Long Term EK GPU WB Interior Pics

[Flat-6]

Hello All,

I haven't posted in here for a long time - Busy with my many other hobbies and have not done much PC orientated WC stuff since completing my SMA8 based Deja Vu build (still going strong)...


Anyway - one of my earlier (2014) builds is being used by my 13 yr old daughter and she has been pestering me for a GPU upgrade. So her birthday was just the other day and a new video card was placed into her PC.

The old card that I pulled out was an EVGA 780Ti Classified (Remember these...!) which was kitted out with an EK waterblock.

I was curious to check the internals to see how it fared as next month it will be almost 9 years of duty that the card and block have seen.

Do note that I use automotive based glycol coolants in my loops and in this case the loop was utilising an Aussie based concentrate product specifically designed for automotive corrosion protection and not antifreeze protection. https://www.tectaloy.com.au/corrosion-inhibitor-concentrates

The system had its coolant changed every two years and just the other day my daughter and I flushed the loop with distilled water until none of the original red coolant was visible and then drained totally so the card could be pulled out with no mess/fuss.

Just tonight I pulled the acetal section off the main block as I was interested in having a peek inside.


PC as it was back in 2014:





Overall interior - Looks almost like new....!




Closeup of the fins:




Only a tiny spot where some dried residue was noted - Seems to wipe off ok...





Overall I'm pretty impressed as the interior looks extremely clean - There does not appear to be any residue in the flow areas - This coolant seems to work really well. I only noted some slight yellowing on Primochill Advanced LRT tubing which I attribute to heat rather than any form of staining.

Not bad for almost a 9 year run...!


Next planned GPU upgrade will be for my Deja Vu build - Probably during January when I will be on holidays and not tied up working.

 

[Blaylock]

Looks great Flat-6!

I wouldn't expect any corrosion to appear as it seems you are using all copper and nickel-copper components. Glycol-based auto coolants work really well, though distilled water is slightly better performance-wise. The only real downside to these coolants is the extra strain on the pump as it's a bit thicker but with a quality pump it will be fine, even long-term as you have demonstrated.

 

[Flat-6]

Thanks.

While the ethylene glycol auto based coolant is slightly more viscous it does actually provide added lubrication for the pump bearing which is actually better than running straight distilled etc.

I recall that Swiftech would only recommend their coolant for their pumps which contained ethylene glycol.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Great details here, thanks for posting this! Makes sense you don't have a bunch of gunk, since you weren't using the cheap/fad dyes like some people do.

 

[Woomack]

Recently I've been using black soft/hard tubes. If you can't see it, then it has to be clean Worse is that dust is visible on the tubes, but that's another problem.
Anyway, @Flat-6, it looks pretty good. I had some worse-looking blocks from EK and other brands after about 1-3 years of usage. I feel like the main problem is when the nickel is a bit scratched, or it's too thin. Some of my older blocks had blackish stains in some places. It usually happens with cheaper Chinese brands like Bykski, but only they have full cover blocks for some less popular cards.
As I remember, EK was replacing blocks some years ago because of manufacturing problems with nickel plating.

 

[Flat-6]

As I remember, EK was replacing blocks some years ago because of manufacturing problems with nickel plating.

Yeh that was years ago though - I recall when I was just getting back into it in 2014/15 that people were discussing the issue just before then.

Here is another pic on the opposite side of the spectrum.

One from an Aussie on a Downunder forum - He purchased a second hand 980 off eBay with block attached.

When he pulled the block apart this is what he faced....

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

Yeh that was years ago though - I recall when I was just getting back into it in 2014/15 that people were discussing the issue just before then.

Here is another pic on the opposite side of the spectrum.

One from an Aussie on a Downunder forum - He purchased a second hand 980 off eBay with block attached.

When he pulled the block apart this is what he faced....


View attachment 360266

It's one of those fancy copper/nickel/plexi/marble specialty blocks right?....right?.....

 

[Flat-6]

It's one of those fancy copper/nickel/plexi/marble specialty blocks right?....right?.....