Repairing a Water-Cooled Graphics Card: Send the Block With It

If your graphics card is water-cooled, the water block or all-in-one cooler must come with it. After every repair we stress-test the card the way it runs in your computer, and for a water-cooled card that means on its own block, with its own pads, under full load. Leave the block fitted, with every bracket and faceplate, drain and dry it, take the fittings off and plug the ports. An all-in-one card comes as one piece, radiator and all. This applies whether you post the card or drop it off.

This page covers why we need it, what to send, how to drain and pack it, what to tell us, and what we do with it.

Why We Test on Your Block

A repair isn't finished until the card has run hard for a long time without errors, at normal temperatures. That test only means something on the cooler the card will actually use.

• Pads are different on every block. A stock air cooler and a water block touch the board in different places, through pads of different thicknesses. EK's block for the RTX 4090 Founders Edition uses 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mm pads, while Alphacool's kit for the same card comes with 1, 2 and 3 mm pads. A card that tests well on one cooler can run hot on another.
• Board repairs disturb the cooling. To replace a memory chip or a power stage, the block has to come off. It goes back on with fresh paste and pads, and a pad that isn't touching only shows up under load.
• Memory heat is the usual giveaway. Micron rates GDDR6X memory to run at up to 95 °C, and testers report it slowing itself down at around 110 °C. On a good water mount it runs far cooler, so we log memory temperature through the whole test.
• The hot spot shows how well the block sits. On cards that report it, a gap of more than about 20 °C between the GPU temperature and its hot spot under full load points to poor contact. On a good water mount the gap is usually well under that.
• Your power settings matter. We test at the power limit you actually run, so a card that passes on our bench passes in your computer.

Without the block we can't run that test, so we can't hand the card back as repaired. If it isn't in the box, we'll ask you to send it before the repair is finished.

What Counts as Water-Cooled

Put the card back on air? Then send the air cooler it runs on now. The rule is simple: we test on whatever cooler the card will use in your computer.

What to Send

• The card with the block still fitted. Please don't strip it yourself. Pads tear, tiny parts get knocked off, and on an RTX 5090 Founders Edition the connectors between its boards are easy to damage.
• The backplate, fitted. On an RTX 3090, half the memory sits on the back of the board and is cooled through the backplate.
• Every bracket and faceplate. The bracket for the display outputs, any support or anti-sag bracket that fixes to the card or block, mounting brackets, terminal covers and decorative faceplates. If it is fitted to the card or block in your computer, send it. Each one changes how the block sits or how the card is supported, and we refit and test it as a complete unit.
• If the block is already off: the block, the backplate, every bracket and faceplate, every screw and standoff, and any spare pads, with the small parts sealed in a bag in the same box.
• A lighting lead fixed to the block can stay on. Tape it down so it can't snag.

Keep these at home:

• The rest of your loop. Pump, reservoir, radiators, tubing, fittings and quick-disconnects. We test on our own bench loop.
• Coolant. Australia Post restricts liquids and lists antifreeze as a dangerous good, and we fill our test loop ourselves.
• Power cables, adapters and the retail box, the same as for any card.

Draining and Drying a Custom Block

1. Drain the loop and take the card out with the block still on.
2. Empty the block. Tip it over a towel through each port. A gentle puff of air helps, but don't use a workshop compressor: Alphacool pressure-tests its Core blocks to 0.8 bar, and Watercool rates the Heatkiller V Pro to 1 bar.
3. Let it dry. ASUS tells owners of its water-cooled cards to drain the block and air-dry it for 8 to 12 hours before packing. A full day is better.
4. Take the fittings off. Angled adaptors, rotaries, extenders and quick-disconnects stick out and act as levers on the block's ports in transit. Remove them, and any bridge or terminal that joins cards.
5. Plug the ports with G1/4 stop plugs, so dust and packing material stay out.

All-in-One and Hybrid Cards

• Don't drain or open it. It is a sealed loop, filled and leak-tested at the factory.
• Keep it in one piece. Radiator, pump, tubes and fans stay attached, along with any fan lead between the card and the radiator. Send the radiator's mounting bracket and any brackets or faceplates on the card too.
• Don't let the radiator hang on the tubes. Wrap it and pack it beside the card with padding between, so it can't swing.
• Keep the tubes in gentle curves. EVGA warns that tubes twisted too much or pulled too tight can start to leak. No kinks and no tight bends.

Packing and Postage

• A box, not a satchel, with an anti-static bag around the card and at least 5 cm of padding on every side. Nothing should move when you shake it.
• Allow for the weight. A full-cover block and backplate can add around 1 to 2 kg to a card, so buy postage for the real weight.
• A plain box. Nothing on the outside should say graphics card, RTX or Radeon.
• Insurance is up to you. See insuring a graphics card in the post.

The rest of the packing steps are on the mail-in GPU repair page.

What to Tell Us

Put a note in the box with your job number, and include:

• The block's make and model, or the card's model if it came water-cooled from the factory.
• Anything you changed: different pads, thermal putty, or liquid metal on the GPU. Liquid metal conducts electricity and can run onto the small parts around the chip when the block comes off, so we need to know before we open it.
• Your coolant: clear, dyed or pastel, and roughly when the loop was last serviced. Alphacool warns that the particles in pastel coolant can clog and permanently damage a block.
• How you run it: your power limit, any overclock, a modified BIOS, or a shunt mod. A shunt mod makes the card under-report how much power it draws, so we need to know before we load it.
• Any leak, and when it happened.

What We Do With It

1. Diagnose and quote. The $150 diagnostic is waived if you go ahead, and nothing starts until you approve.
2. Repair the board. The block comes off for the work.
3. Check the block. If we see clogged fins, corrosion or flaking plating, we tell you before going further. EK warns that mixing aluminium and copper parts in one loop causes rapid corrosion.
4. Refit it. Fresh paste and pads to suit your block, with the screws tightened evenly from the centre out.
5. Leak-test, then load-test. The block is leak-tested on our bench loop before the card is powered. Then the card runs a long stability test at your power settings, and you get a screenshot of the results, temperatures included, before it's packed.
6. Drain, dry and send it back the way it came, ports plugged.

Every repair carries our 12-month warranty on parts and labour, for the same fault.

Dropping It Off Instead

The same rule applies at our workshop near Castle Hill. Bring the card with its block or all-in-one cooler fitted, drained and dry, and the same note. Ring 02 8428 9224 first to arrange a time.

Questions

Do I have to send my water block with the card?

Yes. We stress-test every repaired card on the cooler it runs on in your computer. For a water-cooled card, that means your block, with its pads, under full load. Without it we can't finish the repair.

Can you test it on an air cooler instead?

No. An air cooler touches the board through different pads and at a different pressure, so a pass on air says little about how the card will run on your block.

Should I take the block off before I send the card?

No. Leave it fitted, with the backplate and every bracket and faceplate. Taking it off risks torn pads and knocked-off parts, and we have to remove and refit it with fresh pads anyway.

Do I send the radiator with an all-in-one card?

Yes. Send the whole card with the radiator, pump and fans attached, and don't drain it. Pack the radiator so it can't hang on the tubes.

How long should a water block dry before I post it?

At least 8 to 12 hours after draining, which is what ASUS advises for its water-cooled cards. A full day is better. Take the fittings off and plug the ports before you pack it.

Can I send coolant with the card?

No. Australia Post restricts liquids and lists antifreeze as a dangerous good. We fill our own test loop.

My card came water-cooled from the factory. Does the same apply?

Yes. A factory block, such as a Gigabyte Waterforce WB or a PowerColor Liquid Devil, is treated like any other block. A factory all-in-one, such as an MSI Suprim Liquid, comes as one piece.

Card-specific notes are on our repair pages for the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070, RX 7900 XTX and RX 6800 and 6900 XT.