Does variable pump speed has any additional value over constant speed?

hello,

i am building a watercooled desk PC, however i have a couple of questions regarding some things. first i will explain the idea to clarify what i want to achieve.

the theme is based on the colour red and green and as a background colour black, this to make the two colours realy pop. the red and green will be UV active. (not sure UV fluid or UV tubing)
also i would like to use two Double helix reservoirs from FrozenQ (with helix colours UV red and UV green).
i want to separate the CPU and GPU waterloop from each other. the idea is one loops runs the colour green and the other one red.

planned setup:

2X EVGA GTX980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB (both will be custom watercooled)
1X ASUS Maximus VIII Hero
1X Intel Core I7 6700K (will be custom watercooled)
2X Corsair vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4-3000 memmory ( 2 sets of 2x4GB, one Red and the other black since the don't have green as a product colour anymore)
1X Corsair RM850X powe supply
plus all the other parts that are needed bud not relevant for this post.

Questions:

1) the motherboard has a dedicated connection for a waterpump as well as 2 CPU fan headers wich i plan to use for the two fans for the CPU radiator. does the variable speed control have a noticeable effect on the noise the pump makes? and can i use the CPU fan headers in combination with it so they ramp up when required?

2) this has a lot in common with the CPU loop when it comes to variable pump speed. the idea was to use the fan header on the GPU to go to a PWM splitter/power inserter to run the pump and fans depending on the GPU temperature. if the variable pump speed is not adviced or not worth it is it possible to power three PWM fans from a single GPU fan header or will i still need a PWM splitter/power inserter?

3) since i use transparent waterblocks i prefer to use coloured liquid, however i am afraid it will cause an unwanted effect in the reservoirs i am planning to use. i am afraid the colour of the liquid takes away a lot of the effect the reservoirs will have. in particular the loop with the red liquid (although the fluid is still somewhat transparant) does anyone of you have any experience with this combination of colours or a simmilar setup? what are your findings? all tips and recommendations are welcome

4) i am having a hard time finding 120mm PWM fans with red or green LED lighting in the same series of fans of any brand so far (i want only the LED colour to be different from eachother). does anyone of you know who has them? they need to create static preasure since they are used for the radiators.

if you have any more questions feel free to ask

thanks in advance,

1. Depends on the pump as to how much, but yes it would.
1a. Depends on your motherboard and how it can control those headers. If you can do them by temp as well as the pump, then yes.
2. ?
3. Use colored tubing, not colored liquid (see beginners watercooling guides in this section on why - gunk/stains, etc).
4. Bitfenix Spectre?

I'm guilty of the colored fluid sin, never again, colored tube only.

to use the fan header on the gpu board, use a power inserter.

Heck yea. I have a Swiftech Apogee Drive II (MCP35X pump). This thing screams like a banshee at full speed. It has a molex plug and a 4 pin header plug for speed regulating. the 4 pin is plugged directly into the CPU fan header. I use the ASUS software suite to control pump speed based on CPU temp. Putzin' around, the pump runs at about 30% (can't even hear it). Prime 95 will spin it up to about 70% (loud but not banshee loud).

lordfrank1 said:

also i would like to use two Double helix reservoirs from FrozenQ (with helix colours UV red and UV green).
i want to separate the CPU and GPU waterloop from each other. the idea is one loops runs the colour green and the other one red.

Click to expand...

Its possible of doing this with colored tubing but you'll have a routing mess to get what you're asking for. Fluid wise, not possible because its one loop.

lordfrank1 said:

planned setup:

2X EVGA GTX980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB (both will be custom watercooled)
1X ASUS Maximus VIII Hero
1X Intel Core I7 6700K (will be custom watercooled)
2X Corsair vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4-3000 memmory ( 2 sets of 2x4GB, one Red and the other black since the don't have green as a product colour anymore)
1X Corsair RM850X powe supply
plus all the other parts that are needed bud not relevant for this post.

Click to expand...

Not true. We need to know all the water cooling parts you've included and last but not least, the PC case. How many rads are you going to purchase? Will they fit in said case? Are you going for a particular Delta-Temp range? FPI? PWM/Non-PWM pump? Quite or noisy rig?

lordfrank1 said:

1) the motherboard has a dedicated connection for a waterpump as well as 2 CPU fan headers wich i plan to use for the two fans for the CPU radiator. does the variable speed control have a noticeable effect on the noise the pump makes? and can i use the CPU fan headers in combination with it so they ramp up when required?

Click to expand...

Can't answer this as I have no clue which pump you're talking about.

lordfrank1 said:

2) this has a lot in common with the CPU loop when it comes to variable pump speed. the idea was to use the fan header on the GPU to go to a PWM splitter/power inserter to run the pump and fans depending on the GPU temperature. if the variable pump speed is not adviced or not worth it is it possible to power three PWM fans from a single GPU fan header or will i still need a PWM splitter/power inserter?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't mod no GPU's fan header. If you want to run temps based off from GPUs, you'll need some type of 3rd party fan curve that allows the input data source to be the GPU. I'm not sure if the Asus software included with your MB does that but I do know you can do that with the Aquaero 6 but that is a whole other beast with its own learning curve and costs.

lordfrank1 said:

3) since i use transparent waterblocks i prefer to use coloured liquid, however i am afraid it will cause an unwanted effect in the reservoirs i am planning to use. i am afraid the colour of the liquid takes away a lot of the effect the reservoirs will have. in particular the loop with the red liquid (although the fluid is still somewhat transparant) does anyone of you have any experience with this combination of colours or a simmilar setup? what are your findings? all tips and recommendations are welcome

Click to expand...

From what I'm getting at, you've been more concerned with the look and "bling" of the loop than the needed basics. Need to switch that thinking a bit while yes, its ok to think about the theme of the build, you're missing a lot of the basics which needs more attention. Just switch up the priorities and you should be on your way.

lordfrank1 said:

4) i am having a hard time finding 120mm PWM fans with red or green LED lighting in the same series of fans of any brand so far (i want only the LED colour to be different from eachother). does anyone of you know who has them? they need to create static preasure since they are used for the radiators.

Click to expand...

I could give you the answer here but feel you haven't done your basic research as of yet but because I'm a nice guy, sure why not. lol Have a look at the Thermaltake Riing RGB fans. You can switch to whatever color you choose. They do have solid colors but feel with the RGB set, you'll have more freedom to choose and change whenever you like.


Hope this helps but advise you head to the stickies and do more research.

thanks for the comments.

@ EarthDog those fans are perfect. thank you.

@caddi daddi it is nice to see my thoughts confirmed, it only means i need to get a adapter cable to use the fan header on the graphics card in order to connect it to the power inserter/ PWM splitter. no problem since i already searched for it and found one.

@Thick8 i am planning to use two Phobya DC12-260 PWM 12Volt pumps. i have one of its predecessors which only has a 3pin header (funny bud true) and i was happy with it's performance and it runs at max speed all the time and it is prety quiet at that speed.

the only thing that i haven't figured out is aboud the coloured liquid, i do prefer it because of the looks, bud the cons are also something to consider.

@GTXJackBauer

1) i am going to build two separate loops each one with one double helix reservoir and a pump of course. so two different colours is possible
2) i am building my own desk where i will build this PC in (as described in the start post) it will be 150cm long and 65 deep, so plenty of space.
3)i am going to use two rads, one for each loop. the CPU will get a 240mm long/ 45mm thick rad. the GPU loop will get a 480mm long/ 45mm thick rad.
4) the idea is to build a quiet computer with a lot of power and capable of running an overclock (moderate) i don't have a specific temperature range i want to stick to and won't be hardcore overclocking it.
5) i am not planning on modding the GPU fan header i want to use its PWM signal to control the pump and fan speed by connecting it to a power insterter/PWM splitter and let that run the components.

i will make a list of all the parts i am planning to use.

thanks in advance

parts for the CPU loop:

1X Intel Core I7 6700K
1X CPU waterblock
1X Double helix Reservoir
1X PWM Pump
1X 240mm radiator
2X 120mm PWM fan

parts for the GPU loop:

2X EVGA GTX980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB
2X full cover waterblock
2X Backplate
1X Double helix Reservoir
1X PWM Pump
1X 480mm radiator

these are the parts i have currently selected to use in my build. the radiators should be more than enough to keep everthing cool. this since my current pc has a single 360mm rad that is 60mm thick and cools 2x EVGA GTX760 SC and a core I5 4570.

i hope this makes things a bid more clear
and this setup runs great.

lordfrank1 said:

parts for the CPU loop:

1X Intel Core I7 6700K
1X CPU waterblock
1X Double helix Reservoir
1X PWM Pump
1X 240mm radiator
2X 120mm PWM fan

parts for the GPU loop:

2X EVGA GTX980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB
2X full cover waterblock
2X Backplate
1X Double helix Reservoir
1X PWM Pump
1X 480mm radiator

these are the parts i have currently selected to use in my build. the radiators should be more than enough to keep everthing cool. this since my current pc has a single 360mm rad that is 60mm thick and cools 2x EVGA GTX760 SC and a core I5 4570.

i hope this makes things a bid more clear
and this setup runs great.

Click to expand...

Ah ok. Got a clearer picture now with what you're trying to accomplish.

Everything looks good other than I would have gone with a DDC pump like a MCP35X or MCP50X, granted they have more head pressure than the D5s but D5s run quieter. I guess the pump you chose should be just fine as long as the loop isn't too long.

Nonetheless, hope you share pics with us when all is said and done.