Gabriel-LG wrote on 2026-03-23, 17:11:
I also accidentally decapped the Northbridge (the IHS was stuck in the petrified thermalpad). I already had little hopes of saving the motherboard and GPU. This makes it even worse 😐
Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean the NB core got cracked / destroyed with the IHS removal? Or something else? (Pictures maybe??)
Might still be salvageable.
Gabriel-LG wrote on 2026-03-23, 17:11:The components looked dry on first glance. But then I saw that everything was actually covered in "strawberry juice".
Clearly th […]
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The components looked dry on first glance. But then I saw that everything was actually covered in "strawberry juice".
Clearly the fluid contained some type of anti corrosion agent, as the parts appear to have been wet for quite some time already, but no corrosion what so ever.
The fluid was slightly conductive however (my DMM measured 20 to 30 MOhm). So I took everything apart to wash it in demi-water and then rinse with IPA.
It took 3 baths before the water stopped turning pink, then I ran out ouf demi-water...
Yeah, good call on the washing.
I do this now to any motherboard I get. You just never know who did what to the board before getting it and if there may be some dirt or some conductive particle somewhere mucking things up. It's also much easier to inspect the board for broken traces or other damage once it's washed (though I also always give a careful pre-wash inspection too, just in case something is possibly loose and on the verge of getting knocked off and falling into the drain.)
That said, no need to use IPA or deionized water or any of that fancy stuff. Regular warm water + dish detergent is all I use (and have been using for the past 15 years) t0 wash electronics. Just place the motherboard afterwards in a sunny location for it to dry for 2-3 days... *OR* near a fan or air duct if sunlight is not available.
Gabriel-LG wrote on 2026-03-23, 17:11:
For some reason the PC had pentium-4 660 isntalled, weird...
Oof, not exactly a cool-running CPU. Make sense why the system was liquid-cooled. 🤣
Though if you do end up reviving this PC, I would suggest to move it to a different case. While these older Lian-Li cases are pretty nice, the single 80 mm fan on the back cannot really provide much cooling, unless you crank the fan to run at max speed (which would make the PC loud - something I don't think people did too much anymore in that era). Thus, you'd likely end up with a system that runs hotter than it should. The CPU alone will not get enough cooling from that 80 mm fan, even if the water cooling radiator was right there behind it, directly exhausing heat from the system. And with a GTX295... ooof! That's a really hot-running GPU.
I see a power cord on the back of the case, so I imagine the water cooling was a "home-brew" setup of some kind with an aquarium pump?
All in all, I'd say you got a lot of interesting parts from the system. But if it was mine, I would completely gut it and rebuild it in an entirely different way.
The GTX295 could benefit from having it's own water cooling system, separate from the CPU, and with a 120 mm radiator as a minimum (120x240 mm with two 120 mm fan would be much better, given the heat it produces - that is, if you want that card to last a little longer.) Better yet, I'd go back to air-cooling, simply because I personally don't like to deal with the high maintenance (and high risk) of water-cooling systems. But then, that would require finding the stock cooler for this GPU, since this is a dual GPU card and uses a pretty oddball cooling. Thus, you might have to keep the water block (and cooling) with it. But again, I would not use whatever was used with this system. From the pictures you provided, I can't actually see where and how big the radiator is. If it's just that tiny thing on the front 5.25" drive bay, forget it! -That thing won't be enough for the CPU alone. Someone putting both the CPU and GPU on that is asking for serious trouble. It would suffice for a test, though. On that note, if all you want to do is test the GPU (be it in another system or this one), I think the easiest way to do that with reusing whatever parts you have on hand would be to just dump the pump in a large bucket (~ 5 to 6L or ~2 Gal.) full of water and connect that directly to the GPU water block (re-using only the "good" hoses left). No need for a radiator. With a bucket large enough and enough water in it, the bucket itself will suffice as a radiator... at least for some testing (probably 10-20 minutes, maybe... and much less under max GPU load).
In regards to the CPU: it's an obvious mismatch to the rest of the system. A fast C2D with air cooling should be fine... though again, probably not in this particular Lian-Li case. If going with a C2Q, you will definitely want a more open/"breathable" case. Funny enough, that hot P4 Netburst has the same max thermal output as the early Core 2 Quad's. If the board can take Q8x00 or Q9x00 quads, those will be even less power-hungry than the silly P4 while easily providing 4x (or more) the performance.
Gabriel-LG wrote:
Will the PSU need recapping, and do solid state capacitors survive this long?
I can't recall who built the TX series for Corsair and what was in them anymore, but IIRC, they were pretty respectable PSUs and should still be OK to re-use in another system. Best bet to know is to open it and see if there are any bad caps inside... or better yet, post pictures in a new thread for others to double-check what you're seeing in there. That's what these forums are for, so we can share knowledge. 😉
