XG7 GPU Water Block Design Flaw

[A Computer Guy]

For me I debated between Corsair and EK for probably 2 months. I'm already quite invested in Corsairs RGB products and was about to swing Corsair's direction for that reason.

 

Being relatively new to building my own custom loop IF I saw the videos from Linus Tech Tips, Major Hardware, and Jays2Cents regarding this issue before I started my build, it probably would have clenched my opinion to avoid getting this GPU block design and perhaps other related products. So I think there is some impact here that Corsair needs to consider.

 

I didn't know about this issue prior to building my recent custom loop so my reasons for going EK were different and perhaps more trivial and would still like to try Hydro X perhaps in a future build.

 

Regardless of the prospects of youtubers motivations it just seems bad to the prospective consumer who wants to start into building their own loops.

 

If one might think it needs to be fixed (or not) it's at least an opportunity for Corsair to create good vibes with it's customers by finding a way to handle it well with their current customers (or future customers) before it becomes a real problem. Depending on how Corsair handles the situation it might determine if I buy into Hydro X in the future and you can bet others likely feel the same way.

[DevBiker]

It's worth noting that Jay pointed out you aren't going to come across this in real life. It's a serious edge case and having a card installed in a manner that would expose the flaw would have other issues as well. Can it be improved? Sure. Is it a "major flaw"? No .. a major flaw would be on that a user would see during reasonable and normal usage. That's not the case here.

 

But ... the reality is ... we live in a world where it is deemed necessary to put a warning label on curling irons that states "Not for internal use". Dumb people gonna dumb. An extra level if idiot-proofing wouldn't hurt. I'd be curious to see if an interim fix could be as simple as Jay suggested - just a slightly thicker o-ring.

[A Computer Guy]

It's worth noting that Jay pointed out you aren't going to come across this in real life. It's a serious edge case and having a card installed in a manner that would expose the flaw would have other issues as well. Can it be improved? Sure. Is it a "major flaw"? No .. a major flaw would be on that a user would see during reasonable and normal usage. That's not the case here.

 

But ... the reality is ... we live in a world where it is deemed necessary to put a warning label on curling irons that states "Not for internal use". Dumb people gonna dumb. An extra level if idiot-proofing wouldn't hurt. I'd be curious to see if an interim fix could be as simple as Jay suggested - just a slightly thicker o-ring.

 

A simple warning label not to flex the terminal might be a good idea actually. At least people who know how to read might be able to avoid issues by better knowing the tolerances of their hardware.

[PeiXi]

Wow just wow, what snotty replies from a Corsair rep in view this is a real overlooked flaw. :eek:

 

My own encounter with your MP600 SSD support and now this. Your brand is going down hill. Avoiding Corsair please all!

 

-MP600 SSD have problem reaching full speeds in X570, go look at the complaints in your SSD forums-

-Corsair have kept quiet and is ignoring us all-

Edited May 23, 2020 by PeiXi

[PeiXi]

It's worth noting that Jay pointed out you aren't going to come across this in real life. It's a serious edge case and having a card installed in a manner that would expose the flaw would have other issues as well. Can it be improved? Sure. Is it a "major flaw"? No .. a major flaw would be on that a user would see during reasonable and normal usage. That's not the case here.

 

But ... the reality is ... we live in a world where it is deemed necessary to put a warning label on curling irons that states "Not for internal use". Dumb people gonna dumb. An extra level if idiot-proofing wouldn't hurt. I'd be curious to see if an interim fix could be as simple as Jay suggested - just a slightly thicker o-ring.

 

It is not an edge case, watch Linus video, he was trying to link the CPU and GPU block and the leak happens too.

 

Watch Igorlab, he reported to Corsair back in 10-2019, a simple tug cause the leaks

 

https://www.igorslab.de/en/corsair-hydro-x-xg7-gpu-water-block-against-a-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-with-380-watt-success/

[DevBiker]

Wow just wow, what snotty replies from a Corsair rep in view this is a real overlooked flaw. :eek:

 

My own encounter with your MP600 SSD support and now this. Your brand is going down hill. Avoiding Corsair please all!

 

-MP600 SSD have problem reaching full speeds in X570, go look at the complaints in your SSD forums-

-Corsair have kept quiet and is ignoring us all-

 

I don't think that there has been a single Corsair rep replying on this so I'm not sure where you are talking about snotty replies.

 

And this is a user forum. Not an official channel.

Edited May 23, 2020 by DevBiker

[Wired]

Wow just wow, what snotty replies from a Corsair rep in view this is a real overlooked flaw.

I don't think that there has been a single Corsair rep replying on this so I'm not sure where you are talking about snotty replies.

Correct, there hasn't. The list of Corsair Employees on the forum can be found here, under Corsair Employees.

[LeDoyen]

A simple warning label not to flex the terminal might be a good idea actually. At least people who know how to read might be able to avoid issues by better knowing the tolerances of their hardware.

 

A thicker o-ring would just bend the plastic more and probably cause more issues, or flat out not work.

 

Increasing screw torque deforms the plastic and makes the bracket bow, making the situation worse

 

A stiff machined manifold would mostly solve the issue with the 2 screw design but if Corsair wants to keep the cheaper injection molded solution, they will have to figure out how to better clamp these o-rings, maybe with a 3 screws solution as everyone pointed out.

 

In a purely mechanical sense, it's a bad design, but maybe they worked around the clock to release one piece of each element of a custom loop when launching hydro-X?

[LeDoyen]

Maybe it would be enough to add a simple pin into the middle instead of a screw. That would probably add enough rigidity to keep the manifold from flexing. I don't know how thick the plastic is between the ports but people might be even able to do that themselves if they are concerned it'll happen to them. And you wouldn't need much of a retooling I think. Either mold the pin directly into the plastic or add a step in machining to drill another hole. The molds need to be changes frequently anyways as far as I know about injection molding.

 

A new hole in the middle would be too close to one of the screws holding the plexi to the cooling plate, that would make the plastic prone to cracking. But they could relocate that other screw a few mm lower and call it a day.

[A Computer Guy]

Major Hardware actually started the whole leak investigation because he found his XG7 leaking in his rig.. just sitting there.

 

It's true for 99.9% of people it will work okay, but nonetheless it's a slightly flimsy design, just because the manifold is not stiff enough to work perfectly with just two screws.

Because it's molded, they can't make it thick because of deformations when the plastic cools (the constant thickness rule), so it would require 3 screws to deal with the inherent flex of a thin plastic piece.

 

They did not point at a scandal or a monstruous hidden flaw.. it's a weak point of this block, and unless people point at it, it won't be resolved.

In the PC enthusiast world, "Good enough" is not enough :) at least not at this price point. I would be very reluctant about installing a potentially leaky block on a 1200$ card. It has to be sturdy, and work, no matter what.

 

I found another youtube video made back in Oct 2019 from igorsLAB. I know zero German but from the horrible google auto generated translation he was basically saying he accidentally caused it to leak when using soft-tubing so be careful not to apply too much pressure the terminal in the wrong way or it may leak but as long as it's in the correct position you should be fine. Also it looked like from his comparison charts the Corsair block performed pretty well against the competition.

Edited May 24, 2020 by A Computer Guy

[Fishman101]

Wow just wow, what snotty replies from a Corsair rep in view this is a real overlooked flaw. :eek:

 

My own encounter with your MP600 SSD support and now this. Your brand is going down hill. Avoiding Corsair please all!

 

-MP600 SSD have problem reaching full speeds in X570, go look at the complaints in your SSD forums-

-Corsair have kept quiet and is ignoring us all-

 

well to counter this, i have had to deal with corsair support twice now; once for my hydro x pump failing and the second time for the leds in the xg7 failing. both times they have gotten back to really fast diagnosed the problem super quick and sent out replacements ASAP. in my experience the total time from ticket to receiving the replacement has been under a week which i believe is fantastic. also the customer support on the other end of the email was always polite i cannot rate their customer service highly enough.

 

i know not everyone has had such a good experience but seeing as everyone is being so negative about customer service i thought id throw my two pennies worth in.

 

As for the block, i have had mine (including replacement) for 9 months now and have had no leaks and have rebuilt the system three times with no problems, i am slightly concerned now but using hard tubing it shouldn't be a problem

[Flynny75]

[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC_GVV3FrXw]Designs By IFR has also made a video on this[/ame]

 

Whist he is clearly having fun in this video, he does state it does not take much force at all to cause a leak.

 

Some respondents in this thread sound like they have their head in the sand. Its one thing to try and calm peoples nerves, but its another to bash people doing these 'tests' until Corsair provides any sort of official response. I like Corsair probably more than the average Joe (I have ~15 Corsair components), but lets not be fanboys about this.

[c-attack]

 

Whist he is clearly having fun in this video, he does state it does not take much force at all to cause a leak.

 

Some respondents in this thread sound like they have their head in the sand. Its one thing to try and calm peoples nerves, but its another to bash people doing these 'tests' until Corsair provides any sort of official response. I like Corsair probably more than the average Joe (I have ~15 Corsair components), but lets not be fanboys about this.

 

 

If he was trying to be serious, he picked an unfortunate title frame with the massive look of surprise after confessing to watching all the other videos of people doing it. The only video that is getting bashed is the original and for it's content, a complete lack of any methodology, and combined with questionable intent.

 

What surprises me is the number of people who keep adding to this all over the internet who: 1) don't have the block in the question; 2) appear not to have any custom water cooling at all and potentially no experience in general; 3) haven't made a post in 5 years, but suddenly run to the Corsair forums to link to some video showing the problem. What is the motivation there?

[Flynny75]

If he was trying to be serious, he picked an unfortunate title frame with the massive look of surprise after confessing to watching all the other videos of people doing it. The only video that is getting bashed is the original and for it's content, a complete lack of any methodology, and combined with questionable intent.

 

What surprises me is the number of people who keep adding to this all over the internet who: 1) don't have the block in the question; 2) appear not to have any custom water cooling at all and potentially no experience in general; 3) haven't made a post in 5 years, but suddenly run to the Corsair forums to link to some video showing the problem. What is the motivation there?

 

Because I was just about to buy one, having already bought / fitted / enjoyed the rest of the Hydro X / Corsair RGB ecosystem. Just because I've not posted about it anywhere doesn't mean my opinion and concerns for my 2080TI are invalid.

 

Yes. My specs are out of date.

[c-attack]

Because I was just about to buy one, having already bought / fitted / enjoyed the rest of the Hydro X / Corsair RGB ecosystem. Just because I've not posted about it anywhere doesn't mean my opinion and concerns for my 2080TI are invalid.

 

The you should have led with "I am considering purchasing this and would like some reassurances... etc.". But that's not what you did. You decided instead to throw out an insult and asked no questions at all. So now you have a credibility problem. I'll assume you are not answering for the 50 other people out there doing the same thing.

[Flynny75]

The you should have led with "I am considering purchasing this and would like some reassurances... etc.". But that's not what you did. You decided instead to throw out an insult and asked no questions at all. So now you have a credibility problem. I'll assume you are not answering for the 50 other people out there doing the same thing.

 

Where was the insult? The one here with a credibility issue is Corsair. Surely they have known about this since IgorLab experienced it. According to Jay they are aware and working on it, but have said nothing 'official' to their users. This is a shame, the whole Hyrdo X line has been well received, but the silence is a concern.

[LeDoyen]

HE FIXIIIIT! explosions !!

 

[ame]

[/ame]

[Salsiccia]

I also don't think Corsair have a credibility problem either. To my mind any credibility problems here are, as others before me have said, with grandstanding Youtube commentators who are short on funds, and other assorted pot stirrers. Some of the Youtube videos I have watched have presented balanced discussions on this, others appear to have had a different objective. Each to their own, that's a benefit of this open world we now live in.

 

I personally have one of these GPU blocks and am not at all concerned by any of this fluff. Common sense is the key here. When I install this GPU block I will not break my knuckles trying to bend the mount to within an inch of its life. I will take as much due care as I do with installing any component that has anything to do with moving liquid around the inside of my expensive toy.

 

And No, I am not a Corsair shill either. I have a number of components in my build that aren't Corsair, but which could have been. I choose my parts for reasons that are important to me. I know of many others, in several forums with 100% Corsair builds who are very happy with them, and good luck to them. No issue from my point of view. That's none of my business.

 

And, finally, who here has not made a mistake at work? I have. I've made lots. Many get get caught by the support and QC layers in place around what I do, but some don't. Some make it out to see the light of day. When that happens, my company tracks and assesses the problem, does risk analysis and decides on the most effective solution for the company. Sometimes that solution may involve public comment, sometimes it may not. I think we can all assume that Corsair is aware of this discussion. It will have its own corporate view as to how big a "problem" it is - both from a PR perspective and from an immediate support and ongoing product improvement perspective as well.

 

And, again, in my personal experience, Corsair Support, on the rare occasions I have needed them, have been brilliant as well. But I'm equally sure they aren't perfect either. They are also only human.

[will_s]

well I am worried because I have this in my system on a 2080ti

 

 

and I hate the idea of water leaking into my PC ........ so can I remove it and get a RA from Corsair"?

[Salsiccia]

well I am worried because I have this in my system on a 2080ti

 

 

and I hate the idea of water leaking into my PC ........ so can I remove it and get a RA from Corsair"?

 

Is it in your system now and up and running:

- And leaking? Then that's a question for Corsair.

- And not leaking? Then, also a question for Corsair, but I'm not sure how they will react to a concern about something that might happen, but is currently working fine.

 

BTW I also hate the idea of a potential breach in my system too, but I'm just not sure that there's actually much Corsair can do until there's an actual problem I have with my system!! Which I'm gonna try real hard not to have !!

[Pygmaeus]

Ive had it installed for 8 months. Made it through CPU swaps without undoing any tubing. Seems like it maybe a lot more susceptible to leaking in hard tubing applications where the alignment isnt exactly right

[knacker40]

had mine in for 8 months, change of mobo, cpu & riser card with no issues so far

[A Computer Guy]

well I am worried because I have this in my system on a 2080ti

 

 

and I hate the idea of water leaking into my PC ........ so can I remove it and get a RA from Corsair"?

 

(warning: while your system is off and unplugged, with towels in place, careful not to break anything, use air pressure tester if you have one)

 

It seems to me, for those who already have this block, to get some piece of mind about the issue, put a little flex on it in a way you think you might actually encounter while installed. If it doesn't leak your're probably ok.

[Flynny75]

For what its worth, after my hot air earlier, I decided to purchase an XG7 for my 2080TI. It would appear there have been some design changes to the top gasket, and it feels strong when I try to bend it by hand.

 

In the attached image you can see that the area under the corsair embossed bolt heads is thicker (

). My picture is of the back of the card, and that video timestamp is of the front. The gasket is symmetrical. I obviously don't know if any other changes have been made, but this is at least indicative of some design revision.

[c-attack]

That is interesting. I haven't heard about any changes, but I am glad its strong out of the box.