[DO NOT Buy Guide] Parts you have had bad experiences with.

[Scia]

Hi,

I was really annoyed the last four weeks, waiting for two factory-broken CPU-Blocks, just to wait another week, to buy a completely different one, for it to work.

So I was thinking, it would be a nice idea, to have a thread where people can write down their BAD EXPERIENCES with certain parts, so people getting new into water-cooling would not have to buy this crap and get annoyed and demotivated.

To start it off:

I have had two "Phobya UC-2 LT" CPU-Blocks, that basically, when leak-testing were perfect, not a drop for 36h straight.

But as soon as you would heat up the CPU in IBT or Prime95 or whatever, they would start to leak like hell.

I've had this experience twice in a row. I have changed the compression fittings, I have turned down the Pump [d5], I have tightened them and I have changed the O-Rings on the fittings. The thing just leaked.

The second one had its top cover off when I took it out of the retail package, and the threads seem to be some kind of plastic, which might be a reason for the leak, either getting somewhat soft in the temps [50°C Max lol] or, and more likely, the heated water applying more pressure which caused it to burst or something similar.

I have now switched to a "Aqua Computer Kryos HF", and I must say, besides the fact that it does look a lot better, it has better temps and most importantly, it's as dense as it gets!

So please, do share your bad experiences and prevent other people from doing the same mistake :)

[loepa]

cheap thermal compund

[Konn]

Well this may just be my luck but I purchased a Fractal Design R4. It's power button would get stuck when pressed so you have to awkwardly move the button to get it to release back out of the case. Many of the screws are difficult to remove, mainly the screws on the bottom holding the bottom hardrive cage. Managed to remove 3 but the 4th got ruined because it was not screwed in properly and too difficult to remove so I was unable to attach another front fan below the included one.

Razer Orochi mainly because it's glossy bottom is terrible, dust will catch on the bottom and it just looks terrible.

TP-Link TL-WN821N Wireless N USB adapter, it's range is more terrible than all of my laptops, you literally have to be sitting 2-3 metres from router to get full connection.

[Whaler_99]

First off let me state here, some people have bad experiences with equipment, some have good. Look at reviews for products sold at various retailers - everything from garbage to great.

That being said, if you want to document YOUR personal experience, I think that is ok. It is YOUR personal experience. But be warned, this is not a forum to be flaming vendors in any way. If you have issues, contact the vendor. Any post that voilates the CoC, found here, will be deleted, with possible consequences.

Keep it clean fellows. :)

Your friendly neighboorhood Mod...

[airdeano]

Well this may just be my luck but I purchased a Fractal Design R4. It's power button would get stuck when pressed so you have to awkwardly move the button to get it to release back out of the case. Many of the screws are difficult to remove, mainly the screws on the bottom holding the bottom hardrive cage. Managed to remove 3 but the 4th got ruined because it was not screwed in properly and too difficult to remove so I was unable to attach another front fan below the included one.

Razer Orochi mainly because it's glossy bottom is terrible, dust will catch on the bottom and it just looks terrible.

TP-Link TL-WN821N Wireless N USB adapter, it's range is more terrible than all of my laptops, you literally have to be sitting 2-3 metres from router to get full connection.

ive had several cases have the same if not similar incident as the "sticky" power/reset switch.

i found a small drop of vegatable oil allows the switches to move freely and easier. this goes

for corsair, coolermaster, lian li, sliverstone, fractal, and some budget cases as well.

[airdeano]

i can only say this:

EK

airdeano

[Scia]

First off let me state here, some people have bad experiences with equipment, some have good. Look at reviews for products sold at various retailers - everything from garbage to great.

That being said, if you want to document YOUR personal experience, I think that is ok. It is YOUR personal experience. But be warned, this is not a forum to be flaming vendors in any way. If you have issues, contact the vendor. Any post that voilates the CoC, found here, will be deleted, with possible consequences.

Keep it clean fellows. :)

Your friendly neighboorhood Mod...

It's not about certain brands or w/e it's about specific products, with which people have encountered problems, and can share them. I for one am glad if I am planing to buy something new, and I find negative posts / reviews instead of only good ones so you know what can happen.

[Demos]

i can only say this:

EK

airdeano

Why is that?

[Reconciliasion]

i can only say this:

EK

airdeano

TRUE! EK Make such low grade components...

[Scia]

i can only say this:

EK

airdeano

Mh I am using an EK CSQ 680 GTX + Backplate for both my 680s. Main reason why I have not bought Aqua Computer blocks is that those EKs do fit the Gigabyte Reference and the Palit non reference card alike ^^ And the highest Delta on the GPUs yet was around ~10°C gaming / ~21°C Stresstesting so fair performance

[VolkovBrad67]

RP-402X2, old revision. This bay res is way too hard to bleed. I had to try different combination / positions for the plastic + pipe accessories, and eventually I installed them in a very different way than the instructions suggested otherwise it didn't work. The concept is cool though, I like the idea of having 2 pumps + res in the front bays. Maybe the new revisions of the product are better, but it was not a good experience for me.

[defunkt]

I big no no with me were XSPC coin fit compression fittings. The compression ring jammed completely and the thread snapped of in half! So the moral of the story is... Always get Bitspower fittings :D

[Ghost]

I would like to add that you cannot say you think no one else should get parts unless you have emailed/called customer service up and they have given their say.

Sometimes you get a item with a manufacturing fault.

[Ghost]

Well this may just be my luck but I purchased a Fractal Design R4. It's power button would get stuck when pressed so you have to awkwardly move the button to get it to release back out of the case. Many of the screws are difficult to remove, mainly the screws on the bottom holding the bottom hardrive cage. Managed to remove 3 but the 4th got ruined because it was not screwed in properly and too difficult to remove so I was unable to attach another front fan below the included one.

Razer Orochi mainly because it's glossy bottom is terrible, dust will catch on the bottom and it just looks terrible.

TP-Link TL-WN821N Wireless N USB adapter, it's range is more terrible than all of my laptops, you literally have to be sitting 2-3 metres from router to get full connection.

But this is in the watercooling section. :(

[R4STABAN]

I assume this is for watercooling gear?

EK PSC compression fittings (black). Poor finish quality, brass showing through. Compression ring seized on tubing. The seizing is more my fault as I am used to bitspower fittings which put more emphasis on the compression whereas the EK one's seem to rely more on the inner barb.

Koolance compressions, same seizing issue as above. Feel much lower quality than the koolance range of quick-disconnect fittings which are the best you can buy imo.

The DCP 2.2 pump (I had a phobya resell but a few companies do them inc EK) is batshit loud. You can hook it up to a fan controller to adjust the speed though.

Koolance 370SI cpu waterblock. simply an aesthetic issue that I've been unhappy with -the finishing on the top of the block is a bit suspect. Would still recommend, great performer. Just have to be careful touching it and regularly clean it.

xspc raystorm. known issue, the plexi mount can be a bit fragile. The aluminium mount rectifies it, would recommend even without the ally mount though.

Tubing: Primochill tubing was wholly incompatible with mayhems pastel coolant. Epic disaster. Clearflex60 and masterkleer both clouded. Gave up on ever finding decent clear tubing.

[Ghost]

Tubing: Primochill tubing was wholly incompatible with mayhems pastel coolant. Epic disaster. Clearflex60 and masterkleer both clouded. Gave up on ever finding decent clear tubing.

​Did you research the coolant before you used it?

[ThatCrazyIrishGuy]

Mayhems Aurora coolant. Even in a high flow system the particles in the coolant settle in blocks and rads. It takes some digging to find out that this is "display" coolant only and should not be run in a system for long. you swear they would put something like this on the bottle! anyway now i have to strip down my whole system to clean the particles out of everything and then shelf some damn expensive coolant...

[Ghost]

Mayhems Aurora coolant. Even in a high flow system the particles in the coolant settle in blocks and rads. It takes some digging to find out that this is "display" coolant only and should not be run in a system for long. you swear they would put something like this on the bottle! anyway now i have to strip down my whole system to clean the particles out of everything and then shelf some damn expensive coolant...

Dude it says it everywhere.

In red it says "Please read our wiki before purchasing". It is also listed as a specialist coolant.

:(

[Old_Guy]

First off let me state here, some people have bad experiences with equipment, some have good. Look at reviews for products sold at various retailers - everything from garbage to great.

That being said, if you want to document YOUR personal experience, I think that is ok. It is YOUR personal experience. But be warned, this is not a forum to be flaming vendors in any way. If you have issues, contact the vendor. Any post that voilates the CoC, found here, will be deleted, with possible consequences.

Keep it clean fellows. :)

Your friendly neighboorhood Mod...

Mean no disrespect but i really take offense to this. Forums should be about peoples likes and dislikes with certain products.

[ThatCrazyIrishGuy]

Mayhems Aurora coolant. Even in a high flow system the particles in the coolant settle in blocks and rads. It takes some digging to find out that this is "display" coolant only and should not be run in a system for long. you swear they would put something like this on the bottle! anyway now i have to strip down my whole system to clean the particles out of everything and then shelf some damn expensive coolant...

Dude it says it everywhere.

In red it says "Please read our wiki before purchasing". It is also listed as a specialist coolant.

:(

maybe it was the fault of my supplier ( not listed for obvious reasons) as there was no mention... as a side note, any tips for getting it out? :P i can strip down my cpu block and clean it fairly well, don't have the same luxury with my gpu and rads, will a flush with deionized work?

[Ghost]

Mayhems Aurora coolant. Even in a high flow system the particles in the coolant settle in blocks and rads. It takes some digging to find out that this is "display" coolant only and should not be run in a system for long. you swear they would put something like this on the bottle! anyway now i have to strip down my whole system to clean the particles out of everything and then shelf some damn expensive coolant...

Dude it says it everywhere.

In red it says "Please read our wiki before purchasing". It is also listed as a specialist coolant.

:(

I highly recommend messaging Mayhems on Facebook. Just search "Mayhems" on Facebook. They have a group. From there you can message them. I got a reply within an hour.

Let us know how you get along for future reference.

[Whaler_99]

First off let me state here, some people have bad experiences with equipment, some have good. Look at reviews for products sold at various retailers - everything from garbage to great.

That being said, if you want to document YOUR personal experience, I think that is ok. It is YOUR personal experience. But be warned, this is not a forum to be flaming vendors in any way. If you have issues, contact the vendor. Any post that voilates the CoC, found here, will be deleted, with possible consequences.

Keep it clean fellows. :)

Your friendly neighboorhood Mod...

You are more then welcome to state your personal likes and/or dislikes. The intent though is to ensure no one starts flaming a particular brand or getting rude/insulting, etc.

[Old_Guy]

First off let me state here, some people have bad experiences with equipment, some have good. Look at reviews for products sold at various retailers - everything from garbage to great.

That being said, if you want to document YOUR personal experience, I think that is ok. It is YOUR personal experience. But be warned, this is not a forum to be flaming vendors in any way. If you have issues, contact the vendor. Any post that voilates the CoC, found here, will be deleted, with possible consequences.

Keep it clean fellows. :)

Your friendly neighboorhood Mod...

ok misunderstood

[baxter.rs]

I think everyone will agree that you should not buy LG dvd or blu-ray drives... they suck big time.... I made the mistake only once!

[Mo5]

I bought a Spire TherMax Eclipse II for my AMD build and I couldn't mount it. Both the mounting system and the manual were awful.