Problems with new rig. POssible OC-Force AX1200i related

[mrdmail]

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum so please forgive if I miss any information out but I have a bit of a problem and am looking for some advice.

The config below is the my 3rd major build but the first with which I have had such a major issue. A you will see this is a major build and represents quite a significant investment

Here is a summary of my problems.

Having built and soak tested the system extensively, which as you can see includes water-cooling of both CPU and VRM board components, everything appeared well for a few weeks when out of the blue my power supply blew without warning. I have used the ax1200i before without any issues. However, I was not happy at that stage that the cause was not the psu as I did not have the system connected to the mains via a ups. So I invested in yet another psu. This was installed after checking that all remaining installed components were functioning correctly and had been working fine for a few weeks. The system was stable at rest and under reasonable load and the UPS was reporting stable power input.

The system had been left fully powered on for several hours without any issues. However, yesterday, after having the system powered off but still powered via the OC Ignition button for a few hours. My PSU suddenly blew, fizzed smoked and failed again. I emphasize that the system was not fully powered on, no excessive draw on the power and the UPS not reporting any input supply issues.

I don't pretend to be an expert but find myself at a bit of dead end, not wanting to spend my left saving on swapping components in and out, but I find it inconceivable for two failed as1200i PSU units to have failed in a similar fashion, both were sourced from different suppliers.

I feel therefore that there must be an issue with the motherboard. I was wondering if anyone else had any other thoughts or suggestions.

Here are details of the major components of my rig. I have attached a small image of the system nearing the end of the build just for an idea of what I am aiming for.

Intel Core i7 4770K, 1150, Haswell,
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC Force,
EK-FB GA Z87X-OC Force - Acetal+Nickel
EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN Superclock 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN Superclock 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair Obsidian 900D Super Tower Case [CC-9011022-WW]
Dominator® Platinum with Corsair Link Connector — 1.65V 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit
Dominator® Platinum with Corsair Link Connector — 1.65V 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit
XSPC Photon 170 Tube Reservoir
XSPC Photon 170 Tube Reservoir
Corsair Dominator Platinum Light Bar Upgrade Kit Arctic White & Cerulean Blue : CMDLBUK02B
Koolance Flow Meter Adapter with Display : DCB-FM01
Koolance Flow Meter Adapter with Display : DCB-FM01
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR PCI-Express High Performance Sound Card
Corsair AX1200i Professional Series Digital AX 1200i ATX/EPS Fully Modular 80 PLUS Platinum
Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT480M500SSD1)
Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT480M500SSD1)
Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT480M500SSD1)
Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT480M500SSD1)
Icy Dock 4-in-1 SATA Hot Swap Backplane RAID Cage Hard Drive Case
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD
LSI00330 - LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i SGL - 8-Port Int., 6Gb/s SATA+SAS, PCIe 3.0, 1GB DDRIII
Optional LSI00297 - LSI LSICVM01 CacheVault Accessory Kit for 9266-4i and 9266-8i
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate, Full Version (PC DVD)
G19s Gaming Keyboard
G700s Rechargeable Gaming Mouse
Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920
Koolance G1/4" Thread Inline Flow Meter : INS-FM18
Koolance G1/4" Thread Inline Flow Meter : INS-FM18
EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Hydro Copper Waterblock
EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Hydro Copper Waterblock
APC Smart-UPS 1500 LCD 980W UPS (SMT1500I)

 

[tinytomlogan]

If you have killed another PSU dude then its obviously NOT the PSU.

The fact that its intermittent is instantly making me think you have a waterleak somewhere.

fizzing and popping then smoke would definitely make me think water leak

 

[mrdmail]

leakage

Thanks tom for the quick post back

If that's the case I guess the most sensible option would be to install the new psu outside the case and monitor it with the motherboard isolated for an extended period. I have spent ages trying to find any leak and cant as yet but I guess it's the most likely.

do you think it is worth considering using a lower spec..power psu just for that exercise.... methinks I should..... if so would you have any suggestions which to go for?

 

[nikhiljudge]

take the psu out, unplug power to everything except the pump. put some white absorbent kitchen roll around the system where coolant could drip. short your psu to provide power to just the pump (you can youtube/google how to do this) linus has a video on it not sure if TTL does. run it for about 24 hours and for the first few mins keep a close eye on it!

 

[MadShadow]

You could dye the coolant and wrap the tubing near the PSU in kitchen roll. Might be a bit excessive, but it would work.

 

[PunkisDead]

AX1200i is hard to short as all wires are black... tried it before when an AX760i went. You might be able to use the test button.

Once blew up a Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W. Still don't know for sure what caused it but it happened just after I installed a custom WC loop. Was smart enough top re- use the modular Thermaltake cables for my new Silverstone PSU and blew up my two SSD's and a 2TB storage drive as well. Best day of my life

 

[tinytomlogan]

kitchen roll and dye in the loop - simple way to see really.

something isnt right if you have actually managed to kill an Corsair PSU tbh.

Only way Ive ever even got one to shut off was water - that dried out and was fine after though.

Sadly investigation is the only way you will find out, its not a problem with the kit not liking each other though

 

[mrdmail]

The next step...

First of all..... thanks for the input guys, its much appreciated.

So the plan is to get yet another ax1200i, connect up the pumps in the pumps etc (with the motherboard isolated (done that bit before so no problems there!)

Will get some dyes, 2 colors i think as I have two separate loops for GPUs and CPU etc, both of which route near to the PSU having two should easier to identify the fault, and apply kitchen paper it the appropriate points, in the loop and onto the floor of the case for the same purpose.

I will run it with the psu outside the case. This might be overkill, I hear you say (TTL) and fully accept that there is unlikely to be any problems with the motherboard/psu combo. I just don't want to knacker another supply and this approach should ensure that i don't,m assuming its a leakage problem which I agree which is the post likely.

Think I will then run it for a few days and see what happens.

Watch this space!

 

[tinytomlogan]

First of all..... thanks for the input guys, its much appreciated.

So the plan is to get yet another ax1200i, connect up the pumps in the pumps etc (with the motherboard isolated (done that bit before so no problems there!)

Will get some dyes, 2 colors i think as I have two separate loops for GPUs and CPU etc, both of which route near to the PSU having two should easier to identify the fault, and apply kitchen paper it the appropriate points, in the loop and onto the floor of the case for the same purpose.

I will run it with the psu outside the case. This might be overkill, I hear you say (TTL) and fully accept that there is unlikely to be any problems with the motherboard/psu combo. I just don't want to knacker another supply and this approach should ensure that i don't,m assuming its a leakage problem which I agree which is the post likely.

Think I will then run it for a few days and see what happens.

Watch this space!

If water is getting into any of the power connections it could still kill the PSU if thats what caused it before dude.

having the psu outside of the case will only ensure it cant drip on the connections on the psu or in the fan area. So just be aware if you do it your way its not full proof.

TBH you should JUST be connecting the pump up and leak checking before powering anything else up, especially with the problems you are having.

Also as Ive said before make sure all your watercooling fittings and barbs are tight.

 

[Remmy]

AX1200i is hard to short as all wires are black... tried it before when an AX760i went. You might be able to use the test button.

If you have to short the 24 pin connector to power the PSU on, you bridge Pin 16 (Power on) with any of Pin 3, 5, 7, 15, 17, 18, 19, 24 (All ground). By default the power on pin is pulled high to 5V with a pull-up resistor, and you need to send it low to activate the PSU, which is why you bridge it to ground.

In this image (note the position of the plastic clasp on top)

The bottom row of pins from left to right is pins 1, 2, 3, ..., 12. The top row of pins from left to right is pins 13, 14, 15, ..., 24.

The easiest way to do it is to hold the connector with the clasp at the top, and going along just the top row alone, starting from the left, bridge the 4th pin (green in the image, pin 16) with either the 3rd (black in the image, pin 15) or the 5th pin (black in the image, pin 17).

 

[mrdmail]

Thanks TTL All noted. Will ensure I just power up the pumps. Happy New Year!

 

[mrdmail]

So, new power supply mounted externally running the pumps and fans only. Old PSU popped back into case....ust in case it was impacting on any tubing etc, doesn't appear to be, but thought i would replicate the original situation as much as possible. Had it running 7 hours yesterday, and all day today, no sign of anything 'wet' yet.......so far.....

Ok, just thought I would post a quick update. I've been really busy so not had the opportunity to advance things much. However, after having run the rig for a few days with just the pumps lights etc but no major components I did notice a couple of spots on the base of the case, tried tracing back and found a couple of suspect connections.

Went a way and had a long hard think about what i wanted to do next. This is what I ended up doing:

I drained the entire system and redesigned the tubing flow so that as few connections were anywhere near the PSU. I know its not foolproof but it did give me the opportunity to resite the reservoirs higher up the case and have the pumps directly below (probably what I should have done in the first place!).

When removing the connections, I noticed that I had some unnecessary tension in places so have now redesigned that out. I also noted how relatively easy it was to remove the tubing.

Following a bit of research I decided to switch to the Primochill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Tubing.

I was surprised at the difference, it was, as had been identified by others, much thicker and harder to fit to the fittings without immersion in hot water. Also when rebuilding I had the need to remove one or two, and I was pleasingly surprised to find out how difficult they were to remove.

Anyway..long story short, The kit is now rewired, re plumbed and is now being soak tested, with kitchen towels in strategic places. Its been running now for 8 hours ....so far so good.

Thanks again to all of you for the advice and guidance, hopefully it's sorted...time will tell.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Keep us in the loop dude