FEATURED The Water-Cooled System picture thread v2.0

[Voodoo Rufus]

45C at almost 400W are great temps to me. You're doing fine.

The DDC 3.1's I think are 3100rpm pumps (6-10W), where the D5 is 4500rpm maxed out. The high power DDC 3.2 (there's so many versions now it's hard to keep track) would do 4500rpm also. The difference is that the DDC rotor has a smaller intake and narrower impeller, which gives it more head than the D5 but lower maximum flow rate for a similar RPM. D5 has a much more open intake and wider impeller outlet. So, yeah, a D5 could flow 6GPM with zero restriction, but add in basic loop components and it'll choke back big time. DDC 3.1's are a nice compromise for noise, pumping power and size.

 

[tiggerlator]

I admit, the reason for the 90's is looks to make the loop neater, it probalbly would flow better without them, but would it look as good?

 

[Woomack]

My D5 had a vibration, even isolating could not stop, so i removed it, using a DDC 3.1 now.

I had problems with most D5's that I owned. The worst was probably the one in EK flat res. It was buzzing at high speed and I could hear rubbing noise at a low speed. It was fine for maybe a month and later it started. Now I try to use DDC in everything, unless it's a review sample. A while ago I was testing Alphacool distro plate with their Apex pump which is pretty much a D5. It was quiet, no vibrations or other noises. So this is the only one I like and I keep it in my AMD test rig.
For most users it doesn't make a difference, especially when their PC is on the ground or covered in some way, so vibrations or rubbing sounds are quiet. However, my gaming PC stands next to the monitor and I hear every noise. When it's repeatable then it's annoying. I guess that with years, I got more sensitive to any weird noises that come from my PC.

One thing I've learned a while ago is that the max liquid temp of 60°C, that you see in specs of nearly every pump, is very true. It's mainly important for SFF, but also regular size PCs when radiator surface is not enough or if pump or fans are working too slow. If you keep pumps to work with high liquid temps then pumps will start making noises or will eventually die (DDC's overheat, D5's usually have other problems).
I always have mixed feelings when I see a high wattage SFF and the builder claims it's silent, works without throttling and everything is great. You can't hear noises in photos, so everything always look good. Barely anyone reports how it works in 1, 2 or 3 months of 24/7 usage.

 

[tiggerlator]

I had problems with most D5's that I owned. The worst was probably the one in EK flat res. It was buzzing at high speed and I could hear rubbing noise at a low speed. It was fine for maybe a month and later it started. Now I try to use DDC in everything, unless it's a review sample. A while ago I was testing Alphacool distro plate with their Apex pump which is pretty much a D5. It was quiet, no vibrations or other noises. So this is the only one I like and I keep it in my AMD test rig.
For most users it doesn't make a difference, especially when their PC is on the ground or covered in some way, so vibrations or rubbing sounds are quiet. However, my gaming PC stands next to the monitor and I hear every noise. When it's repeatable then it's annoying. I guess that with years, I got more sensitive to any weird noises that come from my PC.

One thing I've learned a while ago is that the max liquid temp of 60°C, that you see in specs of nearly every pump, is very true. It's mainly important for SFF, but also regular size PCs when radiator surface is not enough or if pump or fans are working too slow. If you keep pumps to work with high liquid temps then pumps will start making noises or will eventually die (DDC's overheat, D5's usually have other problems).
I always have mixed feelings when I see a high wattage SFF and the builder claims it's silent, works without throttling and everything is great. You can't hear noises in photos, so everything always look good. Barely anyone reports how it works in 1, 2 or 3 months of 24/7 usage.

Mine is right next to me on my left. The noise made some parts in the case vibrate making noise. If i touched the pump, i could feel the vibration. Maybe its a un balanced rotor or something idk, but could not stand it any more. I even had rubber spacers between pump and radiator too, but made no difference. You can see how it was mounted in the pic. 4 screws you can see with a rubber spacer, to the frame mounted on the radiator, even tried a rubber pad between the frame and the radiator, so double insulated, but to no avail. The DDC is silent on max speed. I had to have the D5 on low speed, as at higher speed the vibration was worse.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I was nervous jumping back into the D5 circle, but my modern PWM Improved Watercool branded one is near silent at full speed. Maybe it's because it's bolted inside a massively heavy Optimus pump/reservoir housing, I don't know.

Here's my short list of pumps I've tried:

6W PWM DDC (open rotor) - super weak because of rotor design, but silent. Use a regular rotor and it runs 8-10W and performs like a standard unit.
10W DDC (standard rotor) - 3100rpm or so, likes to be solidly mounted or on a soft sponge to damp noises, but effectively silent inside a case. Good enough flow for reasonable loops
18W DDC - Very high pressure output for more complex loops. 4500rpm gets a bit whiney and annoying to me. Runs warm so a heatsink housing is reportedly important for longevity
Old D5 (Swiftech MCP655 vario) - This was a loud pump with a plastic housing and when hard mounted to a case. Strong flow for low dP loops, even at lower speed settings. Noise was ok at speeds 1-3
New PWM D5 - see comments above. Love it. Downside is that it's larger than the DDC and also pulls around 20W, so they can get warm. But, they're cooled by the coolant (metal rotor bowl) so it's not a big deal. You can also over-volt them reaching peak speed at 14.4V, or go to 24V and drop the current nicely.

 

[tiggerlator]

This DDC is running at 4485, so 4500rpm.

 

[Automata]

Surprised I never posted my desktop here.

 

[tiggerlator]

Put the D5 back in, flow rate is 227lph now

 

[BugFreak]

I did my almost-annual rebuild over the past couple days and here is the result:


I removed the second ITX system so I could tube directly to the reservoir. After months of searching I found a non-extreme Bitspower dual pump top so I could mount the res directly to it. I also removed the front quad radiator and replaced it with a triple and replaced the Mayhems tubing with XSPC. So far the tubing is much better and not sucking in so my flow rate has greatly improved. Lastly I'm giving XSPC Pure fluid a shot this time. The last fluid was the ModMyMods clear fluid that was very impressive. It ran for a little over 2 years with no discoloration or growth of any type. All the blocks were perfectly clean.

 

[67Elco]

Finished the loop last night. Now I get to take it all back apart this morning to polish and clear all the tubing.

 

[Nebulous]

I did my almost-annual rebuild over the past couple days and here is the result:
View attachment 365626

I removed the second ITX system so I could tube directly to the reservoir. After months of searching I found a non-extreme Bitspower dual pump top so I could mount the res directly to it. I also removed the front quad radiator and replaced it with a triple and replaced the Mayhems tubing with XSPC. So far the tubing is much better and not sucking in so my flow rate has greatly improved. Lastly I'm giving XSPC Pure fluid a shot this time. The last fluid was the ModMyMods clear fluid that was very impressive. It ran for a little over 2 years with no discoloration or growth of any type. All the blocks were perfectly clean.

Very nice, but why dual pumps? Redundancy?

 

[BugFreak]

Thanks. Yea, both are fairly old pumps.

Finished the loop last night. Now I get to take it all back apart this morning to polish and clear all the tubing.

I love the copper. The radiator matching makes the look for sure.

 

[Nebulous]

Here's the current rig:

 

[Nebulous]

Forgot to add the 60mm fan I added to the backside of the 3080. Waterblock does a really nice job for the core and other spots, but the backplate on mine sure gets hot something fierce. Found an old AMD 60mm fan and made a shroud so's as to force airflow directly on the core's backside and under the backplate via portholes punched through metal. Fan and shroud attached with trusty dbl sided tape.

You can feel the warm airflow coming off the card and with hours of gaming, temps don't exceed 60c.

Thar she spins

 

[EarthDog]

Nice mod!!! Love it!

temps don't exceed 60c.

...what was the before temps?

 

[Nebulous]

Nice mod!!! Love it!


...what was the before temps?

Thanks! Got to 70's.

 

[Nebulous]

*Update*

Had to upgrade the lil 60mm fan to a 120mm. I noticed the backplate was getting toastier than I liked. Had a spare 120mm bitfenix so's I plopped it on. Great improvement and now the card maxes out at 55c.