Which pump?

[Mekaw]

So I'm almost complete with my WC setup

setup goes,

600T case
gtx 570 ek wb
EK bay spin reservoir
EK supreme HF acetal nickel
swiftech MCR220 rad
hoses and fittings.

I've looked around for some pumps but I have yet to figure out what to use...

my cpu and 955 black edition C3 at 4.0ghz 1.5V core
940core on GPU with 1.1V

what would be the best pump for mysetup?

I've looked at MCP350 and 355
MCP 655, 655-B

and EK DCP 4.0(almost bought this but it was sold out on DAZ)

[_dangtx_]

655 without speed control. why?

because if you jingle with it a LOT? itll go faster on you.

[Mekaw]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

655 without speed control. why?

because if you jingle with it a LOT? itll go faster on you.

I don't get it..

oh and FYI, i'm using 1/2ID and 3/4" OD tubes if that matters

[gingerbee]

only pumps i have every used are mcp350/5 and the 650/5 and there almost the same when it comes to a basic loop so no worries on any of those great pumps man

[Rison]

hokay. I'm not a fan of swiftech rads (after seeing first hand how others perform against them). And if you're OC'ing your 570 with the CPU in the loop.. you're going to be running warm with only a dual rad. Hopefully you have room to throw 4 fans on it at least.. and get some good static pressure fans (as I say everywhere, i'm a fan of the Scythe SFLEX). I prefer thicker rads (Feser Admiral look promising) that have a better surface area, and have a copper core for better heat transfer.

The 355 pumps are easier to mount because they take up less room, the 655s are a bit bulky. 355s are also louder, but more importantly are 3/8" instead of 1/2" ID. They are also half the flow rate.. about 2 Gal/minute versus 4 Gal/min on the 655s. I've never actually had a 35x, so I can't comment directly on the subject.. but i've had lots of 655/Laing D5's.. and read lots of setups and opinions on the matter.

If I were building a new system for 1/2" and performance - i'd go with a variable 655 or Laing D5, with a EK Xtop. If I were building it for a quieter cooling solution, i'd go with a EK DCP4.0 w/ the resevoir combo that Daz sells, that has the resevoir and pump top built in one. (less space too)

The EK DCP 4.0 run around 800L/H, the 655 is 1200L/H.. with the speed comes noise, but with the variable pump, you can turn it down if it's too noisey.

I also don't like bay resevoirs.. cause historically they leak in the corners, and are a pain in the ass to fill. Don't use additives with alcohol or any weird ingredients in it, or it'll crack or the seals go, and bad stuff happens.

Remember to get a T fitting and put it at the bottom of your loop + a fill port to cap it (to act as a drain port). It will make your life a whole lot easier when you go to drain your loop and do periodical maintenance on it every 3-6 mo.

[charliehorse55]

Really, I would get the MCP350 + XSPC Top. It's going to be the quietest pump you can get, and use the least amount of power. Flow rates over 1 GPM don't give you better temperatures anyways, so it's better to just get a smaller pump that will give you 1 GPM as it will reduce heat, noise and power consumption.

For reference here is a chart of all of the most popular pump's head pressures at 1 GPM (only thing that really matters when comparing pumps)

MCP355 + XSPC Top: 6.14 PSI
MCP35X Stock: 6.13 PSI
MCP655 + EK Top: 4.95 PSI
MCP655 Stock: 4.72 PSI
MCP355 Stock: 4.63 PSI
MCP350 + Top: 4.48 PSI
DCP 4.0 Stock: 3.83 PSI
XSPC 750: 3.59 PSI
655-B + EK Top: 3.38 PSI
MCP350: 3.25 PSI
655-B Stock: 3.23 PSI
DCP 2.6: 2.55 PSI
DCP 2.2: 2.08 PSI

Just to put those numbers into perspective here is how much your average component restricts the loop:

Radiator: 0.20 PSI (EVERY radiator is just around 0.20 PSI, size of the radiator does not affect restriction. Only exception to this rule is the GTX Radiator, it's around 1.0 PSI Of restriction)
CPU Block: 1.25 PSI (Aquacomputer blocks are extremely restrictive, usually 2+ PSI)
GPU Full Cover: 1.1 PSI (Except for the Aquacomputer blocks, they usually restrict around 3 PSI :eek:)
GPU Core Only: 1.3 PSI
Reservoirs/Tubing/Fittings: <0.2 PSI for the entire loop

Simply add up all of your components total restriction and get the pump that offers slightly more head pressure than what you totaled. If you want to run GPU blocks in parallel, add a pressure drop equal to: 1.1 PSI / # of blocks. For example if you had a tri-sli setup in the parallel configuration it would present 0.37 PSI of restriction. GPU blocks in serial simply add up the total with 1.1 PSI per block. (So 3.3 PSI with the above TRI-SLI Setup).

[Rison]

charlie, i've been watercooling for a while and consider myself mostly knowledgeable.. but what you just posted there, confused the shit out of me. I understand the concept of what you're trying to relay - but i'd like to see your reference and testing on the "flow rates over 1GPM don't give you better temperatures" because i'm of the belief more flow across rads = lower temperatures overall to the loop.

I'm not saying you're wrong.. i'm just saying I don't understand. From my limited testing with my own loops - when I turned my 655 pump down, temperatures went up.. even if I turned it from 5 to 4 on the pump. Not a whole lot, but it was definitely noticeable in the temp monitoring programs.

[charliehorse55]

What components do you have in your loop? Older waterblocks were incredibly flow dependent - needing 1.5+ GPM for good temperatures. Newer blocks such as the Apogee XT, EK Supreme HF and the XSPC Rasa achieve their peak temperature with much lower flow rates, usually around 1 GPM.

Also, no matter what the flow rate is the water spends the same amount of time in the radiator. If you double the flow rate the water spends half the time in the radiator per loop, but in the same time period it goes through the radiator twice, thus making the amounts equal.

Here is a nice graph by Vapor that shows this well:



As you can see higher flow rates don't have a huge effect on temperatures, except for the older blocks such as the Apogee-GTZ and the CPU-345

[Mekaw]

I thought about going bigger rad 360 but it won't really fit in the case. well it will but only 240mm of it will see the ventilation hole for WC mount up top so i did consider mounting it outside the case.. but that's not really "practical" I'd like to keep everything in the case.

I already have all those parts on hand, minus few things in transit from daz. are there any other shops that has EK DCP4.0? or is MCP655 the way to go? I'd like to get all the parts locally or within canada and pump is the last thing I need... so I'm most likley going to pick one up from NCIX. hows 35X? is it loud?


damn charliehorse you are on every forum I go to =P

[charliehorse55]

Originally Posted by Mekaw

I thought about going bigger rad 360 but it won't really fit in the case. well it will but only 240mm of it will see the ventilation hole for WC mount up top so i did consider mounting it outside the case.. but that's not really "practical" I'd like to keep everything in the case.

I already have all those parts on hand, minus few things in transit from daz. are there any other shops that has EK DCP4.0? or is MCP655 the way to go? I'd like to get all the parts locally or within canada and pump is the last thing I need... so I'm most likley going to pick one up from NCIX. hows 35X? is it loud?


damn charliehorse you are on every forum I go to =P

The 35X is about as loud as 800 RPM fans at 100% speed, however because of the PWM control when you are idling the pump will automatically scale down to be totally silent. If you buy it off of DirectCanada it's actually on par with the price of the other pumps.

Also, the top of the 600T is easily modified to fit a 360 radiator internally. Just take a jigsaw and cut out that space beside the existing spot for the 240 radiator. Mount the radiator on the existing 240 radiator mount and you should still be able to fit all three fans under the mesh at the top.

I don't know what forums you are seeing me on but I'm only registered on OCN, HWC and Corsair's product forum.