Danger Den D5 Monsoon Premium

Intro / Closer Look

If you have been following water cooling, Danger Den is best known for their GPU blocks and stylish acrylic cases–I have a Torture Rack myself–, but Danger Den has decided to expand their product line and the first step in this expansion is the D5 Monsoon Premium Bay Reservoir. If you frequent the Xtreme Systems Liquid Cooling section, you have been seeing sneak peeks during prototyping and the final production phase. The popularity of the thread at XtremeSystems is clear evidence of how hungry the community has been for a dual bay reservoir since the Primochill Typhoon III entered the market and was later pulled to correct problems. We have seen prototype images of the Primochill Typhoon 4, so maybe a comparison test will happen in the future. However, the matter at hand here is the Danger Den Monsoon, so let’s focus and start with some eye candy.

In the second photo above, you can spot the additional mounting hardware in the clear plastic clamshell. The Monsoon is not as wide as a standard ATX 5.25″ Bay, Danger Den includes ISO Mounts (Isolation Mounts) to secure the Monsoon in your 5.25″ bays. Since the ATX 5.25″ standard is followed ever so closely by case manufacturers–yes, there is sarcasm in that statement– Danger Den also includes thin pads to help with the snug fit. You will need to do a dry mount to verify whether you need the additional pads along with the ISO Mounts for mounting and to help lessen vibration. On the top side, we also have the two fill ports plugged with standard G1/4 stop fittings nestled into small overflow basins. “Why two?”, you ask. My guess is for maintaining the visual symmetry. And my guess would be wrong… the second port is there as an air release to aid the fill/bleeding process.

With the packaging and unboxing photos behind us, time to take a closer look and cover some details, but I will let you feast on more photos first… Yes, I am fully aware of the dust in the photos, it is winter in Minnesota and dust wins the battle because I value my sanity over trying to clean every speck from the photos.

First, we pop the lid on the D5 cover, which I will say it is nice to have a cover in the first place, this not only adds to the overall look of the Monsoon but hides the ugly caboose on the D5. As I was securing the lid on the back I did notice one issue, the wires appear to be a bit fat for the lid to sit flush. Small issue, but do not be alarmed if you have the same problem. The final two shots of the group are pretty much requirements any time we talk pumps, we just have to show the business end (pump head and volute) of the pump top (bay reservoir). On the inside, we do not get a view of the chamber that feeds the two outlet ports, this is a sealed compartment and I did not want to take the risk of breaking the unit for a single photo. You will have to use your imagination here. Sticking with the inside of the reservoir, the Monsoonr holds roughly 350mL of water, which is a little larger than your standard tube reservoir.

The last photos we have to share are of the integrated lights (wired for 5v and ground) with the control buttons on the face. The button on the left (when looking at the face) controls the outer lights, right button the inner lights. Buttons are simple on/off, which for me took me a minute to figure out the overly simple controls. I also snapped a shot of the light PCB in case you were wondering how you could replace the LEDs with the color of your choice. Presently the only LED color options are red, blue and UV. The last photo of the set is the Monsoon re-assembled and ready to hit our pump bench.

Continue reading at Skinnee Labs to get all the performance details…