What do you do with your old CLC?

rossiboy001 · 22 May 2018 at 22:31

I have got a 2 yr old CLC 110 gtx (think it is) from corsair. It`s about two and a half years old. I have changed it out to see if I would get better temps with a Noctua DH15. The results were massive same settings highs of 75-80 are down to 50-55 on the same settings 8700k delided 4.7 load all cores. Suggesting I guess it was on it`s way out or a bad fitting, but no matter how many times I checked the bracket and seating. This was the best I could get. These new temps seem to be what is expected with this chip.
Was going to throw it in the Bin, but looking at it with it`s big square of shinny copper I was thinking even that must be worth a pound or two and not something to disregard into the bin Do others strip anything of resonable value or can they be serviced opened ect. Maybe it is just my impression, but the whole thing seems rather light especially the rad and I can not hear liquid moving up and down when i shake it about. Has anyone opened them and refurbished them or shoukld I just throw it away?

doyll · 24 May 2018 at 12:18

They are not designed to open up. Not sure what the problem is with it, but two most common ones are low coolant level and pump wearing out, often both at same time. The copper on bottom of pump/waterblock really isn't much, and radiator is aluminum which is why it's so light. Radiator is very low quality .. much lower than even low end custom loop radiators so I doubt anyone would want to use it as a cooling radiator unless they just want to play around with it. I might be interested in it to play with as airflow resistance when testing fans. Cut in half and use as resistance packs for testing fan airflow when I'm testing them. Mount fan on one thicknes and record airflow at different speeds, then add 2nd thickness to double the airflow resistance and record airflow again. I have all equipment except a couple dead 140 / 280 radiators.

rossiboy001 · 24 May 2018 at 17:14

doyll said:
They are not designed to open up. Not sure what the problem is with it, but two most common ones are low coolant level and pump wearing out, often both at same time. The copper on bottom of pump/waterblock really isn't much, and radiator is aluminum which is why it's so light. Radiator is very low quality .. much lower than even low end custom loop radiators so I doubt anyone would want to use it as a cooling radiator unless they just want to play around with it. I might be interested in it to play with as airflow resistance when testing fans. Cut in half and use as resistance packs for testing fan airflow when I'm testing them. Mount fan on one thicknes and record airflow at different speeds, then add 2nd thickness to double the airflow resistance and record airflow again. I have all equipment except a couple dead 140 / 280 radiators.

Your welcome to it free of charge, just the hassle of postage ect or collection if ever in the area one day, ill dump it in the loft than the bin for now.

Radox-0 · 24 May 2018 at 19:50

Maby try sending it back for a RMA / refund. DH-15 is an awesome cooler, but if your seeing a 25 degree difference, could suggest something up with cooler I would have thought. They have a 10 year warranty I believe

Ross Thomson · 25 May 2018 at 09:41

rossiboy001 said:
Was going to throw it in the Bin, but looking at it with it`s big square of shinny copper I was thinking even that must be worth a pound or two and not something to disregard into the bin Do others strip anything of resonable value or can they be serviced opened ect. Maybe it is just my impression, but the whole thing seems rather light especially the rad and I can not hear liquid moving up and down when i shake it about. Has anyone opened them and refurbished them or shoukld I just throw it away?

in the bin along with my air coolers. suspect you've encountered the issue you get with AIOs. alu rads are light but that has nothing to do with the quality.

bimbleuk · 25 May 2018 at 10:39

You could simply chop one of the tubes and refill it just for something to do before binning it. I had one and used some Glycol coolant mix and while I was at it stuck a flow meter inline and used that to clamp the tubes again. Using a cooking syringe over a bucket helped to refill it but still took a couple goes to get enough air out.

The flow meter was turning quite slow at first hence the couple of tries to get more air out of it. It got a bit faster but I suspect those pumps are pretty borderline on the required flow to work. It definitely got it back to somewhere near normal again but I'd already ordered an X52 anyway to replace it.

doyll · 25 May 2018 at 14:50

rossiboy001 said:
Your welcome to it free of charge, just the hassle of postage ect or collection if ever in the area one day, ill dump it in the loft than the bin for now.

What rRadox0 said. If you can get a warranty on it that's the way to go .. then sell it on to make it not a total loss.
What bimbleuk said. Sometimes it works. I agree with the pumps only having borderline flowrate / lift to function, and as they wear they move less.

I tried to trust you a message, but it says you haven't configured your trust account.

AiiR · 27 May 2018 at 00:53

If it's 2 and a half years old, it should still have warranty. Sounds like the pump has gone duff or the coolant level is running low, as has been mentioned. Just open up a ticket with the relevant details, only takes a couple of minutes.

I've repurposed old AIO's in the past by mounting them to GPUs, either with a proper bracket or by a cable tie bodge job.

The results are incredible in temperature and noise levels.

Habakkuk · 27 May 2018 at 06:33

AiiR said:
The results are incredible in temperature and noise levels.

...in a good way?

Ross Thomson · 27 May 2018 at 08:49

Habakkuk said:
...in a good way?

much quieter than standard and a massive drop in temp

doyll · 27 May 2018 at 13:34

AiiR said:
If it's 2 and a half years old, it should still have warranty. Sounds like the pump has gone duff or the coolant level is running low, as has been mentioned. Just open up a ticket with the relevant details, only takes a couple of minutes.

I've repurposed old AIO's in the past by mounting them to GPUs, either with a proper bracket or by a cable tie bodge job. The results are incredible in temperature and noise levels.

I can kinda understand using a CLC on GPU because GPUs' not only dump their heated exhaust everywhere in the case,but are often quite loud. Still, there are some good air GPU coolers out there and I prefer air cooling over water. I was custom loop for many many years from way back when custom was making our own components and using aquarium/pond pumps and automotive radiators. But when good air coolers came out (about 10 years ago) I began moving back to air and couldn't be happier.

@ rossiboy001 please drop me a message and I'll make arrangements to get your dead CLC if it's out of warranty.

Ross Thomson · 27 May 2018 at 13:38

Problem with the beefier air coolers for gpu’s is they still dump the hot air into the case.

doyll · 27 May 2018 at 14:43

True. But as much as I hate GPU cooler designs out there and also hate admitting it, by paying careful attention to case airflow by setting up intake fans properly (and sometimes exhaust are needed as well a dividers too) in most cases it can be setup so the heated air coming off of GPU causes little to no increase in cool air temp being supplied to them and CPU .. and they are the most critical heat components.

Habakkuk · 27 May 2018 at 21:29

Ross Thomson said:
much quieter than standard and a massive drop in temp

Oh good. Usually an incredible noise level is really high!