Watercooled DDC?

LRAStart

n00b
Joined
Feb 16, 2019
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6
Hey guys,

First post, hello! I've been doing lots of research on getting my first watercooled system going. For the pump, I am leaning towards the DDC for the sole reason that I intend to move towards an SFF case sometime in the near ish future. Everything I have seen recommends a heatsink on the pump base at a minimum, with the addition of a fan being even better. I am curious though, do any pump bases exist which will route the outflow of the pump into channels around the pump base before going off into the loop? It just seems silly to me to have a heating issue on a component in a watercooling loop. Anyone have experience with this?
 
Size should not be your primary consideration when selecting pump. If space is an issue you should consider a pump-res combo, there are literally dozens of options. Generally speaking the D5 is better in every way but one, the DDC is able to pump water higher, which means it can pump better in highly restrictive loops or loops where the water needs to be pumped much higher than usual, neither of these is likely in a small build.

Reasons you should go for a D5 if at all possible; cooler, quieter, have a much higher flow rate, are less prone to failure and are extremely low maintenance. I've had D5s last a decade before being replaced for no good reason.
 
I have 2 of the ek ddc elite pumps and those bad boys get pretty warm even with the heatsink, I seriously can not believe they sell them without a heatsink and with just plastic! Seems like that would be a fire hazard! I had a D5 style pump before I went with dual ddc's and it didnt even get remotely as hot...

I guess the excessive heat is from ot being so powerful is such a small package... referring to your question about the water going through the pump keeping it cool, I cant answer why that is not an option, it would certainly make sense... but the again if the water was keeping it cool they wouldn't be able to sell there heatsinks....
 
My thought would really just be to replace the heatsink with basically a waterblock on the bottom of the pump. I don't know if that has been done or could be done in a space efficient manner

Deimos, is the DDC really that bad? I understand that this is a highly debated topic in the watercooling world, just seems like a pump/res combo on a ddc is going to save you space compared to a pump/res combo on a D5
 
I guess the excessive heat is from ot being so powerful is such a small package...

Not even close. The difference between the two is the size of the impeller, the DDC has a significantly larger impeller which provides a much higher head pressure. The larger impeller faces a lot higher resistance (inertial resistance, not electrical) when turning the larger impeller in water to make the impeller, and water move. The DDC has to do a lot more work to do to shift less water, more work for a motor = more energy losses to heat.

My thought would really just be to replace the heatsink with basically a waterblock on the bottom of the pump. I don't know if that has been done or could be done in a space efficient manner

Deimos, is the DDC really that bad? I understand that this is a highly debated topic in the watercooling world, just seems like a pump/res combo on a ddc is going to save you space compared to a pump/res combo on a D5

There is no 'debate', each pump serves a purpose, you need to pick the right one for the application. You will only save about half the space of the pump (DDC is 50% smaller) but the trade-offs are not worth it if that is your only concern. If its possible to use a D5, use a D5.

Just keep in mind that the pump (both the D5 and DDC) is already dumping heat in to your loop and if you intend to water cool a DDC pump, you will need to increase the cooling capacity of the loop to compensate. You should avoid putting unnecessary heat in to your loop, for example, chipset and ram water cooling nets no gains for overclocking, so dumping that extra heat in to your loop is going to give you worse temps for the things that could actually do better with lower temps (CPU, GPU), similarly, a DDC probably won't last any longer than just using a decent heatsink. If you go with a DDC, don't bother water cooling it.
 
As for noise levels, this will also depend a lot on application; a restrictive loop, for example, with a lot of height and/or lots of rads and blocks, will cause a pump to be noisier.

My own examples;
computer a) 2 D5 pumps from lowest to highest, half a meter pumping height, three large radiators, CPU block and two GPU blocks is audible (barely) at full speed on both pumps, at 50% they are inaudible and my PC is on my desk.
computer b) single D5, from lowest to highest point, just 10cm of pumping height, CPU, Chipset and GPU block, two thin radiators, the D5 is dead silent at full speed (in a home theater room where any noise is noticeable).

So just keep in mind that a D5 is potentially dead silent at full tilt in a small loop, however I have never personally used a DDC, or even heard one operating, but there are plenty of online complaints about how noisy they are.
 
DDCs are fine for both noise and flow. Obviously if you hard-mount one to a giant sheet metal panel on your case the noise will be annoying, and if you try to use one for a quad-SLI triple-rad dual-proc system you might be a bit disappointed, but for any standard CPU+GPU loop with 1-2 radiators they are, like the D5, massive overkill when you consider the bare minimums needed for PC watercooling.

OP, don't worry about heat. Just get one with a heatsink and make sure your case fans move a little air over it. They do get warm but they're designed that way. Heat will only kill them if you tuck them away in a corner with no airflow or heatsink whatsoever, and even that's debatable.
 
I appreciate the responses guys. FWIW I went with a D5 cuz I found one for a good price. The move to SFF will be a custom case designed by myself anyways, so if I am running into space issues and need to re-evaluate I will.
 
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