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Cracks in my cpu waterblock should I be concerned?

The cracks are concerning, but the mung buildup in the fins on last pic is going to be an issue as well. I would plain on flushing the system at some point and replace the top of the block.

Cracking like your bock has, is normal from the thermal cycles its going through over its life. I would just keep an eye on it and if seems to be getting worse, I would just replace the top or the whole unit.
 
maxfly said:
If you already have a Thermalright/Thermalgrizzly contact frame I wouldn't worry about it. It's primary purpose is to keep the mb socket from flexing or deforming. There's also a thinner version of the HD one that serves the same purpose for alot less if they still make it.
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I don't own a contact frame yet no. If I go heatkiller I'll probably get the Backplate while I'm at it

Lost_Troll said:
The cracks are concerning, but the mung buildup in the fins on last pic is going to be an issue as well. I would plain on flushing the system at some point and replace the top of the block.

Cracking like your bock has, is normal from the thermal cycles its going through over its life. I would just keep an eye on it and if seems to be getting worse, I would just replace the top or the whole unit.
Click to expand...
I would replace the top only, but it's not sold separately. The waterblock is from bykski, I couldn't find a top replacement available to ship here in Canada. I think for now I'll continue using it until I get all my new fittings and materials for my cpu upgrade.

Because I've this Asus maximus hero z890 motherboard and I bought the red fittings to go with the ROG looks I'm thinking I could get this water block while I'm at it.

Price to performance ratio is pretty good. And it's made of acetal (for the top)
47$ CAD is pretty cheap too

Bykski, CPU Water Cooler 1700 For Intel LGA115X 1200 20XX Black POM Waterblock CPU-XPR-POM-I-V2

I saw reviews for it here on techpowerup and apparently it's like 1-2c hotter than alpha core 1. So pretty amazing in my book I terms of performance per dollar

Well well well...
Won't you look at that?! Lol


I just found the same exact waterblock brand new for 17$ CAD!
I'm actually glad I found this on Amazon because I had previously purchased the upgrade kit for 14$ on AliExpress to allow my current waterblock to be used with the core ultra 7 265k I bought.

I was about to go and buy a new water block and just throw away the upgrade kit or sell it here locally as it would cost me as much as I paid for it just to return it to sender (aliexpres) and get a refund. Aliexpress would refund the item but not my return costs....

But for 17$ CAD... Peace of mind doesn't cost much lol.
It's a no brainer for me. That waterblock lasted me 7 years without an issue until recently. Another 17$ for a potential other 7 years sounds plenty reasonable to me
 
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Carsomyr said:
Well well well...
Won't you look at that?! Lol

https://a.co/d/7i7eV2C
I just found the same exact waterblock brand new for 17$ CAD!
I'm actually glad I found this on Amazon because I had previously purchased the upgrade kit for 14$ on AliExpress to allow my current waterblock to be used with the core ultra 7 265k I bought.

I was about to go and buy a new water block and just throw away the upgrade kit or sell it here locally as it would cost me as much as I paid for it just to return it to sender (aliexpres) and get a refund. Aliexpress would refund the item but not my return costs....

But for 17$ CAD... Peace of mind doesn't cost much lol.
It's a no brainer for me. That waterblock lasted me 7 years without an issue until recently. Another 17$ for a potential other 7 years sounds plenty reasonable to me
Click to expand...
That does look like a winner! Enjoy!
 
ir_cow said:
Looks like it was over tightened at some point. But since its outside the o-ring, not a big deal.
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I did notice it is starting to reach into the seal seat area, so its best it be replaced before a leak springs and his gear gets shorted
 
Put super glue on it or melt the plastic with a torch is what I say :)
 
Looking at the pictures on Amazon, I don't like this design at all. The screws sit in the metal plate and then attach to acrylic. What will happen is that as the CPU heats up and cools the acrylic will expand. I don't see the dimensions, but assume that screw to screw distance is 30mm and the heat cycle is 21C to 71C. Then the expansion is 0.1mm. For comparison even M4 screws have thread pitch of 0.7mm and will be tighter than 0.1mm after bolted down. If the screws are smaller it is even worse.

A better design is one like this:

Here the acrylic plate is compressed by the bolt heads and the threads are in the metal. Because the bolt heads are flat the acrylic is free to expand into the hole tolerance, which should be much larger than 0.1mm. Ideally this design should have washers between the bolt heads and the acrylic.
 
ir_cow said:
Put super glue on it or melt the plastic with a torch is what I say :)
Click to expand...
Or spray paint it so you don't have to see it and forget about it. :slap:
 
qxp said:
Looking at the pictures on Amazon, I don't like this design at all. The screws sit in the metal plate and then attach to acrylic. What will happen is that as the CPU heats up and cools the acrylic will expand. I don't see the dimensions, but assume that screw to screw distance is 30mm and the heat cycle is 21C to 71C. Then the expansion is 0.1mm. For comparison even M4 screws have thread pitch of 0.7mm and will be tighter than 0.1mm after bolted down. If the screws are smaller it is even worse.

A better design is one like this:

Here the acrylic plate is compressed by the bolt heads and the threads are in the metal. Because the bolt heads are flat the acrylic is free to expand into the hole tolerance, which should be much larger than 0.1mm. Ideally this design should have washers between the bolt heads and the acrylic.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I understand everything you just said, but like I said. Prior to those micro fissures appearing I had been running my I7 9700k at 4.9ghz overclocked 24/7. So whatever design flaw there may be with that waterblock, 7 years is pretty good Imo. Also I don't know if it's relevant but that link you posted says "gpu waterblock" I suppose it's still usable on a cpu right?
Anyhow. We'll see how it goes with the new one
 
Carsomyr said:
I'm not sure I understand everything you just said, but like I said. Prior to those micro fissures appearing I had been running my I7 9700k at 4.9ghz overclocked 24/7. So whatever design flaw there may be with that waterblock, 7 years is pretty good Imo. Also I don't know if it's relevant but that link you posted says "gpu waterblock" I suppose it's still usable on a cpu right?
Anyhow. We'll see how it goes with the new one
Click to expand...
7 years under an oc, its good time to swap it to avoid potential pitfalls. It is cheaper to do preventive maintenance than take a total loss from a water leak.
 
Carsomyr said:
I'm not sure I understand everything you just said, but like I said. Prior to those micro fissures appearing I had been running my I7 9700k at 4.9ghz overclocked 24/7. So whatever design flaw there may be with that waterblock, 7 years is pretty good Imo. Also I don't know if it's relevant but that link you posted says "gpu waterblock" I suppose it's still usable on a cpu right?
Anyhow. We'll see how it goes with the new one
Click to expand...
Well, if it works it works. It might be running 24/7 is what made it work - you had fewer heat up/cool down cycles.

That was just an example. It might work for CPU as well if the hole pattern matches and the area is sufficient.

Here is another with similar design:

This one has pillars instead of ridges at the bottom, might be an advantage.
 
ir_cow said:
How do you think cracks are fixed in windshields?
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Are you trolling me? I thought this was common knowledge. Regardless, windshields are glass, not acrylic. Acrylic is a plastic not a silicate. CA glues generally destroy acrylic. This is why specifically engineered acrylic glues exist.
 
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eidairaman1 said:
7 years under an oc, its good time to swap it to avoid potential pitfalls. It is cheaper to do preventive maintenance than take a total loss from a water leak.
Click to expand...
Well yeah I did 7 years, but I did maintenance 3 times in that time. It didn't sit 24/7 for 7 years straight without ever stopping, but pretty much almost
 
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