Zotac EN-980 Mini PC cooling issue

[Catsrules]

Specs

Zotac EN-980

CPU: Intel i5-6400

Video card: NVIDIA 980GTX

RAM: 16GB DDR3

Storage: 512 SSD; 1TB HDD

 

I have no experience with watercooling so I figured I would ask an expert and see.

 

I have been having stability issues with this computer. It will freeze and then reboot and then hard lock requiring a power cycle to bring it back up.

 

I was been able to get into the BIOS and I notice the CPU temperature is very high 86-87 degree C, sure that would be normal if was doing a stress test or something but this it just sitting in the BIOS screen. It has only been running for 5 minutes. The CPU and GPU heat syncs are very hot. Thermal camera is saying 71 degrees C and climbing. 

 

I am suspecting I might have a clog in the loop, I hear the pump quietly making noise and it sounds like water noises so I think the pump is working. However the radiator isn't feeling like it is heating up. The only thing that is heating up with the CPU and GPU blocks. 

 

See attached photos

 

 

You can see the cpu and gpu blocks are very hot but the tubes are still cold. If the loop was moving liquid around I would expect those tubs to be getting warmer. But they don't seem to be apart from the radiant heat.

 

Especially this short tube connecting the two blocks together. I would expect this tube to very warm but it is stone cold in the middle of that tube and just slowly heating up from the radiant heat coming from the blocks.

 

 

 

here is a normal photo to give you an idea how it actually looks.

 

My question is what is the process for taking apart the loop and checking that it is actually working?

 

Thanks.

[RevGAM]

Bump

[Whatisthis]

Here is a guide for an aio: https://www.custompc.com/how-to-change-aio-liquid-cooler-coolant

 

first step is to get all the materials you’ll need. You’ll need new thermal paste, and new coolant at a minimum. You’ll also want a small brush like a toothbrush for cleaning and a small bottle/ pipe brush for cleaning out lines.

 

Next remove all of the blocks off the components so you have the cooling loop away from the components. Then you’ll want to disassemble the entire loop. Take a picture before disassembly so you can verify you’ve reassembled correctly.

 

after disassembly, use pipe brush to clean out all of the pipes. A warm water with dish soap bath is a good cleaning medium. Also clean the inlet and outlet ports on the blocks. Rinse and dry when cleaned. 

 

you’ll want to take apart all of the blocks and scrub the inside part with your small brush and your soapy water to get rid of any accumulation there. Rinse and dry the pieces when done.
 

If there is a blockage it is in the rad or the blocks. you can blow into the rad to see if it is stopped up. The rad is harder to clean out. Pour in boiling water and let it sit and cool off for a bit. Fill it about halfway only. Then shake the hell out of it for a minute, empty it. If it runs clean you’re good, if not keep doing that until no more gunk comes out. Last, flush with distilled water.

 

You’ll also want to verify your pump works. They do wear out sometimes, depending on the design. You’ll need a 12v power source and a way to connect it to the pump. Stick the inlet pipe into a bowl of water and aim the outlet somewhere you don’t mind getting wet and give it the juice. A working pump will give you a nice stream. Or you might replace the pump due to age anyway. 

After everything is cleaned, reassemble and refill with your new coolant. You have to get all of the air out so give the different parts of the loop a little shake as you fill up. See the link I put at the top for the procedure.

 

Hope this helps. It’s going to be a project.

[RevGAM]

50 minutes ago, Whatisthis said:

Here is a guide for an aio: https://www.custompc.com/how-to-change-aio-liquid-cooler-coolant

 

first step is to get all the materials you’ll need. You’ll need new thermal paste, and new coolant at a minimum. You’ll also want a small brush like a toothbrush for cleaning and a small bottle/ pipe brush for cleaning out lines.

 

Next remove all of the blocks off the components so you have the cooling loop away from the components. Then you’ll want to disassemble the entire loop. Take a picture before disassembly so you can verify you’ve reassembled correctly.

 

after disassembly, use pipe brush to clean out all of the pipes. A warm water with dish soap bath is a good cleaning medium. Also clean the inlet and outlet ports on the blocks. Rinse and dry when cleaned. 

 

you’ll want to take apart all of the blocks and scrub the inside part with your small brush and your soapy water to get rid of any accumulation there. Rinse and dry the pieces when done.
 

If there is a blockage it is in the rad or the blocks. you can blow into the rad to see if it is stopped up. The rad is harder to clean out. Pour in boiling water and let it sit and cool off for a bit. Fill it about halfway only. Then shake the hell out of it for a minute, empty it. If it runs clean you’re good, if not keep doing that until no more gunk comes out. Last, flush with distilled water.

 

You’ll also want to verify your pump works. They do wear out sometimes, depending on the design. You’ll need a 12v power source and a way to connect it to the pump. Stick the inlet pipe into a bowl of water and aim the outlet somewhere you don’t mind getting wet and give it the juice. A working pump will give you a nice stream. Or you might replace the pump due to age anyway. 

After everything is cleaned, reassemble and refill with your new coolant. You have to get all of the air out so give the different parts of the loop a little shake as you fill up. See the link I put at the top for the procedure.

 

Hope this helps. It’s going to be a project.

The OP asked how to disassemble it...

[Whatisthis]

11 hours ago, RevGAM said:

The OP asked how to disassemble it...

Unscrew the blocks, pull the tubes off, unscrew the cold plates…and remember it’s full of fluid so when you disconnect hoses you’ll have fluid come out.

[TeraSeraph]

12 hours ago, Catsrules said:

Specs

Zotac EN-980

CPU: Intel i5-6400

Video card: NVIDIA 980GTX

RAM: 16GB DDR3

Storage: 512 SSD; 1TB HDD

 

I have no experience with watercooling so I figured I would ask an expert and see.

 

I have been having stability issues with this computer. It will freeze and then reboot and then hard lock requiring a power cycle to bring it back up.

 

I was been able to get into the BIOS and I notice the CPU temperature is very high 86-87 degree C, sure that would be normal if was doing a stress test or something but this it just sitting in the BIOS screen. It has only been running for 5 minutes. The CPU and GPU heat syncs are very hot. Thermal camera is saying 71 degrees C and climbing. 

 

I am suspecting I might have a clog in the loop, I hear the pump quietly making noise and it sounds like water noises so I think the pump is working. However the radiator isn't feeling like it is heating up. The only thing that is heating up with the CPU and GPU blocks. 

 

See attached photos

 

 

You can see the cpu and gpu blocks are very hot but the tubes are still cold. If the loop was moving liquid around I would expect those tubs to be getting warmer. But they don't seem to be apart from the radiant heat.

 

Especially this short tube connecting the two blocks together. I would expect this tube to very warm but it is stone cold in the middle of that tube and just slowly heating up from the radiant heat coming from the blocks.

 

 

 

here is a normal photo to give you an idea how it actually looks.

 

My question is what is the process for taking apart the loop and checking that it is actually working?

 

Thanks.

you're double sure that the pump header is set to 100% in the BIOS? It should be maxed out at all temps. 

[Catsrules]

11 hours ago, Whatisthis said:

Here is a guide for an aio: https://www.custompc.com/how-to-change-aio-liquid-cooler-coolant

 

first step is to get all the materials you’ll need. You’ll need new thermal paste, and new coolant at a minimum. You’ll also want a small brush like a toothbrush for cleaning and a small bottle/ pipe brush for cleaning out lines.

 

Next remove all of the blocks off the components so you have the cooling loop away from the components. Then you’ll want to disassemble the entire loop. Take a picture before disassembly so you can verify you’ve reassembled correctly.

 

after disassembly, use pipe brush to clean out all of the pipes. A warm water with dish soap bath is a good cleaning medium. Also clean the inlet and outlet ports on the blocks. Rinse and dry when cleaned. 

 

you’ll want to take apart all of the blocks and scrub the inside part with your small brush and your soapy water to get rid of any accumulation there. Rinse and dry the pieces when done.
 

If there is a blockage it is in the rad or the blocks. you can blow into the rad to see if it is stopped up. The rad is harder to clean out. Pour in boiling water and let it sit and cool off for a bit. Fill it about halfway only. Then shake the hell out of it for a minute, empty it. If it runs clean you’re good, if not keep doing that until no more gunk comes out. Last, flush with distilled water.

 

You’ll also want to verify your pump works. They do wear out sometimes, depending on the design. You’ll need a 12v power source and a way to connect it to the pump. Stick the inlet pipe into a bowl of water and aim the outlet somewhere you don’t mind getting wet and give it the juice. A working pump will give you a nice stream. Or you might replace the pump due to age anyway. 

After everything is cleaned, reassemble and refill with your new coolant. You have to get all of the air out so give the different parts of the loop a little shake as you fill up. See the link I put at the top for the procedure.

 

Hope this helps. It’s going to be a project.

 

 

6 hours ago, Whatisthis said:

Unscrew the blocks, pull the tubes off, unscrew the cold plates…

 

Thanks for the information seems strait forward enough.

 

Any recommendation on new coolent? Your link recommends Ek-CryoFuel should I just go with that?

 

 

[Catsrules]

6 hours ago, TeraSeraph said:

you're double sure that the pump header is set to 100% in the BIOS? It should be maxed out at all temps. 

Ahh good idea I will double check just to be sure. In theory it should be set correctly as it is an OEM watercooled machine and I really haven't touched the BIOS settings appart from a few boot options. But OEMs sometimes struggle with BIOS setting. 

[Whatisthis]

6 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

 

 

 

Thanks for the information seems strait forward enough.

 

Any recommendation on new coolent? Your link recommends Ek-CryoFuel should I just go with that?

 

 

There are a lot of different options available. EK is premium stuff. If you use additives instead of a pre mix, just make sure you use distilled water and get the mix right. The premixed is obviously bulletproof in terms of the mix.

Edited June 30, 2023 by Whatisthis
Edited to correct/expand on premix vs additives

[Catsrules]

If your grossed out easily by yucky gunk don't look at the hidden photos.

 

In case anyone was interested. It was clogged and it looks like it has been for awhile. Super nasty it ate away part of the block :(.  Luckly the blocks themself can be taken apart for it made cleaning so much easier. I am not sure if cleaning would have been possible otherwise. The clogged block was so bad I couldn't get the connector was stuck to the block. Luckly after taking apart the block and pushing it from the other side I was able to break it free. 

 

Hopefully it will be OK still waiting on some coolant to ship. I might just throw in some water for testing to make sure it still works.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

[RevGAM]

34 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

If your grossed out easily by yucky gunk don't look at the hidden photos.

 

In case anyone was interested. It was clogged and it looks like it has been for awhile. Super nasty it ate away part of the block :(.  Luckly the blocks themself can be taken apart for it made cleaning so much easier. I am not sure if cleaning would have been possible otherwise. The clogged block was so bad I couldn't get the connector was stuck to the block. Luckly after taking apart the block and pushing it from the other side I was able to break it free. 

 

Hopefully it will be OK still waiting on some coolant to ship. I might just throw in some water for testing to make sure it still works. If they had covered the copper with silver, I wonder if that would've prevented it...It would've killed the bacteria.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Is it my imagination, or did they mix copper and aluminum, resulting in the copper eating away the aluminum in the first photo...? AFAIK, steel wouldn't react, right?

Remind me not to buy a Zotac AIO. How long have you had that? If it's still under warranty, I'd send it back to Zotac and get your money back.

[Whatisthis]

3 hours ago, Catsrules said:

If your grossed out easily by yucky gunk don't look at the hidden photos.

 

In case anyone was interested. It was clogged and it looks like it has been for awhile. Super nasty it ate away part of the block :(.  Luckly the blocks themself can be taken apart for it made cleaning so much easier. I am not sure if cleaning would have been possible otherwise. The clogged block was so bad I couldn't get the connector was stuck to the block. Luckly after taking apart the block and pushing it from the other side I was able to break it free. 

 

Hopefully it will be OK still waiting on some coolant to ship. I might just throw in some water for testing to make sure it still works.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

  Hide contents

 

That’s worse than I expected. 
 

make sure you also take the gaskets out and clean those off plus the channels they sit in. Good way to develop a leak is to put it together with a tiny bit of gunk stuck somewhere between a gasket and block.

 

Mixed metals give you a galvanic reaction that corrodes one of the surfaces and creates oxide (probably what at least some of the gunk is in your system). Most blocks are made of a single material as a result. Looks like you have a copper contact plate and aluminum block. It may be worthwhile to add extra corrosion inhibitor to your fluid. Most systems have an aluminum radiator and copper block, but since the two are not electrically connected to each other the galvanic reaction doesn’t take place.

 

Edit - see this for what too little corrosion inhibitor looks like: 

 

[Catsrules]

2 hours ago, RevGAM said:

Is it my imagination, or did they mix copper and aluminum, resulting in the copper eating away the aluminum in the first photo...? AFAIK, steel wouldn't react, right?

Remind me not to buy a Zotac AIO. How long have you had that? If it's still under warranty, I'd send it back to Zotac and get your money back.

 

I am not a metals expert but I think it is aluminum it seems too light for steel.

 

Linus said the same thing in his video I was watching last night.

 

I am sure the warranty is long gone at this point. I have had this computer for a while. I got it sometime around 2018-2019. I remember I got it super cheap 600-700. It might have even been a refurbished computer. I guess I know why it was super cheap, it has a design flaw.

 

The weird think is the other block appears to be totally fine.

1 hour ago, Whatisthis said:

That’s worse than I expected. 
 

make sure you also take the gaskets out and clean those off plus the channels they sit in. Good way to develop a leak is to put it together with a tiny bit of gunk stuck somewhere between a gasket and block.

 

I am worried I might damage the gaskets trying to get them out. They are really sunk into grove of the block. I tried prying them out with my finger nails but no luck. I don't have a good prying tool that isn't metal. 

 

[Whatisthis]

8 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

 

I am not a metals expert but I think it is aluminum it seems too light for steel.

 

Linus said the same thing in his video I was watching last night.

 

I am sure the warranty is long gone at this point. I have had this computer for a while. I got it sometime around 2018-2019. I remember I got it super cheap 600-700. It might have even been a refurbished computer. I guess I know why it was super cheap, it has a design flaw.

 

The weird think is the other block appears to be totally fine.

I am worried I might damage the gaskets trying to get them out. They are really sunk into grove of the block. I tried prying them out with my finger nails but no luck. I don't have a good prying tool that isn't metal. 

 

Ok, leave them in then and just make sure to get all the gunk off the other mating surface.