Hi guys!
So, this is an ongoing problem I've had coming up on 6 weeks now. I'd been posting various things on Reddit as I made or lost progress but I've come to the conclusion that an actual forum post would be much easier to maintain.
System specs:
Everything was purchased brand new August-September last year, except the 3080 + block which were mid October. System was built and first ran in early November.
Intel Core i9-10900k
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition
MSI MAG Tomahawk Z490 Motherboard
64gb Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz RAM
Samsung EVO NVMe drive (plus a few SSDs, no mechanicals)
Corsair RM850X 850w Modular power supply
Lian Li O11 XL case
Windows 10
--- Watercooling ---
4x Corsair ML120 (Intake, sides initially now bottom over rad + I/O side), 3x Corsair LL120 fans (exhaust over rad, top)
Corsair XC5 CPU waterblock
Corsair XR5 360mm radiator
Alphacool Eisblock 3080 FE GPU waterblock
Initially Corsair XD5 pump/res, replaced with various EKWB/Lian Li G1 Distro plates with 3.1 pumps, eventually a 3.2 pump
Barrow Tech 360mm radiator added during upgrade/problem
Barrow Tech digital flow/temperature meter added during upgrade/problem
----------------------------------------
First, I'll start off with the story of how everything has happened and gone so far. There's a TL;DR below don't worry as it's pretty lengthy...
So in about mid July, I noticed that my PC was hot. very hot. CPU at almost 100c hot. I looked in my case, and realised my pump, a Corsair XD5, had died. I was getting no flow at all. The system had been running for about 8 months in total with all new parts. I was pretty annoyed, it was right as I was moving home from student accomodation so it was already a stressful time, but I contacted the store and set up an RMA.
At this point, my setup was the XD5 pump/res -> Alphacool Eisblock on a FE 3080 -> Corsair XC5 on an i9 10900k -> 360mm Corsair radiator -> back to the res. I was using EK Cryofuel cloud white fluid premix (which includes a biocide.) I had gone off how the setup looked, so figured silver lining; I'd swap over to the EK Distro Plate for my case, and sell the refurb/replacement XD5 when I got it back - that way I wouldn't have to wait a month to get up and running again either (lol). I ordered my Distro plate, some new fluid and tubing, and a few extra fittings I needed for the new setup. I also got a second 360mm rad, because the top rad always ran a little hot in my old setup anyway. It arrived and eagerly put it all together a few days later.
As I was stripping things out, I noticed there was some gunk on the inside of the tubes. foreshadowing.... I didn't really think much of it. I also noticed there was a tiny bit of algae in my CPU block and my res; which was strange, as my fluid had biocide in it. I disassembled the CPU block, cleaned it as best I could, and put everything together.
The new pump in the distro plate, a DDC 3.1, whirred away happily for my entire leak test. It worked for about a day after, before dying. During the leak test I'd noticed that the flow of fluid from the top of my case downwards was really slow, like more of a dribble than actual flow, but someone on reddit assured me it had just been due to air and it would resolve itself. Sure enough later the dribble had disappeared because the pipe had eventually filled with fluid.
Anyway, I cursed my bad luck that I'd just been sent an effectively DOA pump. Some googling had said these 3.1's were pretty weak and that it does happen. I returned it, got a refund, ordered another one the same. This time I used my brain; I bought one off eBay in slightly used condition. If the seller had it all working, then I'd know if it instantly died then the problem lied elsewhere - although it'd obviously have no warranty. A gamble for sure.
New one arrived, I fitted it, it died. I cried on reddit some more and people said once again its because these 3.1's suck, and the 3.2 and above are so much better. OK fine, replacing just the pump in this res would I guess be a little cheaper than an entire new pump/res, so I ordered a 3.2 from the only place that had one in stock, the next country over. It took a week to arrive, but during this time I treated myself to a digital flow/temperature gauge too.
I put it all together once again, turned everything on for the test and I had the same flow issue at the top. The meter was even registering 0.0L/m - this time, I took a video, so you guys can also see the problem. I'd also learned my lesson from before, and prompty turned off the system so I wouldn't kill yet another pump.
Off to reddit and people said one of my components must be very restrictive. By this point I was moving back to university, so once I'd settled in I stripped it all out again, and rebuilt with one part at a time. With just my radiators, the flow meter was saying 10-11L. With CPU and rads, it was dropping to about 6L, which is still plenty, and with just GPU... 0.24L. Ok, there's my problem! finally! I took the GPU apart and what had looked perfectly fine through the plexi, was actually a perfectly and completely sealed intake fins covered in algae. It was gross I wont lie, but I spent a good few hours cleaning out every last spec of the stuff. Rebuilt the whole system, and I was getting around 2.8-3L/m on the flow meter. I'd figured as the CPU had dropped it to 6 anyway, that was probably about right with GPU and CPU together. I finally started another leak test.
I ran it for about 8 hours and all was fine, then stopped it overnight so I could sleep. I even noted that it was still saying 2.94L as I shut it down that night. The following morning, the pump once again wouldn't start, and I felt like dropping to my knees and shouting no like they do in movies. I was completely stumped, I had no idea why the pump wouldn't even start now when it had been working when I flicked the switch off the night before.
So, I've stripped it all out again. I removed the pump, and it seems to have seized up, I couldn't even turn it with my hand. I reseated the spinny bit (technical name?), and set up a loop that was just the pump into the flow meter, back to res/pump. This got about 15L/m, but the pump started getting pretty warm with no cooling so I added a radiator, which dropped it to about 7.5L/m. That's where I am now, and it's showing 7.5L/m.
----------------------------------------
TL;DR
Corsair XD5 died, replaced with a DDC 3.1 which died, replaced with another DDC 3.1 which died, found that my GPU was caked with algae which was probably burning out pumps, rebuilt and the DDC 3.2 died, turns out it was just seized so I've freed it and it's currently running... for now
I'm currently planning to run just this pump->meter->one rad (to keep pump cool)->res setup until Friday evening, turning it off at night and making sure it restarts in the mornings. But, I wanted to get a forum thread going and gather some feedback on things;
Update 1:
It's thursday morning (ish). The flow meter has died
showing 0.0L despite visually good flow.
Reconfigured the layout so I can visually see flow into the top of the res instead. Pump still working and I can see I'm getting good flow. Who knows what L/m though
So, this is an ongoing problem I've had coming up on 6 weeks now. I'd been posting various things on Reddit as I made or lost progress but I've come to the conclusion that an actual forum post would be much easier to maintain.
System specs:
Everything was purchased brand new August-September last year, except the 3080 + block which were mid October. System was built and first ran in early November.
Intel Core i9-10900k
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition
MSI MAG Tomahawk Z490 Motherboard
64gb Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz RAM
Samsung EVO NVMe drive (plus a few SSDs, no mechanicals)
Corsair RM850X 850w Modular power supply
Lian Li O11 XL case
Windows 10
--- Watercooling ---
4x Corsair ML120 (Intake, sides initially now bottom over rad + I/O side), 3x Corsair LL120 fans (exhaust over rad, top)
Corsair XC5 CPU waterblock
Corsair XR5 360mm radiator
Alphacool Eisblock 3080 FE GPU waterblock
Initially Corsair XD5 pump/res, replaced with various EKWB/Lian Li G1 Distro plates with 3.1 pumps, eventually a 3.2 pump
Barrow Tech 360mm radiator added during upgrade/problem
Barrow Tech digital flow/temperature meter added during upgrade/problem
----------------------------------------
First, I'll start off with the story of how everything has happened and gone so far. There's a TL;DR below don't worry as it's pretty lengthy...
So in about mid July, I noticed that my PC was hot. very hot. CPU at almost 100c hot. I looked in my case, and realised my pump, a Corsair XD5, had died. I was getting no flow at all. The system had been running for about 8 months in total with all new parts. I was pretty annoyed, it was right as I was moving home from student accomodation so it was already a stressful time, but I contacted the store and set up an RMA.
At this point, my setup was the XD5 pump/res -> Alphacool Eisblock on a FE 3080 -> Corsair XC5 on an i9 10900k -> 360mm Corsair radiator -> back to the res. I was using EK Cryofuel cloud white fluid premix (which includes a biocide.) I had gone off how the setup looked, so figured silver lining; I'd swap over to the EK Distro Plate for my case, and sell the refurb/replacement XD5 when I got it back - that way I wouldn't have to wait a month to get up and running again either (lol). I ordered my Distro plate, some new fluid and tubing, and a few extra fittings I needed for the new setup. I also got a second 360mm rad, because the top rad always ran a little hot in my old setup anyway. It arrived and eagerly put it all together a few days later.
As I was stripping things out, I noticed there was some gunk on the inside of the tubes. foreshadowing.... I didn't really think much of it. I also noticed there was a tiny bit of algae in my CPU block and my res; which was strange, as my fluid had biocide in it. I disassembled the CPU block, cleaned it as best I could, and put everything together.
The new pump in the distro plate, a DDC 3.1, whirred away happily for my entire leak test. It worked for about a day after, before dying. During the leak test I'd noticed that the flow of fluid from the top of my case downwards was really slow, like more of a dribble than actual flow, but someone on reddit assured me it had just been due to air and it would resolve itself. Sure enough later the dribble had disappeared because the pipe had eventually filled with fluid.
Anyway, I cursed my bad luck that I'd just been sent an effectively DOA pump. Some googling had said these 3.1's were pretty weak and that it does happen. I returned it, got a refund, ordered another one the same. This time I used my brain; I bought one off eBay in slightly used condition. If the seller had it all working, then I'd know if it instantly died then the problem lied elsewhere - although it'd obviously have no warranty. A gamble for sure.
New one arrived, I fitted it, it died. I cried on reddit some more and people said once again its because these 3.1's suck, and the 3.2 and above are so much better. OK fine, replacing just the pump in this res would I guess be a little cheaper than an entire new pump/res, so I ordered a 3.2 from the only place that had one in stock, the next country over. It took a week to arrive, but during this time I treated myself to a digital flow/temperature gauge too.
I put it all together once again, turned everything on for the test and I had the same flow issue at the top. The meter was even registering 0.0L/m - this time, I took a video, so you guys can also see the problem. I'd also learned my lesson from before, and prompty turned off the system so I wouldn't kill yet another pump.
Off to reddit and people said one of my components must be very restrictive. By this point I was moving back to university, so once I'd settled in I stripped it all out again, and rebuilt with one part at a time. With just my radiators, the flow meter was saying 10-11L. With CPU and rads, it was dropping to about 6L, which is still plenty, and with just GPU... 0.24L. Ok, there's my problem! finally! I took the GPU apart and what had looked perfectly fine through the plexi, was actually a perfectly and completely sealed intake fins covered in algae. It was gross I wont lie, but I spent a good few hours cleaning out every last spec of the stuff. Rebuilt the whole system, and I was getting around 2.8-3L/m on the flow meter. I'd figured as the CPU had dropped it to 6 anyway, that was probably about right with GPU and CPU together. I finally started another leak test.
I ran it for about 8 hours and all was fine, then stopped it overnight so I could sleep. I even noted that it was still saying 2.94L as I shut it down that night. The following morning, the pump once again wouldn't start, and I felt like dropping to my knees and shouting no like they do in movies. I was completely stumped, I had no idea why the pump wouldn't even start now when it had been working when I flicked the switch off the night before.
So, I've stripped it all out again. I removed the pump, and it seems to have seized up, I couldn't even turn it with my hand. I reseated the spinny bit (technical name?), and set up a loop that was just the pump into the flow meter, back to res/pump. This got about 15L/m, but the pump started getting pretty warm with no cooling so I added a radiator, which dropped it to about 7.5L/m. That's where I am now, and it's showing 7.5L/m.
----------------------------------------
TL;DR
Corsair XD5 died, replaced with a DDC 3.1 which died, replaced with another DDC 3.1 which died, found that my GPU was caked with algae which was probably burning out pumps, rebuilt and the DDC 3.2 died, turns out it was just seized so I've freed it and it's currently running... for now
I'm currently planning to run just this pump->meter->one rad (to keep pump cool)->res setup until Friday evening, turning it off at night and making sure it restarts in the mornings. But, I wanted to get a forum thread going and gather some feedback on things;
- What do you think could've caused it to seize up that last time, and how could I prevent that happening again?
- Was 2-5-3L/m actually a reasonable flow rate to expect for a DDC 3.2 with two blocks and two 360mm rads?
- Considering my replacement XD5 arrived today (brand new and sealed), would I be better off just calling it quits and going back to that, or do you think I can get this rig working? (I'd really like to just sell it as new to recuperate some costs)
- How can I prevent such a bad algae build up from just causing all this again in another 6 months or so? My fluid (XSPC EC6) claims it needs no additives but doesn't actually say it has biocide, should I add some to be safe?
Update 1:
It's thursday morning (ish). The flow meter has died
showing 0.0L despite visually good flow.Reconfigured the layout so I can visually see flow into the top of the res instead. Pump still working and I can see I'm getting good flow. Who knows what L/m though
Last edited:
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