Bad luck or Coincidence Corsair Cooler Dripping

rvxspeed · May 2, 2020

I had two system built under the same case. The first picture you see is 980ti hybrid. The CPU cooler was that was Corsair H100i. You can see the wet mark on the back side of the gpu.

The second picture you can see with the RTX2080 hybrid. This time the CPU cooler was Corsair H110iGT.

In both of the case there was no issue. My question is this mere bad luck. I didn’t find the trace of leak in either case. Already raised a ticket for the latter case as I have warranty. Waiting to hear from corsair. I have several question in mind. Hope some good soul would be able to answer. Also it's not a continuous leak. Because as you can see in the video attached. The tissue paper is used to check for liquid. Hasn't been wet(yet).

1. Is this really liquid coolant?

2. How come the liquid drips into the same exact spot?

3. Why is my hardware working 100% fine. Is the liquid used in AIO non electroconductive?

4. Is there any preventive measure I can take not to happen in future (please don’t suggest not to use AIO).

5. Is there any possibility that the GPU block leaked & gone into the back side of the GPU(sounds crazy but I am just asking the possibility)?

Thank you so much in advance for your kind response.

For Science! · May 2, 2020

I would guess this is thermal pad grease seeping out by capilary action, not actually a leak. Look at the picture below of my backplate, thermal pads can produce quite a lot of grease liquid.

rvxspeed · May 2, 2020

3 hours ago, For Science! said:

I would guess this is thermal pad grease seeping out by capilary action, not actually a leak. Look at the picture below of my backplate, thermal pads can produce quite a lot of grease liquid.

Whoa that looks like the same thing that mine by the look of it. Thanks for sharing. Looking for more response from the community.

SolarNova · May 2, 2020

I would think if its the coolant, it would evaporate eventually. it looks more 'greasy' to me and in that location I too would think its more likely to be Thermal grease.

See how long it takes to 'dry', and observe the location see if u can actually catch a drip coming from the AIO.

rvxspeed · May 2, 2020

19 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

I would think if its the coolant, it would evaporate eventually. it looks more 'greasy' to me and in that location I too would think its more likely to be Thermal grease.

See how long it takes to 'dry', and observe the location see if u can actually catch a drip coming from the AIO.

Like as the video shown. I have kept a paper towel in the exact spot above of the affected area. Been stress testing for hours to see any sort of artifact still couldn't find any. Same thing happen with my last system. I kept a paper tower. No trace of liquid ever since. I am guessing this time it will be the same. BNut is it really possible to grease come out of the backplate of the gpu like that?

SolarNova · May 2, 2020

4 minutes ago, rvxspeed said:

Like as the video shown. I have kept a paper towel in the exact spot above of the affected area. Been stress testing for hours to see any sort of artifact still couldn't find any. Same thing happen with my last system. I kept a paper tower. No trace of liquid ever since. I am guessing this time it will be the same. BNut is it really possible to grease come out of the backplate of the gpu like that?

I couldnt see much in the video btw, hence why i said what i did.

Surface tension of the oil/grease will cause it to spread and moving along surfaces like a wick. Use a IPA solution to clean it off if it bothers you.

rvxspeed · May 2, 2020

5 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

I couldnt see much in the video btw, hence why i said what i did.

Surface tension of the oil/grease will cause it to spread and moving along surfaces like a wick. Use a IPA solution to clean it off if it bothers you.

But how could it move. I didn't touch my GPU for a very long time. It's not bothering me. I am just worried if it's coolant from the CPU AIO.

SolarNova · May 2, 2020

1 minute ago, rvxspeed said:

But how could it move. I didn't touch my GPU for a very long time. It's not bothering me. I am just worried if it's coolant from the CPU AIO.

Heat cycling from use.