My less than ideal experience with Aftershock

ajax_84

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
1,615
Reaction score
3
So I had problems with my previous PC. After troubleshooting for some time, and not being able to find out a permanent solution, I decided to just buy an Aftershock system after reading good reviews about it and I was also too busy with work.

I bought a Zeal desktop system during March IT show, and was told to expect it in 2-3 weeks time. When 2 weeks have passed, I have a naggy feeling that it won't be delivered on time. I emailed asking about potential delivery date and was told to check back in another 2 weeks' time. I replied saying that I was expected to receive by 3 weeks, and hence I cannot possibly check back in 2 weeks' time or the delivery schedule will lapse. The representative replied, 'check back in another week's time then'. I felt like he was just not interested in helping me check / ensure punctual delivery.

True enough, when it was close to 3 weeks, I received a call saying certain parts are out of stock and hence they will upgrade certain components, 1 of which would be their in-house 240mm glacier AIO water cooling (which turns out to be the main reason why I'm writing this). I felt happy to receive free upgrades:

1. ASRock Z370m to Z370 (mATX to standard size, which only cost few bucks)
2. Glacier 120mm AIO to Glacier 240mm AIO
2. Due to change in mobo size, standard casing wouldn't fit and I'd need to top up $50 for their Knight Black casing.
3. Case LED lights were out of stock, and I negotiated to forgo my casing led lights in exchange for the free top up to Knight Black Casing which they agreed.

So, I was happy with the change in parts :)

I finally went down to self-collect the pc (because I couldn't wait anymore) after it was 4 days past the 3 week promised schedule. Went home, booted up, everything was ok, except for the unusually high temp. I went online to check and realised that my coffee lake 8600k does indeed run hotter than previous generations due to increased core count and lousy TIM, but with a 240mm AIO, I did not expect almost an instant jump to more than 80 degrees with RealBench or Prime95 (small fft, without AVX). I went to BIOS and turned off MCE and reduced voltage from Auto to 1.15 and checked temp again, still the same. The same spike in temp and always more than 80 (10 sec of Prime95 or 3 min of Realbench).

Fed up, I brought system back to Aftershock and got them to double check on the AIO or the mounting. I also realised that it seemed they have shortchanged me initially on the number of fans I have. I had topped up $30 for 2x ID Cooling case fans, but I only see 1 pathetic case fan which didn't look like ID Cooling at all. It was an SAMGA brand. When I was at Aftershock, the rep told me that the 2 ID Cooling fans I paid for are installed at the radiator, and that the default case only comes with 1 case fan. Aghast, I asked about the radiator's own default fans, and they said that the fans I topped up for are better than radiator's own fans. Hmm, OK fine, I requested for the default fans to be installed in the casing to increase airflow. They agreed. I asked them to check the mounting, they agreed. I asked about the orientation of radiator - it was mounted as front intake, but the 2 ID Cooling fans are mounted as a pull only. It puzzled me - I have done research only and realised that people only install either as PUSH or pushpull, and not just pull only because it's significantly worse than just push only. The rep replied saying it's a case design issue and so they can only install pull only. (Thoughts like, "then why choose this case for customers" floated in my mind).

Anyway I left the place feeling slightly happier that (1) they installed additional 3 SAMGA case fans, and they assured that 8600k runs very hot and it's normal even for a 240mm AIO.

Brought it home, temperatures did not help a single bit. Frustrated, I attempted to change orientation of radiator fans from pull only, to push only. That means, fan to front intake of case, and radiator to fans. I was successful! Why then, did Aftershock tell me that it can't be done?!?! Suddenly, I wondered whether is it because with fans as push only, customers cannot see the bling bling LEDs, hence they went with pull. !@#$

However, after changing orientation, things didn't help much. At most a few degrees. Fed up, I went to buy Corsair ML120 for radiator , and AF120 performance edition for case fans, in the hopes that it was the fans that were lousy. Turns out, after spending close to $100 on fans, things also just improved a mere 1-2 degrees.

Last desperate attempt: I sought a person's help to delid with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. I then applied Kryonaut on IHS before remounting. Happy thoughts of acceptable temps ran through my mind. Alas, temps were worse. It reached 90 degrees!

I finally thought to myself, then it really must be the 240 mm AIO. So I headed down to SLS to buy ID Cooling Frostflow 240 after reading good reviews. When I reached back, I removed the pump and this is what I saw.

vzOtoii.jpg


It obviously showed that the contact was very bad, however I have made sure to tighten all the 4 screws in. There wasn't any leeway at all for me to tighten.

eNYIRc8.jpg


When I removed the backplate, I was absolutely disgusted. They actually used scotch tape to stick the back plate, and because the screws are fixed in length (without soft foam or spring tension screws), there was a gap between the heatsink and IHS. I read about this online where there were comments like how mobo have become slightly thinner in recent years and so the contact between heatsink and CPU may have grown slightly, especially for Asetek based AIOs. The guy who performed delid for me told me about this potential issue as well.

So after the horrifying backplate, and horrifying mere 4 fixed screws for the AIO, I installed the ID Cooling Frostflow 240mm. The mounting was drastically different and much better than Aftershock's version, even though they told me their AIO are OEM sourced from ID Cooling as well.

Voila, finally now my temperatures are perfect. It has dropped from 80-90 to just 53 degrees.

TL;DR: Aftershock needs to improve on meeting deadlines, stop smoking customers on technical stuff, and scrap its AIO for branded ones since theirs are so bad.


I have a question though:

6cL5NE3.jpg


I have installed my new AIO pump differently. From what I could see online, people would install their pump with logo appearing straight, and the tubes are all aligned to the right. I have installed mine with logo pointed right, and therefore tubes are on top. While temperatures are great now, will this orientation cause any issues in future? If so, I'd rather correct it soon. Thanks for helping! :s12:
 

Koenig168

Supremacy Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
9,030
Reaction score
1,151
Good thing you had the know-how to troubleshoot. It would have been extra frustrating for the tech noob.
 

wwenze

Great Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2002
Messages
73,361
Reaction score
18,260
moral of story: DIY if you can, esp for desktop. It's like lego :s13:

Lego actually requires manual.

Good thing you had the know-how to troubleshoot. It would have been extra frustrating for the tech noob.

I think TS is / has become more knowledgeable than the staff that assembled.

The sad part is the big corporations that make your graphics cards and drives actually stress test their products before shipping, yet these final assemblers don't. (Maybe HP and Dell and etc do?)
 

xDragon

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
325
Reaction score
1
Lmao the fact that you claimed to do research regarding the significance of the impact of the orientation of fans, the fans themselves and delidding, and then conclude that they're 'significant' while then later stating that those offer only a few degrees of deviation shows the lack of coherence in your thinking process.
 

lifeishard

Supremacy Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Messages
5,626
Reaction score
7
Aftershock is over rated. Good that recent years there's many other such boutique builders giving aftershock a run for their money.
 

watzup_ken

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2003
Messages
25,490
Reaction score
1,929
The tape on backplate is not a remote issue. Some mobo manufacturers do that, which makes removing it to install some heatsink difficult.
Also, I don't see any issue with the application of the thermal compound. It looks normal and I believe correct application generally don't cover the entire heat spread. Neither should you see a thick coat of overflowing thermal compound.
Anyway, I am quite amaze that you spent a fortune on the rig, only to spend more money on cooling and voiding the warranty of your new processor. I would have asked them to fix it since you paid for the service. Desktop should come with onsite warranty right?
 

lifeishard

Supremacy Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Messages
5,626
Reaction score
7
The sad part is the big corporations that make your graphics cards and drives actually stress test their products before shipping, yet these final assemblers don't. (Maybe HP and Dell and etc do?)

Aftershock don't? I thought the always long wait time for aftershock is beside the many orders they have to fulfill, it is also because they need time stress test their final orders?
 

lifeishard

Supremacy Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Messages
5,626
Reaction score
7
TS should now remove your frostflow aio and used back aftershock's glacier aio, if temp hit back 80's then confirm glacier sucks. If not, then glacier has no problem it was only the way it was mounted?
 

ajax_84

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
1,615
Reaction score
3
Lmao the fact that you claimed to do research regarding the significance of the impact of the orientation of fans, the fans themselves and delidding, and then conclude that they're 'significant' while then later stating that those offer only a few degrees of deviation shows the lack of coherence in your thinking process.

Not sure what you're trying to indicate here, but I clearly indicated that the actions I did should help significantly, but it doesn't, because the ultimate problem was the 240mm AIO not having good contact with the CPU at all. Not sure if it's your reading that's incoherent.

The tape on backplate is not a remote issue. Some mobo manufacturers do that, which makes removing it to install some heatsink difficult.
Also, I don't see any issue with the application of the thermal compound. It looks normal and I believe correct application generally don't cover the entire heat spread. Neither should you see a thick coat of overflowing thermal compound.
Anyway, I am quite amaze that you spent a fortune on the rig, only to spend more money on cooling and voiding the warranty of your new processor. I would have asked them to fix it since you paid for the service. Desktop should come with onsite warranty right?

There's a problem because it clearly shows that there's tension that's biased on the left side, which means there wasn't contact on the right. Thermal Grizzly has been advocating spreading thermal paste across the whole IHS and they have some videos on Youtube as well. I used to think I should only apply a pea drop, but now, I am convinced to their side lol.

Also yes, I spent quite a bit! I spent money driving around, parking, ERP, $100 for fans, $75 for AIO, $50 for delid, and $14 for Kryonaut.

The relid was done to simulate default intel gluing process, so touch wood, nothing happens and no one will find out also. I won't bother with their onsite warranty because obviously, their technicians cannot do anything when their own hardware design is at fault here :(
 

ajax_84

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
1,615
Reaction score
3
TS should now remove your frostflow aio and used back aftershock's glacier aio, if temp hit back 80's then confirm glacier sucks. If not, then glacier has no problem it was only the way it was mounted?

No, I believe the AIO doesn't suck. It's afterall, an OEM from some manufacturer. It's the mounting that they are using that's at fault. Not sure why they aren't using what other brands are using.
 

Phen8210

High Supremacy Member
Deluxe Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2011
Messages
26,470
Reaction score
6,819
lol, aftershock started by some kid in SG with rich parents.. what you think.. the quality of their "OFFICIAL" youtube channel says it all. They just dont care.
 

xDragon

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
325
Reaction score
1
Not sure what you're trying to indicate here, but I clearly indicated that the actions I did should help significantly, but it doesn't, because the ultimate problem was the 240mm AIO not having good contact with the CPU at all. Not sure if it's your reading that's incoherent.

The actions you took had little significance not because of the bad contact of the AIO, but because those factors themselves have very little impact on temperatures.

Push/pull configuration permutations only account for a maximum of a few degrees of variation, it's more of a matter of dust accumulation and maintenance.

Fans themselves also do not vary that much, unless you're comparing a standard fan to a $60 delta. Hence, another few insignificant degrees. Changing to better fans on an AIO probably won't help much either due to the fin density of these radiators.

Delidding probably makes the biggest difference here, if you want to call any difference significant or not. I'm still puzzled as how you did not notice the backplate problem even though you went to all the trouble to delid you cpu though. At least you found the problem that was truly significant.

Conclusion: You're still deluded with these factors as they definitely DO NOT affect temperatures significantly as you've stated and 'researched'. That's the point that I'm trying to tell you. You're eating fake news and spreading them at the same time lmao
 

Kusanagi

Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2000
Messages
9,480
Reaction score
91
I'm curious how you have done delidding but not knowing the thermal paste problem


yeah this is the same exact question i have on my mind


if you delidded first, you would have detected the bad contact :s22:
 

ajax_84

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
1,615
Reaction score
3
The actions you took had little significance not because of the bad contact of the AIO, but because those factors themselves have very little impact on temperatures.

Push/pull configuration permutations only account for a maximum of a few degrees of variation, it's more of a matter of dust accumulation and maintenance.

Fans themselves also do not vary that much, unless you're comparing a standard fan to a $60 delta. Hence, another few insignificant degrees. Changing to better fans on an AIO probably won't help much either due to the fin density of these radiators.

Delidding probably makes the biggest difference here, if you want to call any difference significant or not. I'm still puzzled as how you did not notice the backplate problem even though you went to all the trouble to delid you cpu though. At least you found the problem that was truly significant.

Conclusion: You're still deluded with these factors as they definitely DO NOT affect temperatures significantly as you've stated and 'researched'. That's the point that I'm trying to tell you. You're eating fake news and spreading them at the same time lmao

Ok I understand what you're trying to say. You're catching on to the word 'research' which indicates I did much scouring for information. I didn't; I only googled for radiator fan placement - most people either put it as top/back push exhaust, or push front intake. The pull front intake was rare to find, hence I concluded that it was the wrong placement. If my deduction was wrong, then ok, please don't listen to me. I also based my judgement on whether I would feel cooler standing in front of a fan, or behind the fan, if that counts :s13: Of course, personal judgement.

As for the Corsair fans, there have been many benchmarks done which pitted them against other fans and they do indeed show good improvements over the good ones available on the market. I was pre-judging the ones I have to be lousy, hence I had hoped to improve the situation by purchasing the fans, which turned out to be of no help because of course, the problem wasn't with the fans.

All in all, the problem with the temperature was with the mounting which caused the insufficient contact. However (personal judgement), I'm sure the Corsair fans and the push front intake did help with a bit of improvement with default fans and pull front intake.


I'm curious how you have done delidding but not knowing the thermal paste problem

yeah this is the same exact question i have on my mind


if you delidded first, you would have detected the bad contact :s22:

When I took out the pump, there was a lot of thermal paste on the CPU. Aftershock had spread out evenly before installing the pump. Thus, I did not suspect contact issue.

Then I took it out, passed it to someone for delid, inserted back, applied Kryonaut (but didn't spread it evenly beforehand, applied 2 pea drops), install pump, temperatures didn't improve, I bought another AIO, took out pump and saw that the contact wasn't there.
 

tmfwy

Supremacy Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2000
Messages
7,445
Reaction score
1
So I had problems with my previous PC. After troubleshooting for some time, and not being able to find out a permanent solution, I decided to just buy an Aftershock system after reading good reviews about it and I was also too busy with work.

I bought a Zeal desktop system during March IT show, and was told to expect it in 2-3 weeks time. When 2 weeks have passed, I have a naggy feeling that it won't be delivered on time. I emailed asking about potential delivery date and was told to check back in another 2 weeks' time. I replied saying that I was expected to receive by 3 weeks, and hence I cannot possibly check back in 2 weeks' time or the delivery schedule will lapse. The representative replied, 'check back in another week's time then'. I felt like he was just not interested in helping me check / ensure punctual delivery.

True enough, when it was close to 3 weeks, I received a call saying certain parts are out of stock and hence they will upgrade certain components, 1 of which would be their in-house 240mm glacier AIO water cooling (which turns out to be the main reason why I'm writing this). I felt happy to receive free upgrades:

1. ASRock Z370m to Z370 (mATX to standard size, which only cost few bucks)
2. Glacier 120mm AIO to Glacier 240mm AIO
2. Due to change in mobo size, standard casing wouldn't fit and I'd need to top up $50 for their Knight Black casing.
3. Case LED lights were out of stock, and I negotiated to forgo my casing led lights in exchange for the free top up to Knight Black Casing which they agreed.

So, I was happy with the change in parts :)

I finally went down to self-collect the pc (because I couldn't wait anymore) after it was 4 days past the 3 week promised schedule. Went home, booted up, everything was ok, except for the unusually high temp. I went online to check and realised that my coffee lake 8600k does indeed run hotter than previous generations due to increased core count and lousy TIM, but with a 240mm AIO, I did not expect almost an instant jump to more than 80 degrees with RealBench or Prime95 (small fft, without AVX). I went to BIOS and turned off MCE and reduced voltage from Auto to 1.15 and checked temp again, still the same. The same spike in temp and always more than 80 (10 sec of Prime95 or 3 min of Realbench).

Fed up, I brought system back to Aftershock and got them to double check on the AIO or the mounting. I also realised that it seemed they have shortchanged me initially on the number of fans I have. I had topped up $30 for 2x ID Cooling case fans, but I only see 1 pathetic case fan which didn't look like ID Cooling at all. It was an SAMGA brand. When I was at Aftershock, the rep told me that the 2 ID Cooling fans I paid for are installed at the radiator, and that the default case only comes with 1 case fan. Aghast, I asked about the radiator's own default fans, and they said that the fans I topped up for are better than radiator's own fans. Hmm, OK fine, I requested for the default fans to be installed in the casing to increase airflow. They agreed. I asked them to check the mounting, they agreed. I asked about the orientation of radiator - it was mounted as front intake, but the 2 ID Cooling fans are mounted as a pull only. It puzzled me - I have done research only and realised that people only install either as PUSH or pushpull, and not just pull only because it's significantly worse than just push only. The rep replied saying it's a case design issue and so they can only install pull only. (Thoughts like, "then why choose this case for customers" floated in my mind).

Anyway I left the place feeling slightly happier that (1) they installed additional 3 SAMGA case fans, and they assured that 8600k runs very hot and it's normal even for a 240mm AIO.

Brought it home, temperatures did not help a single bit. Frustrated, I attempted to change orientation of radiator fans from pull only, to push only. That means, fan to front intake of case, and radiator to fans. I was successful! Why then, did Aftershock tell me that it can't be done?!?! Suddenly, I wondered whether is it because with fans as push only, customers cannot see the bling bling LEDs, hence they went with pull. !@#$

However, after changing orientation, things didn't help much. At most a few degrees. Fed up, I went to buy Corsair ML120 for radiator , and AF120 performance edition for case fans, in the hopes that it was the fans that were lousy. Turns out, after spending close to $100 on fans, things also just improved a mere 1-2 degrees.

Last desperate attempt: I sought a person's help to delid with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. I then applied Kryonaut on IHS before remounting. Happy thoughts of acceptable temps ran through my mind. Alas, temps were worse. It reached 90 degrees!

I finally thought to myself, then it really must be the 240 mm AIO. So I headed down to SLS to buy ID Cooling Frostflow 240 after reading good reviews. When I reached back, I removed the pump and this is what I saw.

vzOtoii.jpg


It obviously showed that the contact was very bad, however I have made sure to tighten all the 4 screws in. There wasn't any leeway at all for me to tighten.

eNYIRc8.jpg


When I removed the backplate, I was absolutely disgusted. They actually used scotch tape to stick the back plate, and because the screws are fixed in length (without soft foam or spring tension screws), there was a gap between the heatsink and IHS. I read about this online where there were comments like how mobo have become slightly thinner in recent years and so the contact between heatsink and CPU may have grown slightly, especially for Asetek based AIOs. The guy who performed delid for me told me about this potential issue as well.

So after the horrifying backplate, and horrifying mere 4 fixed screws for the AIO, I installed the ID Cooling Frostflow 240mm. The mounting was drastically different and much better than Aftershock's version, even though they told me their AIO are OEM sourced from ID Cooling as well.

Voila, finally now my temperatures are perfect. It has dropped from 80-90 to just 53 degrees.

TL;DR: Aftershock needs to improve on meeting deadlines, stop smoking customers on technical stuff, and scrap its AIO for branded ones since theirs are so bad.


I have a question though:

6cL5NE3.jpg


I have installed my new AIO pump differently. From what I could see online, people would install their pump with logo appearing straight, and the tubes are all aligned to the right. I have installed mine with logo pointed right, and therefore tubes are on top. While temperatures are great now, will this orientation cause any issues in future? If so, I'd rather correct it soon. Thanks for helping! :s12:
Waiting for the sequel in 1 or 2 years time when the AIO pump fails...
 

royfrosty

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
27,346
Reaction score
1,139
Actually reading TS skills in troubleshooting, doing enthusiast delid, doing swap of cooler etc.

With all this skills, TS, you could really have build a PC on your own.
 

_DeS__

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
1,651
Reaction score
22
Actually reading TS skills in troubleshooting, doing enthusiast delid, doing swap of cooler etc.

With all this skills, TS, you could really have build a PC on your own.

Exactly, still question mark in my mind why he went for Aftershock.
 
Important Forum Advisory Note
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts.

Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards, Terms of Service and Member T&Cs for more information.
Top