Like my parts from Skunk Works.

Today I'm gonna show you kind of my tips and tricks on how to clean the blocks, especially clear blocks like this, so that they can look almost brand new, almost also a reminder that our new fall line of merch is now available.

I'm wearing my new tri blend shirt with the dye aggress logo, which is much smaller and a lot less kapow on your shirt.

More like cupping over here so you guys can find a link down the description below got hoodies, zip ups, all that sort of full overs being these mugs, even some lady shirts down there for your lady friends.

So part of upgrading your system usually means you have some old parts and stuff to deal with.

Now, although these are the first Titan ex Pascal version cards that came out and there was a new tight next after that and then obviously we've got our t x 28 e t I and all that stuff.

These parts are no slouch and I want to keep them in tip top shape.

And because they're clear blocks and we've been using pastel this particular these particular parts of had pastel running in them for over two years, it's important to keep them clean.

So that's what we do today.

I kind of have method I sort of came up with over all the years of how to clean this out.

Most companies would have you believe that Just running some sort of a solvent, whether it be like premature system prep or be the mayhem, is blitz kit is enough to keep it clean.

But if you get in there and look tight at the jet flow plate right there, you can see that there is a little bit of build up.

Not much that's actually really, really good for two years.

You can see that there's not any discoloration really of the block.

But you could see this, um, buildup in the jet plate.

You can see this and build upon the threads.

So what do today's women disassemble it?

I'm gonna show you some of my best tips and tricks on how to clean this and keep it looking new because the longer you wait.

The more this dries out, the harder it's going to be clean, so you could obviously get blocks in a lot of different styles.

This happens to be the nickel plexi, so you can see through to the nickel plated copper base.

You can also get it with copper and clear.

You can get with copper and acid tall, which is just a black cover.

You can get it with copper and or nickel and asset.

Also, all these different variations now in the past, you could just undo these perimeter screws right here and take the front off of a clear plate off.

But in this case, you can't because you can see there's a screw there and as a screw there, which is holding the helping hold the block onto the P C B, which means we're gonna have to take off the back plate as well, always so you could see my back plates pretty dirty.

So we're cleaning that up a cz well, so for this version, we have to go ahead and take off the back plate, which really kind of sucks.

I don't wanna have to do that, but fortunately, it's just some Phillips head screws way.

Go.

Okay, so this screw right here is the other one that we have to get off and a boat.

Okay, so now we can go ahead and take off our perimeter screws right here for the block.

Now, most block manufacturers will be ikea excess pc its power van techs.

They usually include the right Allen screw or Allen Key that you need to undo this.

Obviously, I'm using my I fix it because I like this little screwdriver handle.

We're also gonna loosen up these three screws, which I kind of already did on the what they call this piece right here.

Terminal, I guess.

Yeah, I guess it's journal.

There's tiny o rings in here.

That air really kind of a bitch to deal with.

And I don't want to take those off if I don't have to.

This is technically the first block of Ikea I've ever disassembled where you had to take the back way off.

Normally, the block cover itself doesn't share screws with anything that passes through the PCB.

So this is kind of a first.

There's still a little bit of fluid in there as you can see.

But because the O ring just goes around the perimeter and nothing on the inside, you'll see a little bit of discoloration where it sort of gets in between the metal and the plexi.

And as we take that often, hold it up.

You can still see there's a little bit of build up a little bit of dirt right there.

The funny part is that built up on both blocks identically, that you don't know what that is.

But it's there.

All right, we'll come back to the Plexi.

We don't have a looking at you.

Tell me what to do.

I'm gonna lay out some blue towel right here, and we're going to go ahead and gently remove the ring.

As you can see, it is the proper shape.

So it'll be a lot easier to put back in when it's time.

Here's the flow plate right there.

This is what sort of forces, the fluid down till the hottest part of the core.

And then obviously that is our core.

And the fluid feels kind of.

It's a little bit of that left over promotions system prep, which I use, which, by the way, if you follow on Twitter, you'd see the before and after it did.

It did a really good job of getting the green out.

But as you can see now, we've gotta actually clean the metal.

Now, this is where my super secret weapon comes in.

But again, it's not that secret has already showed it before, but people keep asking me.

So apparently the information hasn't gotten out, which means I keep a really good secret.

Although I'm sharing it with 1.7 million people.

I digress.

It is crest three d white and fresh.

This I have used on different materials, including bare copper abuse on the nickel and sometimes the nickel content, and serve a golden kind of a tarnished color.

This removes it very, very well, and I've used it on copper, and it takes off that gluing of that blue ish kind of purple color that the copper turns when it starts to oxidize.

This stuff is amazing.

I figure if it's good enough for your gentle teeth in your enamel, it's good enough for the blocks, and I've been using it ever since.

It does a fantastic job, so I just got a little bit of ah, distilled water here in the container.

And we are going to get our toothbrush and the container of water, apparently, and then we're going to take our toothpaste and we're going to put a little bit right there there.

Oh, dear, wherever you feel like putting it, and we're going to just let the bristles do their job.

But you saw what looked like beforehand, and you'll see what it looks like after it's gonna look like a new block.

This is going to slightly polish it.

The reason for that is the crest three D.

White has these little crystals in there, which are slightly abrasive, not enough to hurt anything.

Certainly not enough to go through the nickel plating, but certainly enough to go through anything that sort of built up on the block.

And it smells nice.

It smells minty fresh.

Now, if you're not comfortable working around and open PCB like this, you convinced you can take it completely off of the card.

I just don't feel like doing that.

I don't feel like having to reapply my thermal pace and all that stuff.

So after a little bit of elbow grease, distilled water and some crest three d white.

That is what it looks like.

So not bad.

Not bad at all.

Now, obviously, we're not gonna use the crest three d white and the toothbrush on the Plexi because, as I mentioned, slightly abrasive And we don't want Thio uh, scratch it up.

But as you can see, it definitely has some discoloration.

Kind of where the o ring grooves are.

Try and get that out.

We're just gonna use blue towel and distilled water and probably even a little of my green works multi surface cleaner.

If you've ever talk to a professional of anything, Mechanic, um, Carpenter, they've all got their crazy homebrew life hack methods of doing things that they've just found work over the years.

And that's kind of what this is for me, and there's probably better ways to do this, but I haven't personally found it, and I have been doing this for years, and I've had no adverse effects, at least I know of, and I'm happy with the results.

So just a little bit of that, as you can see, has already taken away the discoloration that was forming in the edges.

Right there and it doesn't look like we actually have any staining of the block because we were running UV green in this and this is a U V flashlight, and if I shine it at the table, I'm sure we could find a spot.

It's glowing green because I have spilled fluid on this.

Look my finger, See, because I've because I've touched the bottle that got on there just from the bottle.

That's what that is.

I swear.

That's it's from from that right there.

That you remember, though, is that these blocks do have machine marks in them as well these covers.

So as you kind of look through it from that perspective, you can see it looks just a little bit dull in there.

And a couple of reasons why one.

There are machine marks that are in that it's not perfect to where the fluid constantly travels, can actually sort of etch the block a little bit, and that's what that could be.

But what I'm gonna do now for the front side is I'm gonna use use a micro fiber or something soft cotton towel, something that's not going to scratch it, because we want to clean it as best we can.

You don't wanna get fingerprints on the underside because that will show.

And as it's down on your block like that, obviously you're not gonna be able to clean it as it's against the graphics card.

I've decided I'm gonna go ahead and take off the terminal here because these fittings are These threads are pretty dirty in there.

And I just cleaned this guy so I don't feel like having it.

More water run down it not to clean that flexi again.

We're gonna show you hero.

Quick is just how tiny these o rings are right here.

That's how thin it's actually squishing down for the flows.

That's why water blocks condemn finitely.

If you stack up a bunch of water blocks and serious why you reduce pressure on your your entire water cooling loop because it squishes down to go through the jet plate, squishes down to go through here it squishes down to go through the radiators were for cleaning.

This will do just like I did with the opening.

Actually, I'm gonna go ahead and submerge the entire thing in there so that it can sort of soak those rings, and then we'll take our toothbrush and started working in there before I put it back together.

I'm gonna clean these three thread holds right here.

And as you can see, they're just They're just dirty that I don't know how these get dirty.

Actually, fluid doesn't even go into those because they're sealed off here, but they get dirty nonetheless.

And this is where our three d white comes in handy.

Once again.

It's actually pretty interesting how I do this.

So I just put a little bit right there, some in there, and then we'll put some in.

They're eventually, so I take the screw.

Now, this is the screw that goes in it right there, get it wet and then literally just thread it, you can actually hear.

Do you hear that?

Do you hear the abrasive crystals?

Listen, as you thread it down and then throw it back out.

And as you do this back and forth, you actually will clean those threads out of any dirt and debris that's sitting in there.

So after just one pass, that's what it looks like.

Normally I'll do it two or three times just to get much out as possible.

But as you can see, that method clearly cleans out the threats because the crystals fill in the gap.

And then as you turn the screw and back it out, it pulls the dirt out of the hole.

All right, So pretty back together is pretty simple.

It's just the reverse order of which you took it apart.

I know that.

It's always kind of cop out on the manuals when they're, like, just put it back together in the reverse.

Orders like you start going backwards in the manual, but double check everything.

Don't over tighten anything.

These pieces are plastic and they will crack and break.

And that will ruin your day.

Trust me.

Ask me how I know.

How do you know?

Because I've correct plastic.

Before you wanna put the blocks back together, I'd like to kind of just do the opposite corners.

First toe.

Hold it down.

As I'm doing that, I'm making sure the ring stayed in its channel.

It didn't pop out or anything.

The ring is creating a seal, not necessarily the tightness of screws.

So just finger type just finger tight if you have to.

If you grip on the screwdriver and then wrench it.

You are over tightening.

It's not gonna put my back plate back on.

And after the back plate is on, then I'm gonna clean it.

Otherwise I'd probably get it dirty again.

So spread your cleaner directly on your rag, not on the back plate, because there's no reason to spray it directly on the card.

And it's gonna take a little bit to get this this guy clean.

It's gonna take a couple passes, but you get the general idea.

So as you can see, there's a pretty big difference between before and after and remember.

That's after three days worth of a system flush running, which got a majority of it out anyway.

But as you could see, the heavy particles condemn Finitely stick and be stubborn.

Now, if you have any sort of build up in your blocks, you can definitely start affecting temperatures.