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Leaked onto my graphics card. How bad?

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Rickpatbrown

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
I just went to a WC setup and the first run at it was pretty ugly, but effective. I was really surprised though to find two leaks. One I new about, it was from the reservoir and was outside my case. Besides a little green stain on the carpet, it didn't cause a problem.

The other leak was from the CPU block, D-Tek fuzion. The barbs are very close together and I have 1/2 ID - 3/4 OD so it was tough to get the metal worm drive tube clamps on them. I didn't realize the leak until about a week after I set up the loop- I am putting it into a TT armor case so that it is prettier and self contained. When I took the graphics card out, I noticed the green goo on the back of the card :eek: . Obviously, the water had evaporated and left the thick coolant behind. There was also small granular, yellow components in the goo. I used distilled water from the grocer and swiftech hydrX coolant. I don't know how long this had leaked. There was a decent amount of goo, so I imagine it had been leaking slowly for a couple of days. I cleaned it with 90% isopropyl alcohol and a soft toothbrush.

I was having problems with the card in the past week. The fan had a mind of its own. The settings for fan control were missing in ATi Tool and RivaTuner. And when overclocked, the card would get very hot and crash COD4. Could this have been because of the leak? As far as I can tell, the only problem was the fan control.

I did a quick test after I put everything together in the new case and RivaTuner was once again able to control the fan on the card. I ran 3DMark, but couldn't get the score because I wasn't hooked up to the internet. It didn't crash though and the FPS on the first test seemed right.

I want to water cool the card also, but I'm not going to take off the HS until I know it is ok in case I have to RMA it (if I can). I'll have the system up again by Monday afternoon to try testing it, but I wanted to know if anyone had experience with liquid on graphics cards. Will MSI know that is why something isn't working if I RMA?

Thanks,
Ricky
 
I want to water cool the card also, but I'm not going to take off the HS until I know it is ok in case I have to RMA it (if I can). I'll have the system up again by Monday afternoon to try testing it, but I wanted to know if anyone had experience with liquid on graphics cards. Will MSI know that is why something isn't working if I RMA?

Thanks,
Ricky
That's probably going to spike so debate as far as personal responsibility goes. I'm not one to lecture, but I wouldn't try to return **** if I ****ed it up.
 
Yeah, I know. That stupid little voice in my gut pops up.

I'm more concerned with the question as to weather the leak could have cause the fan problem. The area affected by the goo was bigger than a quarter. I would think that if it shorted something, the affects would be worse than just fan control issues.

If I had fan problems before the leak -I'm not sure which happened first- aren't I RMAing for a manufacturing defect even though I did something else?
 
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you should be safe with RMA and your warranty adding water cooling but if something happens it can't be returned/RMA'd. the safest thing to do is send off a email to msi and ask your specific question.
 
Well, there are some brands that let you remove the card to put on an aftermarket cooler. If you did that (watercooling included) and you killed the card because of that...it is not covered.

I had something similar. I had a small leak down onto my 7800gt a long time ago and acted strange until I cleaned the card.

BTW:

:welcome: to the forums!! I hope your card is ok!! :D
 
Alcohol bathe that card and you'll be all set. They won't notice if you RMA.
 
Alcohol bathe that card and you'll be all set. They won't notice if you RMA.
So you have no trouble lying to them to get a new card? What if you dropped it and it damaged it?

Seriously, if the buyer breaks it, why does the company have to pay for it??
 
If I had fan problems before the leak -I'm not sure which happened first- aren't I RMAing for a manufacturing defect even though I did something else?
If I could find any reasonable doubt in my head that the card may have been defective before me I'd send it off for RMA. As opposed as I am to RMA'ing a device I killed, losing hundreds of dollars sucks more.
 
Don't RMA the card. If an alcohol bath doesn't fix the problem...deal with the loss of a beautiful card. :( Many people watercooling have destroyed items...it is part of the game. I would suggest leak testing your system longer...I left mine on for 32 hours before I ever started the components inside. I think a long leak test would have showed you that you were leaking and would have prevented the dripping on the video card.
 
The last time I killed a card water cooling it was a 6600GT, and I just sucked it up and replaced the card myself. As surprising as it is, I think I learned my lesson from that... I know leak test everything overnight before I put components in.
 
I continue to learn a lot my building my computers. That's one of the reasons I love it. I've leak tested my new build (which will be contained on the case) for over 24 hours. Also, I will set up plenty of paper towels for the first week or so.
 
When you guys say "alcohol bath" are talking more like getting in the tub with candles and soft music and soaking, or like the homeless type splashing some water on the grimy parts in a public restroom.

Total immersion? or toothbrush?
 
When you guys say "alcohol bath" are talking more like getting in the tub with candles and soft music and soaking, or like the homeless type splashing some water on the grimy parts in a public restroom.

Total immersion? or toothbrush?
LOL, nice :beer:

They mean, get some isopropyl alcohol (rubbing) and clean the card very well. Take the heatsink off first though and make sure it dries for a long time (over a day).

I used the "pour it on the card and use the toothbrush" technique, worked very well.
 
Total immersion? or toothbrush?
Depends on how big the object is. With water damaged cell phones I'll soak them in a bowl of 99% for an hour or so. With something bigger like a card I'd just pour and rub with a clean toothbrush like the guy above me said.
 
why a toothbrush? to me that makes absolutely no sense at all... And I would NEVER soak something. Take the time to take it apart, wipe it down and let it dry. Treat it like a small child and don't drown it and brush roughly it because those can hurt, gently clean it and then just let it sit a while.
 
Remove the cooler fomr the card, clena the heck out of the car, clean the cooler (you migh thave gotten some coolant in the TIM) put it back together, You should be fine.

Don't forget to check you rmotherboard either, sometimes the coolant can leak into the PCI-E slot, and you'll need to clean that out too.
 
why a toothbrush? to me that makes absolutely no sense at all... And I would NEVER soak something. Take the time to take it apart, wipe it down and let it dry. Treat it like a small child and don't drown it and brush roughly it because those can hurt, gently clean it and then just let it sit a while.
With cell phones, I'll get alot that have been dropped in wierd stuff like coffee and soup, etc. Simply pouring alcohol over the card will not remove any caked on crap, so it needs to go for a swim. I feel wierd everytime I do it, and I'm amazed everytime it works though, lol.
 
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