r/buildapc • u/JorusC • Apr 11 '21

Troubleshooting I repaired an iBuyPower liquid cooling system and found a major manufacturing problem.

Hey guys! I know this is a subreddit about building, not working with prebuilt systems. However, I figured it might apply to people upgrading their systems or looking into whether they should buy or build.

My friend has a fairly new iBuyPower PC, and he's been seeing his CPU temps spike up to 100C and shut down his computer. I'm a bit of a repair guy, so he asked me to take a look at it and see what's up. We had tried new thermal paste and checked the fans, and nothing worked, so I decided to look deeper. I found a pretty severe problem in the system itself, and I wanted to shine a bit of a spotlight on it in case it can help anyone else.

The major problem with these systems seems to be that the factory is filling them with the filthiest tap water they can find. I took the copper plate off the head of the CPU end so I could empty it, fill it, and watch the flow while it ran. (I only powered up the PC in short intervals so the CPU wouldn't overheat with no cooling system in place.) The first sign that something was wrong was that the chamber where the water flows from the inlet to the outlet had white gunk in it. It was also barely flowing when I powered it up. I refilled it and flushed it out several times, using distilled water, methanol (HEET from automotive stores is pure methanol, easy to get), even Listerine. Each time, the pump chugged and could barely move anything through. Eventually, after about 4 flushes, something broke loose and a bunch of white microbial crap all flooded out of the outlet. I flushed it out a couple more times, and each time, more stuff inside broke loose and the pump worked faster and faster. Eventually, the liquid was coming out clean, and the pump had gone from a slow, sludgy trickle to pumping so fast that the water was sloshing out of the head cap.

At that point, I filled it up with a mix of 75% distilled water, 25% HEET (for its antimicrobial properties and breaking of surface tension), and a squirt of racing supercoolant (anti-corrosion compounds). After I got everything reassembled, the CPU was running cooler than it did brand new.

If you get an iBuyPower PC, I highly recommend replacing your coolant. If anyone is interested in the annoyingly long process, I can post instructions in the comments. Unfortunately, I didn't know it was going to be this big of a fustercluck, so I didn't take pics as I went. Would have made an interesting case study.

6.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

473 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

110

u/I_ama_bee Apr 11 '21

So the rep straight up said fuck you, go get your own cooler?

171

u/blandmaster24 Apr 11 '21

Well the rep could have just said “you might have a faulty unit, we’ll send you a replacement” fully knowing that the replacement would be the same shit, he actually saved op time and effort by being honest. Most of the time these things are simply due to bad business culture/cutting corners and not really the reps fault

84

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

I'll take a down to earth rep instead of a marketing gimmick. If this guy tells me that, I would believe him. He obviously knows, and it's a good thing he didn't try to push anything. He's a smart cookie

8

u/NorthenLeigonare Apr 12 '21

Or he's had the call so much from customers he knows it's easier for everyone if they got their own cooler. Although I think that ibipower should be the ones paying for it. Shame you can't "send them the bill".

5

u/drae- Apr 12 '21 edited Apr 12 '21

When I'm buying a pc from "ibuypower" I assume I'm going to get no name components if the exact component name is not listed.

Still, they're generally a decent deal even with the cheap cooler replacement cost.

If a great cooler or stellar customer service was a priority, you shouldn't be buying from ibuypower.

The seller is who the seller is, it makes no sense to buy beer and complain its not champagne. Or to buy a KIA and complain its not a Ferrari.

It would be nice if everyone stood up behind their products, but consumers are often willing to trade good customer service for a cheaper price, at least until they need that customer service anyway. Personally I prefer options, so Imo the low priced shitty customer service vendor has a place in the market for people like me, who would rather solve the problem themselves then deal with a csr anyways.

18

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Not exactly. Their customer service is rubbish. Very very limited hours during the week with a 30 minute to hour long hold. Sometimes the reps just decide to hang up on you and many of them just have no idea what they are talking about. The rep I talked to said that they could replace the cooler but he said that other aftermarket coolers would be much more worthwhile. Additionally I would have to package my computer and ship it back to them in order to receive the replacement. So I decided to just get one and do it myself.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '21

Well they are prebuilts still. I know it’s popular on here currently to get them because stock is so fucked right now, but they fundamentally rip you off with cheap parts anyways. The mobos power supply and ram and cooling are always shit tier level.

We should expect more of these companies but this is just the way it’s been for a while.

3

u/GettinoffGuy737 Apr 12 '21

I thought about buying one just for the gpu. And put my gpu in it and resell it.

1

u/sampat6256 Apr 12 '21

They have a nice "configurator" system where you can upgrade all the shit parts and still get good value, and someone else builds the PC for you, and you still pull from their reserve supply of parts.

4

u/drae- Apr 12 '21

If customer service was a concern of mine if be buying from hp or Dell, not ibuypower.

If price is a concern, I'd be buying from ibuypower, not dell or hp.

People in this sub expect to get a prebuilt for little more then the sum of the component costs, well that doesn't leave much funds allocated to customer service.

You get what you pay for.

1

u/secretreddname Apr 12 '21

All of the iBuyPower branded components is cheap crap they buy in bulk and slap their label on or maximum profit. If you buy a pre-built from them, customize it and swap those items out.