• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Budget water pump

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

tehnull

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Location
East Flat Rock, NC
Ok I'm looking to spend less than $50 for a water pump but I don't want a piece of crap and I need a pump that will keep me about 5 degrees above ambient. I was thinking hydor L20 but I'm not sure that it's a big enough pump. I've got a chevette heatercore and I'll be using a maze4
 
i would get a L30 or a mag 3. the mag 3 has better performance.

note that the pump doenst determine how your temps will be.
 
Uhm I was under the assumption that higher flow rates = better cooling. I may be wrong in assuming that but I'm pretty sure I'm right...
 
tehnull said:
Uhm I was under the assumption that higher flow rates = better cooling. I may be wrong in assuming that but I'm pretty sure I'm right...


you won't be 5C over ambient, ever

best block on the market gets about .14 C/W

so if you're running a ~100w processor, which you probably are, then CPU temps will be about 14C over water temps, and water temps will be about 3-5C over ambient
 
tehnull said:
ok :-/ greenman how did you mod your fortron for +3% linky?


haha.

your motherboard may read that you are 5C over ambient, but it is BS

in reality it is very difficult to be less than 20C over ambient, even watercooling.

and as far as a linky, no dice, go google. I'll give you a hint, all you need is a screwdriver....the adjustments are inside the case.

if you don't know enough to figure it out on you own, you probably have no business messing with 120 volts
 
water pump has no affect on temps, it all depends from setup water block and radiator, higher flow rate may have some effect but not much like 2C
 
Only Hydor I'd get right now is the L35, it's $54 at DangerDen. The lower models have gotten very shaky reviews, but the L35 looks very promising using less power than the L30, while having more flow too. The Danner Mag 3 is cheaper at $40, and has gotten very good reviews on the forum, but is said to be a noisier pump than most. (Ehiem being regarded as the quietest)
 
the mag3 is a little louder than most, but does have great performance. It also has a prominant leak problem - the inlet thread and the seam between the inlet/outlet and the housing are both notorious leak spots on the mag3. I'm currently leak testing my system and had to epoxy it all shut. It's drying now, so we'll see how it works out in the morning.

And whoever thinks the pump has no affect on temps has not done homework. The flowrate, the heat the pump produces, etc. are all significant factors. Now of course this all depends on the restriction in your system among other things - but there are lots of different pumps for a reason. Different setups call for different head vs. flow ratings. higher restriction = needs more max head.
 
5 C above ambient is a very high performance system. You will likekelly be looking into $70 + pumps and push/pull 77 Bonneville heater core. Even 10C over ambient is a lot of effort in water cooling, it's about $50/1C when you get below that.

Good Luck.
 
Bad_CEKTOP said:
5 C above ambient is a very high performance system. You will likekelly be looking into $70 + pumps and push/pull 77 Bonneville heater core. Even 10C over ambient is a lot of effort in water cooling, it's about $50/1C when you get below that.

Good Luck.

My god, did you not read the thread?

Its IMPOSSIBLE to be 5 degrees above ambient with water. PERIOD. KAPEESH?!

If you're using a maze4, the pressure drop is so low that it shouldnt be that important how powerful your pump is. Just look for something around the eheim 1048 specs, and you'll be fine. Going higher (ie, eheim 1250 range or higher) and you will probably see at most, a 2 degree change... and thats being opimistic.

However, if the L35 is cheap, and its more reliable, go for that, for sure. Head is what counts in pumps, not flow rate, by the way.

Expect to be around the 40 degree mark (real temps, not onboard motherboard temps; they mean nothing. NOTHING)

the best temp you are going to be above your water with a maze 4 is probably about 12 degrees C, give or take. Then, take the fact you've heated up that water, a further couple of degrees (minimum). Add that couple of degrees on, and you've got 14-15 deg C. Then, add that to ambient. This is where you're going to be, with full load. Sitting pretty at 37 degrees in a 21 deg room.

This has all been said by Greenman100, but perhaps with twice the people power promoting it, you'll listen.

EDIT - yes, thats almost exactly what you should see, depending on the CPU and heat load.
 
I'm getting a maxi jet for temporary use until I can save up and get an eheim. Yes I know maxi jets are horrible pumps but for $20 shipped I just can't turn it down. And Greenman I wouldn't really call that a mod as thats what the psu is designed to do. My psu doesn't have adjustable rails :( . As far as performance goes I'm looking to outperform an slk900a with a vantec tornado. will this setup do that?
 
Last edited:
Etacovda, I guess you've never heard of water chillers. You can get 5C above ambient, it's just gonna cost ya a lot more than it's worth.
 
Back