Leaky Apogee..

[Ankun]

Hmm it seems my apogee leaks.

Yesterday when I came home from work I turnd my monitor on to see tons of fuzz.. So I restarted my computer.

Still there.

re-seated the video card.

Still there.

Then I notice a drop of water on the chrome plate of my waterblock.. hmm..

I wipe it up and begin to feel around... it seems its leaking from somewhere. I'm not even able to tell where it leaks from. I'd rather not take it apart as I dont want it to affect RMAing it. (maybe a claim that I assembled it incorrectly or whatever)

Anyway video card is dead.. good thing I went with a 6200

Just figured I'd throw it out there that mine leaked for anyone to be-ware if they own one.

2 questions though.

anyone know how good jab-tech is as far as returns?

Also think it would be possible or morally correct to RMA my video card? Its an eVGA if it matters.

I suppose contacting jab-tech will be needed.. if they will allow me I may see if I can trade up / down to a diff block because I really dont want something else that will leak just the same.

 

[Brandon_Tyler]

Before you go about RMA stuff, take all the cooling equipment out of the case, and re tighten EVERYTHING leak test for at least 24 hrs. See if the leak reappears. Personally I dont think you have the barbs in the Apogee tightend down well enough.

-Brandon

 

[cruzinmitsu]

check out the bottom of this page.

is that where your cracked.

I'm kind of worried because i have one and i also don want it to crack there i may just run a bead of epoxy around the base just to reinforce it a little

 

[Ankun]

did that before even posting.

I assumed it was condensation actually.. when I First saw it. So little water and the loop has been running for about 9 days with the water level not noticably going down.

I contacted jab-tech already reguarding it. but yeh..

yesterday I redid my entire loop, ran all the hoses to where there wasnt even the slightest bit of pressure forcing the tubes in a direction they shouldnt be (ie. possibly bending the barbs slightly)

The barbs were screwed in both times until the O rings compressed and I basically couldnt turn them any more. I basically screwed them in as far as I could by hand then turned them the rest of the way (which was somewhere between 1/2 and 1 turn) with a wrench.

When I disassemble it again I will inspect the O-rings.. the way things are going I will probably proceed with the RMA, for the time being I will at least get an RMA number to shorten the process should I determine this is the route I'll choose.

 

[Otter]

You might even want to take it out and test for leaks before you tighten everything up. Put some paper under each part and see what is leaking. Then do what you can to correct the problem and leak test again.

Are you sure the 6200 is dead? It might just need to be cleaned off with alchohol and allowed to dry.

 

[metloaf]

I was actually thinking of getting one of those blocks for my 6800Gt but now, I am a little skeptical.

 

[Ankun]

I Plugged one barb and put a length of tubing on the other barb then dipped the block in a tub of water and blew into the tubing. After about 5 minutes of off and on puffing a single bubble came out.

Its got a very very slow leak that is just being amazingly stubborn I guess..

Maybe I'll buy some seal string and try again just to completely rule the block out. Seems like SO much of a fuss though. I suppose the problem could not be with the block itself but with the "O" ring.

 

[RDWest2005]

Apogee O-Rings I would say

Same problem here dude
I hand tightened them down as far as i could
then I tuen them with wrench maybe a full round like your saying

i figured i would strip and just needed to tight down onto o-ring a bit

I sprang a leak pretty bad
my top 7800GT was soaked - it was dead shorted out
2/3 tap water and 1/3 GM DEX COOL aprox

it also had ran into pcie slot

i couldn't really tell if it went on down

here is what i did...

you must bare yo a** down on the plastic barbs pretty darn good - they will fool you
compress o-ring all way down into its groove and flat part of barb will be level with top

*** CLEAN UP ***
your card may be ok like mine (so far with a lot of praying )
2 - 7800 GTs aint cheap

1st i tore it down a couple times wiping it down
then used blow dryer to dry out pcie slot
then it fired up

but it shorted back out again a couple days later
it was the slick film the antifreeze left behind in the pcie slot

*** Electronics Store ***
Generation 2000 isopropyl alchohol spray can
its 99% ultra pure cleaning solvent

i completely took everything off mb
but i left mb in case

take battery off mb

you need cans of air too
put you a rag in bottom of case to catch all the dripping

PRAY THE CRAP out of it - all slots etc - you'll have it drippin and running off mb onto rag in bottom
i even took my pD 840 3.2 out and soaked the LGA 775 socket down
and soaked ram slots - everythind except I/O connectors on back

give it a minute to soak in and then blow everything out real good

after that i placed a little heater/fan - but you only need a fan -
bowing into case to get it good and dry - the alchohol will evaperate anyway - and it don't need no wiping at all it says

then soak your cards etc down with spray also
let all parts dry good

put it back together

i had to clear cmos with J5 to get mine to fire up after this

give this a shot before you go sending parts back
it could be just a film like coating left behind shorting it out

Try this first
Good luck dude - say a prayer to begin with

~RD

**** EDIT ****
I never took mine apart and clened no shards up

 

[Jeff Moser]

It took longer than I expected to hear this seeing how everybody is saying open it up and clean it out. I would never suggest this to the general public without fully explaining the procedure. If that block was worth it's weight it would come ready to go there would be absolutely no reason to tighten anything. You did not say you took it apart but I would fo one like to know if you did? I would guess we are going to see this type of problem more often due to people thinking you can just pull em apart and slap them back together and go.
I am not saying you are reckless or anything but like installing a head gasket on a car there are certain thing that must be done.

 

[Kil4Thril]

Well, it comes with the barbs just laying in a bag, so they must be attached by the end user. As far as taking it apart and slapping it together, it is just four SMALL allen-head screws, and they thread into the copper base, so you can tighten them quite well. There should be no reason for this block to be able to leak unless you somehow manage to either crack the Delrin, or squeeze the O-ring out. Just tighten the screws in an X pattern instead of side to side and that's no issue.

 

[5|*42]

It took longer than I expected to hear this seeing how everybody is saying open it up and clean it out. I would never suggest this to the general public without fully explaining the procedure. If that block was worth it's weight it would come ready to go there would be absolutely no reason to tighten anything. You did not say you took it apart but I would fo one like to know if you did? I would guess we are going to see this type of problem more often due to people thinking you can just pull em apart and slap them back together and go.
I am not saying you are reckless or anything but like installing a head gasket on a car there are certain thing that must be done.

The general public doesn't water cool, and those that do are probably gonne be the type who would take it apart even if it came together to see if it needs any additional cleaning, and simply just to see what's in it. And considering I got an Apogee for 39 shipped, saying it's worth it's weight means it doesn't weigh very much.
Btw, nice location

 

[netnexus]

It also happened to me, but being stupid, I hadn't tightened the barbs as far as they would go

 

[d94]

well..when i got my appogee the first thing i did was take it apart and clean all the loose metal pieces out. then i tightened everythign down tight as possible.
no problems to this day!
the only complaint is that the barbs feel like they're goin to nap when your attaching the tubing.

 

[Ankun]

I took everyones advice and tried one LAST time being especially careful.

Went to the HW store and bought some seal string, then proceeded to tighten the barbs in until they were just barely not touching the top of the block (seemed to be slightly more than prior)

As of the last 4 or 5 hours I havent found any droplets of water where they were before or anywhere around the barbs. The 2nd time I set everything up I found droplets of water within minutes so this is a very good sign IMO.

My card is confirmed dead, so I ordered a 6600 GT. Should be here by friday.

I also went ahead and bought 2GB of PC4000 ram while I was at it

Btw I uncapped my chip and recapped it with AS5 (because I realized my block wont fit uncapped and dont plan on grinding the bracket down atm.. too many other more important things to deal with) Only problem is atm my temps are about 2-3C higher than they were before, hopefully by the time the AS5 cures they will be at least on-par with how they were.

I WILL be running bare die eventually though

 

[d94]

I took everyones advice and tried one LAST time being especially careful.

Went to the HW store and bought some seal string, then proceeded to tighten the barbs in until they were just barely not touching the top of the block (seemed to be slightly more than prior)

As of the last 4 or 5 hours I havent found any droplets of water where they were before or anywhere around the barbs. The 2nd time I set everything up I found droplets of water within minutes so this is a very good sign IMO.

My card is confirmed dead, so I ordered a 6600 GT. Should be here by friday.

I also went ahead and bought 2GB of PC4000 ram while I was at it

Btw I uncapped my chip and recapped it with AS5 (because I realized my block wont fit uncapped and dont plan on grinding the bracket down atm.. too many other more important things to deal with) Only problem is atm my temps are about 2-3C higher than they were before, hopefully by the time the AS5 cures they will be at least on-par with how they were.

I WILL be running bare die eventually though

good to hear its not leaking!
however, the appogge is optimized for more surface area, so the smaller the contact the worse the temps in theory. i believe it's pedessor is the one for smaller dies

regardless i want results!

 

[Moto7451]

Its predecessor design is the 6000/6002. Its optimized for larger dies as well. The Storm is a different design completely and focusses its cooling on a relatively smaller area (the area of a die more or less).

 

[Fighter2a]

I was actually thinking of getting one of those blocks for my 6800Gt but now, I am a little skeptical.

You sure about that? There is no way your going to get this block on a 6800. But if you do I'd really like to see it.

 

[Ankun]

I dont see my temps going up from runnnig IHS less, maybe an insignificant drop. I'd imagine the copper base would act as a heat spreader just like the IHS.

 

[voigts]

I don't see a couple of C less worth voiding the warranty by removing the IHS. The storm would be better if you are going to do this.

 

[Seven7Thirty30]

I was a little worried about the Apogee when i bought it too. That's why I took it apart to clean the shavings and used plumbers tape on the barb threads. You should get some plumbers tape for all the barbs in your W/C system.