Question about pump / flow in a watercooled setup

[Juddog]

In general, does upgrading a water pump for a watercooling setup improve performance?

I currently have a lower end pump and was pondering whether it's worth upgrading it; this is the radiator I'm currently using:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/42...?tl=g30c95s161

I pondered upgrading the radiator as well, since in hindsight I had read that there are better 360mm radiators out there. The reason I initially picked the stealth was in hopes that it would fit in the top channel on my HAF-X case, but it ended up not fitting because of where the barbs are mounted, so I mounted it below the top fan area and left in the top 2 x 200mm fans so that I can cool it in a push / pull configuration (push from bottom, pull from top).

This is the pump I'm using now:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/94...tl=g30c107s153

This was the pump I was thinking about was this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/61...tl=g30c107s153

It's roughly twice the flow rate.

 

[QuantumPion]

Flow rates don't substantially affect cooling performance. All you need is enough head to meet the required restrictions of your loop.

What pump are you using and want to switch to? Your links don't work for me, just post the model name.

"Twice the flow rate" at what pressure? You need to compare the pump curves, not just maximum flow rate which is meaningless by itself.

 

[Juddog]

Radiator: Black Ice GT Stealth 360 Radiator

Current pump: Danger Den / Laing DDC Rev. 3.25 Liquid Cooling Pump - (12 Volt -18 Watt)
138 GPH, 21.75psi, 150 kPa (1.5 bar)
New pump I was looking at: Swiftech MCP655™ 12v Water Pump w/ Speed Control
317 GPH, 50 PSI (3.5 BAR)

I'm not sure about how to compare the pump curves.

 

[EarthwormJim]

The only real reason to move to a D5 pump is if your DDC is too loud.

 

[Juddog]

The only real reason to move to a D5 pump is if your DDC is too loud.

DDC is actually pretty quiet; I can't hear it at all once all of the bubbles were out. I guess I'll stick with it; I was debating expanding my loop to include my video card (right now it's just the CPU) and I had heard that the radiator I was using was in some cases a little restrictive, so I wasn't sure whether to upgrade the pump or not.

I'm still a bit of a watercooling noobie, so even though I've had the setup for a while now and it's been running solid, I was thinking about switching it up a bit. In hindsight I would have used a different radiator and pump from the get-go and installed a flow meter.

 

[QuantumPion]

The flow rate you get depends on the pressure drop of the loop. The DDC pump has more head but lower flowrate. If your loop is fairly restrictive, it will have more flowrate than a D5 pump. If your loop is low restriction, the D5 will give better flow rate. The advantage of the D5 over the DDC pump is that it is quieter, cooler, and more reliable.

 

[dawp]

have you considered replacing the top on your pump? there are several different ones to choose from. Swiftech has the one from their mcp35x and xspc has several.

 

[EarthwormJim]

DDC is actually pretty quiet; I can't hear it at all once all of the bubbles were out. I guess I'll stick with it; I was debating expanding my loop to include my video card (right now it's just the CPU) and I had heard that the radiator I was using was in some cases a little restrictive, so I wasn't sure whether to upgrade the pump or not.

I'm still a bit of a watercooling noobie, so even though I've had the setup for a while now and it's been running solid, I was thinking about switching it up a bit. In hindsight I would have used a different radiator and pump from the get-go and installed a flow meter.

The pump is probably the last area I'd switch up. If anything, just get a different top, maybe even a res top for convenience.

Your radiator is fine too, sure there are better ones out there, but as long as your heat load isn't massive, it should be fine. If you're already reaching your desired delta T for water temperature, a bigger radiator isn't going to make a difference.

 

[Meghan54]

Must have missed it.....what cpu block are you using? Some blocks, despite conventional wisdom, do indeed respond to increased flow better than others.

For instance, the Koolance 370 does perform better as flow rate increases....but only by about 2C between a 1gph flow and a 2gph flow. Other higher end cpu blocks also demonstrate similar cooling curves in response to increased flow rates.

But conventional wisdom says once you achieve 1gph flow (gallon-per-hour), increases beyond usually are insignificant....usually.

But the bigger concern for your loop is obtaining the proper fans for your chosen radiator. That Black Ice GT Stealth is a very high fpi radiator (fins per inch) and very restrictive to air flow through it, requiring high cfm fans with high static pressure. Low pressure fans will never get that rad to perform well at all....

 

[Juddog]

The pump is probably the last area I'd switch up. If anything, just get a different top, maybe even a res top for convenience.

Your radiator is fine too, sure there are better ones out there, but as long as your heat load isn't massive, it should be fine. If you're already reaching your desired delta T for water temperature, a bigger radiator isn't going to make a difference.

have you considered replacing the top on your pump? there are several different ones to choose from. Swiftech has the one from their mcp35x and xspc has several.

I'm not sure what changing the pump top would do - what's the purpose behind this?

Must have missed it.....what cpu block are you using? Some blocks, despite conventional wisdom, do indeed respond to increased flow better than others.

For instance, the Koolance 370 does perform better as flow rate increases....but only by about 2C between a 1gph flow and a 2gph flow. Other higher end cpu blocks also demonstrate similar cooling curves in response to increased flow rates.

But conventional wisdom says once you achieve 1gph flow (gallon-per-hour), increases beyond usually are insignificant....usually.

But the bigger concern for your loop is obtaining the proper fans for your chosen radiator. That Black Ice GT Stealth is a very high fpi radiator (fins per inch) and very restrictive to air flow through it, requiring high cfm fans with high static pressure. Low pressure fans will never get that rad to perform well at all....

Well my existing pump is 138 GPH, so I guess it won't make much of a difference based upon what you say to switch to the other pump.

My fan setup is a triple 120mm fan on the bottom of the rad (pushing from inside the case to the outside) and 2 x 200mm fans on top of the rad (pulling from the case, pushing to the outside), so standard push / pull config. I have the fans set at 1300 rpm's for the 120mm and 900 rpm's for the 200mm's. I didn't want to go much higher because of noise.

My CPU block is a Swiftech Apogee XT (Rev 2).

Also the comment I made about the radiator was due to many people on another watercooling forum saying that the Black Ice GT Stealth wasn't a very good radiator unless you use higher RPM fans. I saw a comparison showing that at 2000+ rpm's the radiator was on-par with most of the others, but at 900 - 1200 range, radiators like the MCR320 beat it. I did try initially to set my fans at 1800 RPM's but it was too loud.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I'm not sure what changing the pump top would do - what's the purpose behind this?



Well my existing pump is 138 GPH, so I guess it won't make much of a difference based upon what you say to switch to the other pump.

My fan setup is a triple 120mm fan on the bottom of the rad (pushing from inside the case to the outside) and 2 x 200mm fans on top of the rad (pulling from the case, pushing to the outside), so standard push / pull config. I have the fans set at 1300 rpm's for the 120mm and 900 rpm's for the 200mm's. I didn't want to go much higher because of noise.

My CPU block is a Swiftech Apogee XT (Rev 2).

Also the comment I made about the radiator was due to many people on another watercooling forum saying that the Black Ice GT Stealth wasn't a very good radiator unless you use higher RPM fans. I saw a comparison showing that at 2000+ rpm's the radiator was on-par with most of the others, but at 900 - 1200 range, radiators like the MCR320 beat it. I did try initially to set my fans at 1800 RPM's but it was too loud.

A new top can potentially improve your pumps performance. At the minimum, a new top lets you use different fittings and possibly combine the reservoir and pump into one unit.

Your only heat load is your CPU. A new pump/radiator isn't going to make a difference. If you start adding in some GPUs, then you should consider upgrading your radiator. XSPCs RX line do very well with low speed fans, and they're not too expensive.