watercooling prep

[Bio-Hazard]

Well the DIY part of it isn't too scary aside from parts being expensive, but the problem here is that the standoffs are riveted to the block that fits my GPU. Only way I can see to fix this myself is to grind down the standoffs but I don't have the equipment to do it properly

One easy way to fix the problem is to remove the bracket from the block, then get yourself some medium grade sandpaper and find yourself a flat surface. Start sanding the standoffs all at the same time rotating the bracket a quarter turn at a time every few strokes. It would also be helpful to find yourself a good quality ruler to measure the standoffs and try to keep them as even as possible.

[stopthekilling77]

Bet that even the long process of sanding will still be much faster than waiting for swiftech to help me. Got a response from him and he told me that my thermal paste on my blurry picture was my GPU and that it was making perfect contact. I'm sending him a video now ;)

[DMB2000uk]

It pays to take decent pictures it seems

Get a nice camera.

Dan

[Alathald]

Bet that even the long process of sanding will still be much faster than waiting for swiftech to help me. Got a response from him and he told me that my thermal paste on my blurry picture was my GPU and that it was making perfect contact. I'm sending him a video now ;)

Clean off all the paste, mount it and put something like a bright red shirt behind it. Then take a pic so the red shows through the gap so its more obvious it's not making contact.

[XstollieX]

I normally go the extra measure and open up the blocks to ensure that there isn't any leftover metal filings inside, but that's just me.

Ever find any big chunks?

Yup, sure did, back when they first changed manufacturers during the first runs of the Swiftech APOGEE blocks.

Hmm maybe I should have pulled apart my new block for the I7

[martini161]

if you havent already mounted the rad, i use a slightly different method of flushing. first i run tap water through it for a while, to get big stuff out. then a little bit of distilled water right after. then filli t up about half-3/4 of the way full with a 50/50 vineger/distilled water mix and shake it about, then flush it out with distilled water for a while. using distilled water is better IMO than using bottled water as bottled water is filtered, but there is still some stuff left over in it. distilled water i pretty much gaurentenig your getting just water

[stopthekilling77]

Works for me, I'm going to get some 250 grit sandpaper tonight and grind the standoffs down til it makes perfect contact. The only thing I'm wondering as far as the mounting is how far down I should go so the copper isn't crushing the GPU. I'll be up and running tomorrow if everything goes right

[Bio-Hazard]

You'll have to take it down far enough so that there's a little day light between the stand-off and the card after the block makes full contact with the GPU core. The rubber on the water block back plate will then apply the required pressure on the core when the screws are tighten down. You should do a few different test installs to ensure that you are getting a full even contact patch on the thermal past.