My poorly pc... Created 9 years ago2014-07-23 10:38:20 UTC by monster_urby

There's a good chance I'm going insane...

I hate not having access to a PC at home. It's where all my entertainment lives.

It's even worse when you have no indication of what the problem is...

So last Thursday, my PC just shuts off. Try turning it back on and it goes insane with the beeping. Apparently there was an issue with the CPU temp. Either way, the system still continues to boot and once windows has loaded I check RealTemp.

I had just enough time to see all 3 CPU temp sensors reading 110 degrees before my PC shut off again.

Naturally, PC is moved to the dining table, stripped, gets a complete clean out and last but not least, I remove the liquid cooling system. I clear off the bone dry thermal compound, go through my drawer to find that my tube of AS5 has done a runner...

Cut to Tuesday (yesterday) when my new AS5 arrives, reapply to the CPU, reinstall cooling unit, move PC back to desk. PC goes on, RealTemp is fired up, temp goes from 60 - 101 degrees in about 7 minutes and PC cuts off.

"FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU..."

Cooling unit is given a thorough inspection while the PC is running and the CPU is hovering around 98 degrees. The unit over the CPU is hot. Really hot. The pipes to the fan/radiator, very cool. The radiator itself. Just below room temp... Does that sound like the pump has gone? I certainly hope so.

"Right," I think "Best thing to do is replace the original heatsink for the processor and see if the temperature continues to sky rocket. If it does, then the sensors on the mobo are going doo-lally or the CPU itself is bollocksed."

Go to the mobo box in my cupboard containing spare cables and parts from when the PC arrived over three years ago but... "OH! OF COURSE! I'M A FUCKING MORON AND HAD THIS RIG CUSTOM BUILT."

Not only did the company that put this machine together do a really shitty job, they also kept all of the standard parts that were taken out to put in the custom ones. I never got the original heatsink for the i7-970, I never got the case fan from the back panel where the liquid cooler radiator is now, I never even got the pissing panels from the front of the case where my card reader and CD drive went...

So, come payday (Friday) I will be ordering a new heatsink which will arrive on Monday... God damn...

Hopefully, the pump is the issue and the heatsink will do the job for the time being. If not, I'll try shooting myself in the face.

Moral of the story is: do it yourself. Seriously, this time last week I knew next to nothing about hardware. I have learned so much in the last 6 days that I am itching to build my own rig from scratch. (not any time soon because money amirite?)

I'm also happy to hear any suggestions you guys have regarding my predicament.

Avoid water cooling ?

Over the years i kinda got the idea that water cooling has too many points of failure, pump failing, god forbid leaks, fan stopping. Whereas normal coolers can only have their fan fail. And they are not that much quiet than a good tower heatsink.

Simple Pump Check:
Put coolant into the inlet tube, power the pump manually, and see if anything comes from the outlet.
If it doesn't work, or if it's really slow, then you'll need a new pump.

You could also check for the viscosity (thickness) of your coolant. If it's too thick, the pump won't push it anywhere.

Also make sure the hoses aren't kinked or clogged with goo.

I hate it when they do that. When I bought my second computer in 2005, I opened all the boxes to find out they were empty. They built the whole thing despite me asking them not to do that, and kept every single spare part. Cables, jumpers, screws, everything. Then they sent me the empty boxes anyway, because why not. They just left the Intel Inside sticker, some foam padding and a rubber band.

A long long time ago, let's say 2002-2003, I read some random blog where some a guy set up oil cooling. But he didn't use pipes. He had a fish tank, filled it with a special non-conductive oil and submerged the whole thing in it. Apparently it was amazing and couldn't fail. Wonder if it worked out in the long run.

Fixed it. Literally gave the whole unit a good shake and wiggled the tubes a little. Turned the PC back out and it let out a God awful burbling noise like an old man clearing his nose or THAT poo after a good curry.

CPU sitting at 26 degrees at time of writing.

I read some random blog where some a guy set up oil cooling

I saw that! Similar to this
Upgrading it would be messy I think.

Haha you got air in your lines somehow! If you can, Bleed the lines!
Good to know everything is working, urby

It's like air in your brakes in your car. The liquid doesn't compress* but air does. So your pump may have been circulating air instead of liquid. The shake probably cleared everything out.

• Liquids compress, but not nearly the same as air.

Ha! Could very well be the same guy.

Water cooling is possibly the most pointless (and dangerous) thing you can put in a normal PC. When that new heat sink arrives, install it, toss out your water cooling, and never look back.

The thought of liquid cooling always struck me as just a really bad idea as well...

What about that non-conductive liquid, where they immerse the whole boards or your whole motherboard? I mean now that looks pretty cool =P

fuck this shit

Mineral Oil, but as with every oil if you decide not to use it anymore its a pain to wash off + it slowly climbs up your cables that run outside the tank gets to the HDD or whatever you have. Rubber slowly falls apart when covered in oil as well.

Really nasty and i don't know why you would ever oil cool a pc.

Yuck no way! =P

Rubber slowly falls apart when covered in oil as well.

Doesn't that depend on the type of oil? Like isn't silicon oil safe to use with normal rubbers and plastics?
I don't know off the top of my head if silicon oil is non-conductive though.

It does, but that was of the top of my head.

UPDATE: Well, my success was short lived. Cooler crapped out on me again last night. Seemingly at random. PC was running fine for about half an hour before the temp shot up to 101 degrees again... Managed to get it going again this morning but there's no guarantee it won't die again. Putting in that order for a new Heatsink as well as the new case fans which arrive on Monday.