I have a HF extreme acetal + nickel and just brought back two 6970 acetal + nickel last week. My loop isn't running yet although I'd installed the blocks to my gpu. Article from VRzone suggests that ek is aware of this issue and has stopped selling these blocks and have extended the warranty. Regardless, I'm not too interested in having problematic parts in my system whether the warranty is extended or not. So for those who have nickel ek waterbloicks, what are you planning to do or in other words what options do we have? I'd imagine swapping to copper blocks and getting a refund on the difference would prevent the issue somewhat but the blocks don't look as nice and copper would oxidize in msia weather very quickly.

ek already stated at their site, they will extended the warranty for nickel block for 24 months (starting from date of purchase)... if anything happen to the nickel plating, just take photo and filled the rma form... user need to send their block to ek, but ek will cover all the transportation fee by refunding the postage fee...

my 580 blocks already corrode so i took apart my wc setup and just use a h70 on my cpu now. given the amount of problem i had i dont think its worth my trouble to setup again even if they do replace the blocks for me.

What type of coolent you use ? I never know EK block corrode that fast.

I installed my blocks but haven't actually "used" them. I don't want to take apart my system once I have everything running. I'd requested to swap out everything to copper version. Also, I don't want to have to deal with flaked nickel plating all over the tubing, pump, res, and etc.

There's nothing wrong with their copper version. If you were to look at Koolance and XSPC's blocks, they are mostly pure copper on the base. So I think this is going to be the best route to go with EK.

is there any nickel plating service in malaysia??? maybe can plate ourself

I have an EK Supreme LT n 2x 6970 block, both are nickel and is doing fine without any corrosion whatsoever

maybe the quality control is not as good as before

I've only bought the 6970 block about a month or so, kinda worried as well though

i use distilled with mayhem dye, i didnt added silver or pt nuke since it was still shipping to me. but i already notice block having problem so i took it all apart and find this......... 3 block costing 700 down the drain, to me one time is enough.




pink part is the dye which is totally acceptable to me but the brown part is corrosion, its not gunk i open the block and boil it clean it with toothbrush etc etc....

This post has been edited by kevink82: Jun 16 2011, 08:34 PM

I'm in the process of discussing for an exchange to Acetal (copper) blocks since I just recently purchased the blocks. Heck, I don't want to worry day after day whether my blocks are affected or not. I am running black tubings, can't even see if there's any Nickel flake should the plating come off.

what color dye u used bro..? can i caused the block to turn color..?

If my corrosion chemistry study still served me well, oxidized copper, Cu(II) Oxide is blue to green color like this:


I've opened up my EK FC480GTX Acetal-Nickel block used since May 2010 for my GTX480 & GTX580 SLI:


close up...

All I see is removal stain which can be wipe off with wet cloth, NO corrosion nor erosion at all.

My EK Supreme HF Acetal-Nickel, freshly taken off...

I can see dirt and gunk built by plasticizer of Tygon black R3400 tubing. This plasticizer also build stain on my reservoir tubes - EK Multioption & Bitspower Water Tank-Z.
No more Tygon tubing for me... now using Primo tubing.

.... now changed to Plexi top


btw, I'm using distilled water (Giant+Jusco+Carrefour) + Feser anti-corrosion additive.
Changed my coolant almost monthly coz always changing hardware.

well technically its nickel peeling off exposing the copper. the colouring is most likely oxidised copper which is brown and some other colour. my main concern is that the nickel plating came off which it shouldnt like my old aqua computer ones which serve me well for nearly a year. these ek i got is less than 5 months old.

Tat's called erosion, nickel is falling off exposing copper. The brown color can be found at aor cooler base i believe is called a stain due to long term heating.

Aqua & Koolance are way better than EK in terms of nickel plating. I love Koolance for the looks. Damn sexy just that inlet and outlet are separated too far to each other.

Too bad both of them dont make Plexi top for see-through effect.

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Added on June 17, 2011, 10:10 amTypo aor=air

This post has been edited by owikh84: Jun 17 2011, 10:10 AM

bro owikh, in other cases the color on the block cud it be only stained..?

Mixed of stain and corroded plate but what i see is more erosion than corrosion. Nickel plate is falling off exposing copper inside.

I'm more interested to see bro kaka89's wb, since he claimed he's running on tap water.

ic.. but if itss only stained can we just wash it off..? or it is permanent..?

Non sticky stain is like dirt which can be wiped off.
Stubborn stain cant be removed that easily. Need acidic surfactants for that. For instance ketchup.

Strictly dont use alkali based detergent like soap, this is not friendly to non ferrous metals notably copper, zinc and alu.

ic. i am asking coz i have this used block when i bought i had purplish stain in it (like rainbow color). but after some time i ran it in the system when i look at it now it seems like its gone. no more. how is that possible..?