HannibalBurgers

@EK Luc I've tried to do some more research on this in the past few days and I think I can be a little bit more specific about what the issue is. The leak only occurred only after I turned the system off and the pump was not running for about 10 hours. During that time, the water held in the res is exerting pressure and force on the seal/o-ring located between the pump and the pump top. Due to the mesh/hollowed out design on the pump top, if the o-ring is not positioned in the precise area, water is allowed to run around the o-ring, filing the hollowed out areas and spilling into the holes indicated in my 5th picture. Essentially when the pump is turned off, back pressure in the loop will cause the pump top to leak internally into the pump. Hopefully this additional information is helpful. Also I contacted the reseller to RMA the pump and they told me that because the pump has water damage, Swifttech will not RMA the pump. Is there anything EK can do to help me get my loop back up and running?

The kit and all the pumps that have failed, 4 in total, were purchased through a reseller (PerformancePCs.com). The first three were EK pumps, and since I thought the issue with them might have been the pump, the fourth pump was a swifttech. However, with all four failed pumps there has been one consistency, I used the EK X-RES 100 DDC MX. By all means, feel free to show my pictures to R&D. I understand that the base of the res is designed this way to minimize cost but having such a narrow surface for the o-ring to land on combined with all the grooves and hollowed out areas seems like a recipe for disaster. Please let me know if I can provide you with any other information and know that I appreciate your attention to this matter.

Initially I thought that the "lack of cooling" issue that these pumps face was the cause of this problem, as I was aware that was a commonly cited issue with these pumps. But, it seems very unlikely for two reasons. First, the amount of moisture that had entered the interior of the pump. Second, in my system the pump is located right behind the 3 120mm intake fans on the front of my case. I believe you have/had the same case, the NZXT H440; I had the pump sitting on of the hdd trays in the front. To me it seems like the heat damage was really just a result of the pcb being fried due to a combination of moisture and current. I don't think a heatsink attached to bottom would have prevented this from happening. You are correct, I was never really 100% sure of the cause behind the first 3 pump failures. But I never really took apart and inspected them after failure like I did with this pump, but your post reminded me of one exception. After the 3rd failure and after the pump had been sitting around a while I did open it up. The pump had been sitting out of the loop for maybe 5 or 6 days. Although I wasn't sure what I was looking at, there was a slick/slimy residue on the inside of the bottom of the pump casing. I wiped it out with a q-tip and the residue was green. At the time, I thought maybe it was some type of lubricant for the pump or something that was applied to protect the pcb. Looking back, I feel almost 100% certain that it was some type of bio-growth/evaporated biocide resulting from moisture that had gotten into the interior of that pump. One thing I forgot to mention was that when I removed this last pump I could see water in-between the bottom of the pump casing and the bottom of the actual pump. It all just seems too coincidental to say its anything else besides a design flaw when I have tried so many different things in a effort to solve this problem. I really enjoy the aesthetics of EK's products but this just seems inexcusable.

Hi all, Some of you may have seen my previous thread trying to determine what had killed 3 of my pumps in a row. I thought I had nailed down the problem as a result of weird interactions with the motherboard header and the onboard fan control software BUT BAD NEWS. Once again I have a dead pump, that's right, 4 dead pumps in about 2 months. However, this time I think I finally have found the problem. The failure: While using the PC I started to smell melting plastic, i jumped up and quickly turned the machine off, opened it up and saw that the bottom of the pump was smoking. I took the loop out of the system, disassembled the pump/res combo and discovered the following: Hopefully it can be seen in the photos, but looking at the disassembled pump, it appears that moisture got into the inside of the pump. In the picture with just the bottom of the pump casing, you can see that in the area around the heat damage there is quite a bit of moisture in there. In the picture of the top of the pump casing you can see moisture in both the coupling screw hole and in the small hole to the left of that, where it looks like the leak was able to get into the electronics of the pump. This pump lasted much longer than the first three and seemingly just randomly decided to fail today. However, when I though about it I remembered that last night was the first time since I installed the pump that I turned the PC off overnight. I poked around online and discovered other people had reported this problem specifically with this res; they stated that when the pump is turned off, the seal between the res pump top and the pump isn't being suctioned together tightly anymore by the force of the pump. With this info, I took a look at the base of the pump top (that attaches to the pump) and saw the following: If you can't make it out in the picture, in the area above where the leak occurred, in the hollowed out areas . . . liquid. All of this evidence seems to lead me to only one conclusion, when powered off the EK X-Res 100 DDC MX does not maintain a seal between itself and the top of the pump it is attached to. As a lower cost alternative the "MX" version has the hollowed out base as you can see in the last picture which likely only helps to exacerbate the problem by giving the water a place to flow. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had a problem using this pump top/res. Mine was actually from the EK L120 Kit. Those that know more of the science behind how pumps operate might be able to confirm whether this is likely the issue or whether I'm just reaching for someone to blame after enduring the RMA process for 3 pumps already. I think the only option I can go with at this point is to move to a D5.

if you want to add a backplate to that soundcard check this out

The leds on the Sound Blaster Z are 3mm, assuming you have soldering tools, replacement leds are all you would need. You could probably use 3mm or 5mm leds but the 5mm won't really affect the brightness noticeably. If you want white light you also have to replace or remove the red-tinted plastic disc on the faceplate. Painting the faceplate is easy, I did it to mine before I vinyl wrapped it. You will want to paint the inside of the faceplate too, so your leds don't reflect off the red inside. If you need specifics on the painting process check out @W-L tutorials post, I'm not sure how to link to it but its the first Sticky under the Mods category!

I don't mean to discourage you but you pretty much have to have cash to do much modding. First, you have to have something to mod in the first place, which can be pretty expensive if you don't have any hardware now. Modding can kind of be a money trap as well (at least it is for me), once you start modding it kinda feels like whatever you are working on isn't finished. There is always something you can add or redo. So if you don't have the cash flow to pour into it you will probably see one of two results: (1) you won't be able to do the mods you want to/the quality would be subpar (2) you will be in debt. Maybe its just me but it seems kinda counter-intuitive to want to get into something with little time or money...

I've been thinking about replacing the window on mine for a while now. The problem with the factory window is that it is NOT acrylic; it's some kind of cheap ass plastic. Your solution is pretty sweet for the price. Like @thekeemo, I'd be a little bit concerned about it being just picture frame glass, which is on the extremely fragile side, one bump on that window might be disastrous. One question I have for you, does the window now just sort of sit behind the actual insert for the window? The replacement windows I have considered getting are all beveled to get the same fit as the factory window and it seems like your window would have a lip around it from where the factory window actually sat, hopefully you know what im talking about.

@W-L has touched on most of this but for the sake of throwing some more info/clarification your way: the alcohol will work if you are in a pinch and unable to find a degreaser (but may be quite a bit more expensive). I have never heard of anyone using vinegar for cleaning a painting surface. I would NOT recommend using the vinegar because it may contain trace chemicals that could potentially interact with the paint and it does not evaporate quickly. To lay it out plainly, here's what I would do: Start with your 400 grit paper to rough the surface up and remove the slick coating on the metal. The painting surface might look a little cloudy at this point which is a good thing (the cloudiness is tiny scratches in the surface that will allow the paint to adhere better). Do your best to avoid creating large visible scratches but if they happen just work them out with the next grit. Wipe the metal down with your rag then repeat the process with your 800 grit, making sure to remove any imperfections from the last sanding. This will visually smooth up your surface while ensuring that the surface is actually still rough and will hold paint. Sand with the 800 until the surface is smooth to the touch. Next is the cleaning process and I would recommend wearing surgical gloves. Take your lint free rag/coffee filter and poor some of the alcohol on it and rub down the painting surface, When you look at the rag/filter you should be able to see the metal dust it is picking up. Do this with new rags/filters until you don't see any of the metal dust on your rag. Let the alcohol evaporate and then you are clear to paint. I would also recommend soaking your spray can in hot water before use, warm paint will mist and cold paint will drip/clog up. For what you are doing, I don't think you need to get water involved with the sandpaper; you would probably only need to do this if you put a clear coat on top of the paint job. Hopefully this helps, give us some pics when you finish up!

Can we have a pic? It's likely that you can get a clear replacement window depending on how that window fits into the panel

Hi all, Sorry for the delay but I still have yet to receive a replacement pump. However, my impatience got the best of me and I ordered a Swiftech MCP350, which came in a few days ago. I installed the pump already and it has been running for 3 days now and it seems to be doing a MUCH MUCH better job than the last 3. This pump does NOT have PWM although it does come with a fan header that just gives an output for the pump speed. I actually chose to leave that header unplugged for now and just run the pump off the molex. When I first ran the pump one thing I noticed was the speed/strength of the pump. During the filling process this pump pulled the water out of the rez considerably faster than the other 3, It seems to be spinning quite a bit faster than the other 3 ever did. The other interesting thing about the loop with this new pump installed is how insanely cool it is keeping my cpu. My idle temp now hovers around 25°C and under load its rare to see it above 40°C. This is an improvement of about 5°C for idle and about 10°C for load. I know many of you have said that you have never heard of something like this, but I am now almost certain that the PWM and fan curve was killing the pumps. I'm not sure if its just my motherboard but I remember recently looking for an answer online about it and noticed that ASUS has some mobos that actually have a CPU_PUMP header and in the manuals for those mobos it explicitly states NOT to use the CPU_FAN header for a pump. Just wanted to post something of an answer in case someone has a similar problem in the future. Thanks again for all the help everyone!

Here is a link to what I actually use, if you walk in to any hardware store and ask for Naptha, they will know what your talking about. If for some reason they don't, just ask for the paint stripper section and you should be able to find it there. http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/70250436?src=pla&cid=PLA-Google-PLA+-+Test&CS_003=7867724&CS_010=70250436 To use wet sandpaper all you need is a spray bottle filled with water. Spray the surface down with the water and start sanding it down with your paper. When you feel the surface start to get a little dry, just respray the surface and keep going. The water really just acts as a lubricant for finer grits to keep the smaller paint particles off the painting surface and away from your sandpaper which will give you the appearance of a perfectly smooth surface that will easily take on paint. To get the full benefit of using the water, try to sand in straight lines when using the wet sandpaper which will allow the water containing the paint particles to run off the sides of the painting surface. Keep this in mind when choosing were you plan to paint because the water will essentially become paint when it takes on the paint particles so it could potentially stain the floor beneath your project. Just throw some newspaper down and you should be good! Allow it seems counter-intuitive, try to be somewhat gentle when sanding with wet sandpaper and let the grit do the work. Applying too much pressure at this point could leave scratches that require you to have to start the whole process over!

I have a 6P and absolutely love it, fastest phone I have ever owned hands down. One of the great things about Nexus devices it is that they can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. This quality really shines on the 6P because of the "snappiness" of the device. The only concern I had when I initially got the phone was the size, as I was moving over from a Nexus 5. The size is actually just about perfect, maybe a little on the big side because it can be a little difficult to put in a pocket, but that's more of a trend with all phones than a problem with the 6P. So, +1 for the 6P.

Those grits should definitely work. If this is a relatively new piece of steel it will still be somewhat oily from the galvanization process. If that's the case you will want to use some kind of degreaser (more on that below) to get the oil off before you start the sanding as it can make the sanding process messy/uneven. To explain it in a simple way that I find useful, think of galvanization as basically dipping the metal in a thin plastic (if you care, I think zinc is actually what is used). This plastic helps protect the metal from surface imperfections and rust but also has the effect of making it much more difficult to paint because paint doesn't want to stick to the slick surface. When you degrease and sand galvanized steel you are removing this protective layer. The paint that you apply then acts as a stand-in for that plastic so you aren't really losing anything in the way of protection by sanding and then repainting the steel. I'm very happy to see your last question! Keeping everything obsessively clean is one of the most important aspects of painting. To answer your question, I use Naptha. Conveniently, Naptha is also a degreaser, so if you just want to buy one product to use as both a degreaser and to clean the metal after sanding, Naptha is 100% the way to go and is readily available in pretty much any hardware store. Just some general tips for keeping the painting surface clean: wear surgical gloves, try to handle the painting surface on the edges (just to minimize your contact with it), set aside an isolated, clean (dust-free), well-ventilated area to do your painting, and most importantly, take your time, apply thin coats over an extended period of time. I know there are quite a few painting guides on here as well, they would probably be worth taking a peek at if you haven't already! Feel free to shoot me any other questions you have on painting. I have painted kind of an obscene amount of my pc parts! EDIT: Sandboarder08's mention of cheese cloth reminded me of something! As he noted, make sure that you are using some type of lint free rag for your final wipe down. Oddly, coffee filters are very good (and very cheap!) for this because they do not leave fibers behind, nobody wants coffee filter fibers in their coffee!

Hi all, Just wanted to share a quick little addition I made to my Creative Sound Blaster Z, a custom backplate! I actually did the modeling myself (my first time ever using modeling software) and I think it actually turned out pretty well. The guys over at performancepcs lasered it for me and it only cost $16 since I provided the model. This was my solution to the common problem of soundcards not coming with backplates and sticking out in an otherwise cogent computer. I couldn't find anybody selling backplates like this in the US so I took the matter into my own hands. http://imgur.com/a/ldSsH If anybody is interested, I can upload the model file for others to use!