2080 Ti = DEAD - EK's Fault

[FTLN]

So my 2080 Ti died on Monday.

Was playing F1 2019 and my screen went black.

Before starting the game I ramped up my fans to 100% in Ek Loop Connect control panel and then put my headset on and was playing for about an hour before the screen went black.

Took of the headset and noticed fans are spinning slowy and my water loop had risen to easily 80c, the case was really hot to touch.

Then I saw it, a puddle of liquid on top of the backplate of my gpu.

Powered down the system electrically and took the card out, dryed it on a radiator until today and I have just tested to see if it works and it doesnt, no display output.

Connecting with remote desktop to the PC works and I can see the card in the device manager and nvidia control panel.

I'm in contact with EK who are just faffing me about asking the same questions twice and saying nobody else has issues with their software when it is actually not the case when googling around the web.

Anyway, just a heads up to say beware of EK Loop Connect, the software is a disaster at the moment.

: (

In the meantime rocking a P400 lol

 

[AlienALX]

That really sucks.

This is why I always use Aqua Computer gear. Because once you set it it all stays that way. Did you have a pressure release membrane in your loop?

 

[FTLN]

That really sucks.

This is why I always use Aqua Computer gear. Because once you set it it all stays that way. Did you have a pressure release membrane in your loop?

No Pressure release, the leak came from where the reservoir screws into the pump. I could have easily made a cup of tea with it, it was really that hot !

 

[Bartacus]

Damn man, that sucks hard. Stuff like this is why I run my pumps on external power for 24 hours first on a new loop, with the PSU disconnected.

 

[AlienALX]

You really need an analogue way of monitoring the coolant temp. I use a simple device by XSPC. It's the top one.

That way I can constantly glance down to make sure it's not over the recommended temp. I used to have a different loop without one, and it did what yours did. Pressure built up and it leaked badly. Thankfully it wasn't over anything (bay res) so I just found some red residue many months later. I use these now.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aqua...rane-for-1-4-inch-tall-version-wc-32w-aq.html

Though it too would leak coolant (just stop anything cracking or breaking).

But yeah, the biggest downfall with everything has always been the software. AC do make you pay 8 euro per year, but I don't mind if it pays some guy to improve it (which it does). What I also like about the AC stuff (PA3 and AC 5LT) is that once you set the software it stays in memory on the devices, so the software cannot change it. And it stays like that forever, so I don't even need the software at all now.

But yeah, with water cooling you need to use some old fashioned techniques if you want to be safe. Once my coolant temp hits high 40s (it hasn't, but just talking theoretically) I will stop what I am doing. Plus the LT has an alarm in it too.

 

[trawetSluaP]

I wouldn't say this is a software failure on EK'sm surely this is hardware failure - the pump leaked.

 

[WYP]

I wouldn't say this is a software failure on EK'sm surely this is hardware failure - the pump leaked.

I think the allegation is that EK's software caused the pump to leak by lowering fans speeds and forcing the liquid in the loop to boil.

 

[AlienALX]

I think the allegation is that EK's software caused the pump to leak by lowering fans speeds and forcing the liquid in the loop to boil.

Well, not boil but expand massively yes.

Water cooling components can only handle so many bar of pressure before they leak.

 

[hmmblah]

I haven't been leaving the EK software running. When I'm folding I go into the software and set everything to 100% then close the software. It will stay at 100% then until I open the software again or restart my computer.

 

[trawetSluaP]

I run a custom fan curve using an Aquero based on the water temps which is saved to the Aquero unit itself.

 

[AlienALX]

One thing that bothers me. Does the EK software actually know how hot the coolant is getting? do you have any monitor for that at all?

Or does it just raise and lower speeds from what the system is telling it? I sure hope not.

I run a custom fan curve using an Aquero based on the water temps which is saved to the Aquero unit itself.

DDC set to 7v, fans set to 6 or they don't spin. I don't need to do anything else. If I did? then I don't have enough cooling metrics in place (IE radiators and surface area).

I wouldn't want to rely on fans spinning up to make sure my rig doesn't go bang. It's all perma set manually.

 

[trawetSluaP]

I'm surprised water in a loop can even get that hot to be honest. I aim to keep mine 35c and below and that's how my Aquaero is set-up.

 

[FTLN]

I haven't been leaving the EK software running. When I'm folding I go into the software and set everything to 100% then close the software. It will stay at 100% then until I open the software again or restart my computer.

EK gave me the latest version of their software (doesnt seem to be up yet on their main site), it still crashes LOL, maybe you want to give it a try to see if you get better results.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gthrv_70y8H8hxAwsZn54NNeFaFygTXA

On another note, all 2080 ti's are close to 1500e on amazon at the moment, dont fancy paying that much. I got somebody close by on local ads who will let me have a brand new radeon vii for 550e , what do you think ?

 

[hmmblah]

One thing that bothers me. Does the EK software actually know how hot the coolant is getting? do you have any monitor for that at all?

Or does it just raise and lower speeds from what the system is telling it? I sure hope not.



DDC set to 7v, fans set to 6 or they don't spin. I don't need to do anything else. If I did? then I don't have enough cooling metrics in place (IE radiators and surface area).

I wouldn't want to rely on fans spinning up to make sure my rig doesn't go bang. It's all perma set manually.

EK haven't released their water temp probe yet. It comes with a couple air temp probes, but I don't use them. It only controls fans using PWM, you can't adjust volts for 3-pin fans so they always spin 100%. I put the Noctua 7v adapters on my two GT fans, then my Noctua fans are at 100% when I'm not in the room and at 40% when I am. Pump runs at 40%.

 

[AlienALX]

R7 is a decent card. Not great, but certainly way better under water.

It will get better as time moves on I reckon. Especially down to the VRAM.

EK haven't released their water temp probe yet. It comes with a couple air temp probes, but I don't use them. It only controls fans using PWM, you can't adjust volts for 3-pin fans so they always spin 100%. I put the Noctua 7v adapters on my two GT fans, then my Noctua fans are at 100% when I'm not in the room and at 40% when I am. Pump runs at 40%.

So it's not even a proper product yet? Why is any one even buying it? This is also why I avoid PWM. Because if you lower it too much the fans judder and tick.

TBH? if you have the correct surface area to control the loop and slow fans you don't need to really do anything else. I mainly used the AC stuff because I got it dirt cheap and it allowed me to connect bugger loads of gear to it using the Splitty 9.

Aquasuite won't even detect my gear in the Ryzen rig. It blames AMD. Not that it matters, it's literally set it once then forget it. So I could even use Mac OSX and not have to worry. I don't even need to connect it via USB. It just does what I set it to regardless.

Coolant temp is the one you need to watch. GPU core and CPU cores will shut off if they get too hot. If the controller doesn't even know the coolant temp what's the bloody point? THAT is what I would want to know, and set danger zones for (as I did, once).

 

[hmmblah]

EK gave me the latest version of their software (doesnt seem to be up yet on their main site), it still crashes LOL, maybe you want to give it a try to see if you get better results.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gthrv_70y8H8hxAwsZn54NNeFaFygTXA

I'm not even going to bother if you're still getting the crashes lol. I just keeping using it the way I have been, by not letting it run when I'm away.

So it's not even a proper product yet? Why is any one even buying it? This is also why I avoid PWM. Because if you lower it too much the fans judder and tick.

TBH? if you have the correct surface area to control the loop and slow fans you don't need to really do anything else. I mainly used the AC stuff because I got it dirt cheap and it allowed me to connect bugger loads of gear to it using the Splitty 9.

Aquasuite won't even detect my gear in the Ryzen rig. It blames AMD. Not that it matters, it's literally set it once then forget it. So I could even use Mac OSX and not have to worry. I don't even need to connect it via USB. It just does what I set it to regardless.

Coolant temp is the one you need to watch. GPU core and CPU cores will shut off if they get too hot. If the controller doesn't even know the coolant temp what's the bloody point? THAT is what I would want to know, and set danger zones for (as I did, once).

It totally depends on the fans you're using. My Noctua fans seem to be fine at anything between 40% and 100%. I haven't tried anything lower. I only use the software as a fan/pump controller when I want them to switch speeds. I'm not letting it manage my system based on curves. Kind of defeats the whole point of it really, but the software isn't reliable enough to do any more than that.

 

[FTLN]

So I figured a way I could have not fried my 1200 euro GPU using a simple freeware program called "Restart On Crash" available here: https://w-shadow.com/blog/2009/03/04/restart-on-crash/

1 - Copy the RestartOnCrash.exe to your documents folder or anywhere you feel like to be honest and run it once and add EKConnect.exe

2) Open windows task scheduler and create a task like this:

--- In the Create Task dialog, select the following:
-----General (tab) - Run with highest privileges
-----Triggers (tab) - New (button) - Begin the task - At log on, I also added 30 second delay to allow other programs to start up first
-----Actions - Start a program on point to the Restart On Crash executable

Reboot your PC

When you next log in task scheduler will start Restart On Crash which in turn will see that EKConnect is not running and will start it.
When EKConnect.exe crashes as it does many times a day Restart On Crash will just start it up again.

I just been testing by closing EKConnect from task manager and it will always get started again.

Anyway , if only I had though about this before ! ! ! !

Hope this might help somebody, will also post it on EK subreddit

 

[WYP]

So I figured a way I could have not fried my 1200 euro GPU using a simple freeware program called "Restart On Crash" available here: https://w-shadow.com/blog/2009/03/04/restart-on-crash/

1 - Copy the RestartOnCrash.exe to your documents folder or anywhere you feel like to be honest and run it once and add EKConnect.exe

2) Open windows task scheduler and create a task like this:

--- In the Create Task dialog, select the following:
-----General (tab) - Run with highest privileges
-----Triggers (tab) - New (button) - Begin the task - At log on, I also added 30 second delay to allow other programs to start up first
-----Actions - Start a program on point to the Restart On Crash executable

Reboot your PC

When you next log in task scheduler will start Restart On Crash which in turn will see that EKConnect is not running and will start it.
When EKConnect.exe crashes as it does many times a day Restart On Crash will just start it up again.

I just been testing by closing EKConnect from task manager and it will always get started again.

Anyway , if only I had though about this before ! ! ! !

Hope this might help somebody, will also post it on EK subreddit

That's some solid advice. Shame the app is so crashy in the first place.

 

[AlienALX]

Why on earth would you continue to use it?

 

[FTLN]

That's some solid advice. Shame the app is so crashy in the first place.

Shame no reviewers reviewed it also..
I guess if reviewers don't get it for free then why should they pay out of their own pocket to review something.
Just shows that a lot of the time its quite easy for a company to hide a shoddy product by not sending out review samples !!