these parts anymore?

I believe the party line is parts are replaced with some of similar power/effectiveness and/or something in line with what the broken part would be worth now :) (ish)
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
I believe the party line is parts are replaced with some of similar power/effectiveness and/or something in line with what the broken part would be worth now :) (ish)

Yeah according to the guy on the phone the coolant probably hasn't damaged anything but I still expect that the CPU's burnt out. Ach well I can only wait and see. The rendering will have to wait a week or two and it looks like it's back to some PS3 gaming :p
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
i will only be using my xbox for exclusives when i manage to finally get a PC

Gears 3 and Forza 4 will be the main ones :)
 

pr1s0ner

Well-known member
Oil is hard to pump and force through a radiator, only really works when submerging stuff.

Water isn't conductive, its the contaminants in the water that conduct, even "non conductive" liquids are only so if pure and within certain temperatures.

So obvious, its scary :)
 

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
i will only be using my xbox for exclusives when i manage to finally get a PC

Gears 3 and Forza 4 will be the main ones :)

well gears isnt exclusive, but forza I can understand keeping xbox for.

Ill be gettin gears on PC not xbox
 
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