AbsoluteZero951

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Use the backup game files option in Steam, then transfer the game backup files to the external HDD, then use the restore backup function to 'restore' the games from the external onto the new laptop. This is how I got all my games on my desktop that doesn't have an internet connection outside of tethering my phone. Also when doing the backup it lets you chose how many volumes you want to break it up into and if you want to compress it, I never did and just backed it up as 1 volume at full size and it was still plenty fast.

What would you recommend to do with the blocks, try to clean them and see how well the cleanup, or leave them alone so that if I need send them in to EK and/or Mayhems to see if what happened here can be figured out so that it doesn't happen to anyone else in the future.

It's still got me a bit puzzled as well, due to its extent and the color and was thinking about reaching out to Mayhems as well to see if I could gain any more insight into the Pastel and how it might react with the PETG besides causing it to become brittle, crack, etc.

Thank you for the advice, I'll make sure to do the monthly checks, and hopefully having acid cleaned the rads this time and using proper coolant I can avoid ever doing this again.

Unfortunately, I had already dumped the fluid before disassembling the loop as It was drained for transport so I have no way the know if it was the fluid that went acidic. I know really wish that I had kept the fluid until I had the loop disassembled. The performance of all the blocks was fine so I never suspected anything was wrong. It's not a huge deal as was planning on upgrading to a new GPU or two but would really like to make sure I don't repeat myself with new components. Would you recommend just avoiding the Phobya radiator as due to the fact that the corrosion was worse in the GPUs than in the CPU and the reservoir plugs where restive unaffected being farthest away from it, I'm fairly confident in that whatever happened it was due to the Phobya. Was planning on replacing it with a EKWB XE 360.

This is a continuation of the Corrosion investigation that I started in a previous topic here https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/778170-cpu-block-corrosion/#comment-9816235. Upon removing the water blocks from the cards and opening them I was greeted by the purple corrosion inside the blocks pictured below. The worse one was the top card and the other the bottom, both linked by EKs Parallel connector. The corrosion in the top block, in particular, is much more severe than the CPU block was and further leads me to believe that it was due to the fact that I did not acid clean the radiators when first building the loop, but am unsure as to that could cause corrosion to this degree. I have since used the blitz cleaning acid on the radiators and had the fluid pictured below blue from the copper, but with little flux that came out of them, with the worst of it being from the Phobya Radiator. Additionally, the GPUs were directly after the Phobya, leading me to suspect the radiator. It has also discovered that I made a mistake in the coolant choice (Mayhems Pastel Extreme), as it was not supposed to be used with PETG, but don't believe that is the cause of the corrosion. Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I'm trying to figure out what went wrong here so It does not happen again and so I know what I need to rebuild my loop, as I have already gotten a new replacement CPU plate, and was thinking about replacing the Phobya radiator all together and not bother with it despite having blitzed it. Parts in Loop in order: EKWB D5 Pump => Phobya G-Changer 360 => EK GPU Blocks x2 in Parrallel => XSPC AX480 => EK Supremacy EVO => EK XRES => back to Pump Fittings where Primochill Revolvers and Tubing Primochill PETG 1/2 OD Coolant was Mayhems Pastel Extreme White diluted to about 3 liters. Other Parts: Bitspower Ball valve, Bitspower 90 rotary.

Today I was putting the aircoolers back onto my two Gigabyte G1 Gamings 980tis, and when placing them in a computer to test one of them refused to not be at 100% fan speed. I checked Afterburner and GPUz Readings and it was reading the proper 0% idle that the cards should be at, but with the tachometer reporting the full speed 4400 rpm. The card is unresponsive to changes made to the fan speed in afterburner and in GPU Guru, I have already tried restarts, clean driver installations, checking the fan connector, putting a different computer, and flashing the vBios yet the problem persists. I feel it is worth noting that the fans are ramping up as soon as the computer is started and not even passed the bios splash screen. Additionally, the second card is perfectly fine and has not issue whatsoever. I've attached some pictures showing the unresponsiveness of the GPU fans rpm despite reporting the correct change to fan speed. I'm at a loss and any help would be greatly appreciated.

They are all EKWB and they were all attached to the Reservoir yet only two show the corrosion and the others are perfectly fine. Unfortunately, I don't remember where each one was in the Res, but the two that I left in that where at the bottom of the res are perfectly fine as well.

Makes sense and explains how the fluid pH dropped but still wondering why if the pH dropped why only some of the components exhibited the corrosion and others were unaffected.

I read a ton of things on ways to clean the rads and what I decided on was using near boiling temp distilled water and pouring into the rads, sealing the rads and then shaking them (with heat gloves on) like there's no tomorrow. I did that for over an hour for each rad and did get flux out of both, more from the phobya, but not tons and tons from either. Also if it where flux, I think that I would have noticed in the fluid when I drained it but did not see any when I checked or in the micro fins of the block.

It was taken after I had installed it and ran just the loop for about 2 hours to test for leaks before I did a power on test and had immediate thermal shutdown because as it turned the CPU block was rotated 90 degrees from what it was supposed to be so the CPU wasn't being cooled right. It was when I went to fix this that I took this picture. I can't remember clearly if the spots were there at very first as my brother installed the jet plate, but I think that they were and I'll ask him to make sure. Also during the time that I was doing this early loop testing, I was just using distilled water with nothing in it ( as it was never intended to stay in for long) and indeed did not as it was only in just water for about 15 hours, the two previously mentioned and ~12 hours post picture being taken for long duration leak test over night.

leaning toward the blocks nickel plating potentially having been the issue as other nickel plated parts seem to have been fine, still need to check the GPUs. I have read that EKWB has had issues with their nickel plating in the past and that is wasn't uncommon to have the coating fail.

I might just do that tomorrow just to be safe. Never heard of mayhems pastel dropping in pH itself, but plenty of cases of pH causing it to rapidly lose/change color. I found a picture of the block from when I first built the loop and was installing the jet plate, and it looks like there was even corrosion then and I just didn't catch on that that may have been a red flag for the block. I've got to get some rest so I won't be able to respond for some time but thank you for the help so far.

The plugs that are corroded wherein the reservoir which directly followed the CPU, but two of the plugs that are fine as well as two more not in the picutre still in the reservoir, are completely fine as well. As for the GPU blocks, I haven't checked on them as I haven't yet decided if I want to open them and break the EKWB factory seal on them yet, as since they are Acetal and not Plexi so I can't Just see in to check if they were affected.

Had The Supremacy Evo Nickel, x2 EKWB 980ti full cover nickel water blocks w/ parallel block, Ekwb res, Alphacool AX480 rad, Phobya 360 rad, EKWB D5 pump, Primochill PETG tubing, Primochill Revolver fittings, Bitspower rotary 90, Bitspower ball valve, Bitspower g1/4 plug, with mayhems pastel white as coolant ( was the kind you mix with distilled water, not premix).

Don't think so as I made sure to flush the rads really well when I first got them and they did not have much flux, additionally I think the white pastel fluid would have shown if any flux was getting circulated maybe turn greenish from the copper. Don't think its due to plasticizer either as I was using PETG tubing and there was/ is nothing caught in the micro fins, just the discoloring.

It's been about 10 months since I built my first custom loop and when disassembling the whole thing do cleaning and maintenance on the whole computer I noticed that the Nickel plated copper EKWB Supremacy Evo CPU block was exhibiting what I believe is galvanic corrosion, but am not sure as I made sure to not mix metals when building the loop and did not use a silver kill coil as I was running mayhems pastel (white). Was wanting to get opinions if it is galvanic corrosion or something else, in addition to thoughts on what may have caused it and what to do moving forward. I have attached some pictures of the Block in addition to some pictures of some of my G1/4 plugs some of which exhibited the same corrosion as the block while others were completely fine.

If they are seated improperly they can be not supplying power properly, as in my case my mobo was getting 11.61v instead of 12v and my computer would function under light loads and even in games for a while, and then would shut down out of nowhere. I went thought everything, narrowing it down to the psu and eventually the connection of my mobo cable into the psu, reseated it and have not had a problem since. Additionally loose connections and improper voltages can cause premature wear and even damage parts depending on the severity.

Try reseating your cables.

Also could be the PSU cables, make sure that they are plugged into the motherboard all the way and are seated properly. I had a similar problem with my computer shutting down randomly at medium-high loads and it turned out I didn't have the motherboard cable seated all the way into on the psu side of the cable (modular psu) and in turn the mobo wasn't getting proper voltage.

Its pretty intense to run as i can get 4k60 fps maxed setting in the Witcher 3 easy, but just ran the ROTR benchmark and only got 36 fps as my avg, Its the only game I cant play at max settings 4k60 as the 980tis 6GB of Vram gets maxed and causes issues, primarily crashes as well as severe frame dips. The 1080 has 8GB of Vram so It might solve the problem or ROTR might still want all the Vram at max settings at 4k.

I have 2 Gigabyte Gaming G1 980ti's in sli and can pull 60 fps at 4k with max settings in most games (witcher3,BF1,etc), with having AA turned off or down in some cases (especially SSAA, Metro LL). Two 1080s should be able to pull 4k60 no problem in todays titles, assuming that the game plays nice with sli. Don't really know how well they hold up in the upcoming years though as DX12 & Vulkan have yet to be 100% properly implemented, and the next gen of HBM2 cards on the horizon will probably make 4k60 fps gaming much easier.

The Witcher 3

The blade 14 would be a pretty close to ideal laptop for me so that I can use Catia and solidworks while not being a behemoth of a thing to carry to classes.