Let's Talk About Maintenance!
Updated: Sep 2
The computer featured in today's blog post has been through quite the journey so far: This version of the rig was assembled in August of 2022. This Cooler Master MasterCase SL600M Black Edition rig has moved states, been upgraded, modded, and cooked during lengthy 3D or LLM Model work. All the while maintaining temps under load (thanks to a custom water loop). More recently it has been a stable rig for local AI model research. All that to say: this rig has been performing wonderfully. With life around it being what it has been though, the custom water loop ended up in a lengthy service gap between refreshes. These things need maintenance and care - and during an inspection "gunk" was noticed in the GPU's water block during a recent batch render.
!WARNING! Images of dirty PC components below - you have been warned:
There are a few possible causes for the "gunk" - which isn't the most official term. 4 most likely culprits before opening the block up:
Plasticizer leaching, galvanic corrosion/metal transfer, biofilm, and coolant fallout.
Some things to consider are that this rig uses EK's black ZMT tubing. So that rules out plasticizer leaching as their ZMT tubing doesn't use the stuff (made with EPDM rubber). Side note: These tubes are also more flexible - which is definitely a helpful feature for this tight mid tower build. This rig also re-uses parts! Not all components will be the same exact metal. When I got to taking things apart proper, I looked for corrosion throughout the loop (Block checks, fittings checks, cetra). I doubted it was biofilm as the coolant specifically treats for that with biocide - and with the coolant being an opaque or "solid" coolant with additives to boot - I confidently figured some of it was going to be coolant fallout.
Whatever the "gunk" was the same material was in other non visible parts of the loop. Namely the CPU block. It would no doubt be settling similarly along the whole loop. I decided that a complete tear down and cleaning was necessary. Every part of the rig was going to get refreshed. The rig had been well maintained from a dust perspective, there are always those spots that compressed air just isn’t going to get while assembled. Of note the Noctua NF-F12 fans are all from a previous rig build. This build inherited them and they continue to run wonderfully. They too would get a thorough cleaning during this refresh. The following images were taken throughout the process and I will drop in my notes:
Looking closer at the fins I could see serious deposit. This machine's temps are constantly monitored - the loop was still effectively transferring heat off of the block - but that much gunk was surely affecting flow. Also of note is the dark and light spot to the lower left in the image. This image doesn't really show placement but this is a lower sitting part of the loop. When in vertical position this would be the "bottom" of the block from the viewers perspective. I was now more confident that the deposit was a mixture of corrosion and fallout. The loop was cleaned and system prepped with appropriate flushing prior to fill, further minimizing the other possibilities. LIFE FINDS A WAY though, so biofilm is never to be ruled out. Either way I was going to see when I cracked the components open.
The water block is massive on the GPU. I had to remove part of the GPU block assembly to get the block to fit in the case! With this configuration the PSU and cables get in the way. The end of the acrylic/nickel block had some additional branded metal that as far as I could tell served no real purpose - so I removed it and it fit's nicely. Besides, the water block has more than enough support screws along the board for stability when assembled so I didn't look back after removing.
Once I had the GPU out and disassembled I was able to get a better look at what was going on inside the block. And oh man! Very cool looking deposits. So much of this was not visible with the opaque coolant in the block. The metal was great to clean and looked so much better after. I did run a complete clean and flush cycle before refilling with coolant. Not all components of the loop are EK product in this build. So between that long service gap and mixed material components, this was...not catastrophic. This is a good case for cleaning and flushing the loop prior to introducing new coolant.
I was happy to see all of the seals and o-rings in pretty good shape. There was some slight buildup along the channel facing side on all of them, but they cleaned up nicely. For anyone cleaning CPU fins themselves make sure you thoroughly rinse those fins! I can't tell you how many times I had to flush them and material was still coming out. Many brushings and flushes.
The GPU and CPU looked great after I had removed the old thermal grease from them. Coverage on both was great and the grease came off nicely. I also didn't have to pre-heat the components at all to get the blocks off. Replaced the old cooling material with Thermal Grizzly's Duronaut.
EK provides the thermal pads with the purchase of the GPU block - they looked to be in great condition but were also replaced.
I cannot say enough about how much I love these Noctua NF-F12's! They have just worked! Many moons have passed, and a lot of air has been moved through these things. They still run as great as ever!
Reading the labels of EK's CryoFuel, I saw the above funny typo. Think of the childreen!
All in all the refresh went smoothly. No major hiccups were encountered during the process - no stripped screws, no cracked acrylic, and no leaks on the refill. Just patience with a whole lot of Q-tips and distilled water! Also in the last pic you can see how close that GPU gets to the PSU. Like a glove!
Cleaning, refreshing, and flushing a loop can be time consuming. There is no getting around that part. But it is well worth the "refresh" when you are thinking about the continued lifespan of a rig. This machine has years of good work left in it and I intend to keep it that way!
So check your loops! Really check them. Pull a block apart every now and again and actually look at what is going on in there. Look at your coolant. Look at your fittings and your o-rings. The buildup you saw above didn't happen overnight and it never announced itself - I only caught it because I took a peek during a long render. These things need maintenance and care. Give your rig that, and it will keep pushing pixels for many moons to come!
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