Second Defect Alphacool Eiswolf?!

[tolagarf]

Second Defect Alphacool Eiswolf?! (Not so much!)

Yeah that apparently happened, or I am a complete noobcake and missed something...

The first one I got directly from Alphacool and that one was the AIO version. What happened was it would rise very quickly to 80C eventually hitting thermal throttle. Apparently its pump ran dry since they didn't get the air out properly from the factory.

Second one I bought from Aqua Tuning UK, and this one is the Pro version (without a radiator). In the meantime I bought an Eisbaer 360 and connected it to it. But alas same problem. In Valley benchmark temps on the GPU would rise to 80C+ in a matter few minutes. So I figured there must have been an air pocket in the pump of the Eiswolf, spent 6 hours trying to get air out of the system (which is damn hard mind you!), was left with a single air bubble in the reservoir of the Eisbaer which isn't causing issues since it just stays there.

And of course that did nothing, absolutely nothing. So I reapplied the thermal compound on the GPU. It wasn't perfect, but not bad enough to have caused this. Same deal, did nothing. Took the graphics card out again and checked the thermal compound. The spread was perfect this time, yet it didn't help.

What I don't get here is both pumps are running at full speed, there's a slight amount of air present in the Eisbaer reservoir, but no water sloshing in the unit. Both pumps seems to be working, although the one in the Eiswolf is quite a bit more noisy.

At this point I'm just thinking of trashing this junk and live with my reference cooler on my GTX 1080, I've already disassembled this card too many times by now. I feel like I'm tempting fate.

 

[tinytomlogan]

You need to bleed the air out.

 

[tolagarf]

I did for nearly 3 hours. It just wouldn't come out if anything was stuck in the gpu pump

Edit: Guess I could have drained the whole system and added some dishwater soap. Not an easy task since this system isn't exactly meant for being completely taken apart. Guess I'll RMA it and see if Aquatuning can figure it out.

 

[Wraith]

They really are a PITA to bleed, I spent 4 hours chasing bubbles in the end I found gently rolling it side to side worked wonders.

 

[tolagarf]

They really are a PITA to bleed, I spent 4 hours chasing bubbles in the end I found gently rolling it side to side worked wonders.

Haha I did that as well. But tell me this, why wasn't my CPU temps impacted if there was a bubble in the GPU pump? Surely it would have impacted water flow, but it didn't. The heat just wasn't transferred from the GPU to the water as I could tell.

 

[Wraith]

The eisbear is pretty set for cooling even with a little air in the res, the eiswolf is a different matter as it has no res. I have noticed spikes in temps if a small bubble moves through mine but they generally clear almost instantly, I'm inclined to say that you could have some gunk or blockage in the fins of the GPU block.

 

[tolagarf]

The eisbear is pretty set for cooling even with a little air in the res, the eiswolf is a different matter as it has no res. I have noticed spikes in temps if a small bubble moves through mine but they generally clear almost instantly, I'm inclined to say that you could have some gunk or blockage in the fins of the GPU block.

It's possible. If it's gunk then there isn't much I can do about it, if it won't come loose. I can't start tearing the pump apart, that would most likely void the warranty. I mean I tipped and tilted my case for 3 hours, while training the pump on/off also. Whatever was stuck in the GPU pump wasn't inclined to release itself.

 

[Wraith]

It's possible. If it's gunk then there isn't much I can do about it, if it won't come loose. I can't start tearing the pump apart, that would most likely void the warranty. I mean I tipped and tilted my case for 3 hours, while training the pump on/off also. Whatever was stuck in the GPU pump wasn't inclined to release itself.

What do you have your pump speed set at? I bled mine at max speed but have it running at half which seemed to clear the micro bubbles much more efficiently.

 

[tolagarf]

Ran both at full speed when bleeding for air, ran them at 60% when benchmarking

Edit: I did consider buying new hoses and fittings, then use my old EKWB Bay Reservoir. I have a tall case, I would be able to have the bay reservoir higher up than the pumps, which should make bleeding it a lot easier. Worked fantastic when I used it with my Swiftech H240-X (those that kept cracking the reservoir window).

 

[Wraith]

Ran both at full speed when bleeding for air, ran them at 60% when benchmarking

Edit: I did consider buying new hoses and fittings, then use my old EKWB Bay Reservoir. I have a tall case, I would be able to have the bay reservoir higher up than the pumps, which should make bleeding it a lot easier. Worked fantastic when I used it with my Swiftech H240-X (those that kept cracking the reservoir window).

How long have you been running it? It took 2 days for all the micro bubbles to discipate from my loop.

 

[tolagarf]

A total of 6 hours or so. I doubt however that microbubbles in the pump would cause a near complete heat transfer failure as I've seen here.

I'm on the fence if I should return it to Aquatuning or just rip all the watercooling parts out of the PC, drain it and refill with dishwasher soap without putting the block back on the GPU. Every time I tear the graphics card apart, I risk damaging something. This was the 4th time. Not to mention I'm running out of thermal paste and distilled water.

 

[Doomslayer]

Well if this was me i wouldn't have even got a second one, I would have swap it over to the EK Predator, I don't how some people are moaning about this AIO IMO it's the best AIO you can get.

Some people are moaning about the fans saying that the fans are too loud that come with it well mine are damn quiet only way i can hear them if i put my ear next to them.

I think maybe some people just don't know how to set these fans up correctly :lol:

 

[tinytomlogan]

It will be a bubble trapped. Just move your rig about with the pump running.

You may need to top up the pump too.

 

[tolagarf]

Well if this was me i wouldn't have even got a second one, I would have swap it over to the EK Predator, I don't how some people are moaning about this AIO IMO it's the best AIO you can get.

Some people are moaning about the fans saying that the fans are too loud that come with it well mine are damn quiet only way i can hear them if i put my ear next to them.

I think maybe some people just don't know how to set these fans up correctly :lol:

Predator XLC AIO's are End of Life dude, besides they have had many leaking issues over the last year. IMO it's not a good product and too expensive. I did actually used to own a Predator 360 Rev 1.1, for some odd reason I decided to sell it when my 6th 980 Ti (ASUS Poseidon) had coil whine issues. Guess I was just angry at the world and switched all my gear out (well mostly).

The Eisbaer 360 is actually a damn good product and it's much cheaper as well. The build quality is better than the Predator, but that's just my opinion.

It will be a bubble trapped. Just move your rig about with the pump running.

You may need to top up the pump too.

You're probably right. The pump did also sound like it was being impacted by something partially blocking it compared to the Eisbaer pump which was much more silent.

I'm going to tear down the system next week and refill, add in a few drops of dishwasher soap which will bring those microbubbles out in a matter of minutes and then let it run outside the PC for at least a day to get rid of all the air.

I guess the lesson learned here is no matter how easy and plug & play those AIO's look, it's far more complicated than the manufacturer lets on.

 

[tinytomlogan]

The noise is the air. Not a block.

Its normal.


Do not add any soap! Just add some de-ionised water and bleed the air out.

 

[tolagarf]

The noise is the air. Not a block.

Its normal.


Do not add any soap! Just add some de-ionised water and bleed the air out.

I've had excellent results adding soap in the past though. Why not use it, a lot of people recommend it actually. And why deionized water? Surely distilled water is better? I can buy that in 5 Liters bottles very cheap at my local drugstore.

Edit: I looked it up. Deionized water is actually considered more pure than distilled water for use with electronics, i.e water cooling. How about that, you learn something new every day!

 

[Doomslayer]

Predator XLC AIO's are End of Life dude, besides they have had many leaking issues over the last year. IMO it's not a good product and too expensive. I did actually used to own a Predator 360 Rev 1.1, for some odd reason I decided to sell it when my 6th 980 Ti (ASUS Poseidon) had coil whine issues. Guess I was just angry at the world and switched all my gear out (well mostly).

The Eisbaer 360 is actually a damn good product and it's much cheaper as well. The build quality is better than the Predator, but that's just my opinion.

Well i disagree on the quality the EK is the better one IMO.

With the leaking i only heard it was on the 1.0 version not the 1.1 i own the 1.1 and there's nothing wrong with it.

If people were having issues maybe they weren't installing them correctly.

There has been nothing wrong with mine no leaking what so ever.

 

[SuB]

DO NOT ADD SOAP of any kind to your loop. that's BAD JUJU!

 

[AlienALX]

I've had excellent results adding soap in the past though. Why not use it, a lot of people recommend it actually. And why deionized water? Surely distilled water is better? I can buy that in 5 Liters bottles very cheap at my local drugstore.

Edit: I looked it up. Deionized water is actually considered more pure than distilled water for use with electronics, i.e water cooling. How about that, you learn something new every day!

I was just going to say that. Distilled water is nowhere near as pure. Look what it does to a car's cooling system. You take the cap off and the water is brown.

 

[tolagarf]

Well it seems I'm getting somewhere... Took out the Eisbaer and reassembled the Eiswolf again. Switched out all the hoses with some clear ones (11/8mm), added two 45 degree compression fittings on the Eisbaer so I won't get those tight bends. Added in my EKWB Bay Reservoir and spend 3 hours getting air out and now there's only micro bubbles left. Reused the original QDC and made it so I can actually remove the graphics card from the loop and reconnect the hoses so I can use the Eisbaer solo.

Temperatures are great on the CPU, hit a max of 55C at 4.0 GHz with my i7 5930K, GPU on the other hand is a bit disappointing. It might still be due to micro bubbles in the Eiswolf pump, however the temps are much better now and don't rise in a heartbeat. Temps hit between 50C - 65C depending on game. 61C benchmarking in Valley for 30 mins.

Seems I always get the shaft when it comes to those nice super low GPU temps lol, but anyway as long it's not over 80... One thing to note however is the fan RPM is on the lower side around 700-900 RPM, which probably explains the higher GPU temps.

Some pics: