I have just setup my new watercooling loop and the DDC pump is stupidly loud: It even overpowers my stock GPU cooler for noise! The pump top is secured tightly and its mounted on rubber O rings so I decided to try the speed control wire but it doesn't seem to work. I have tried plugging it into both my fan controller and motherboard and in both cases it registers as 0 RPM and cannot be turned down. Is it faulty? Apart from it being too loud im also getting terrible temps: stock i7 920 - 40 Idle/82 Load, im not blaming these temps on the pump though as I am yet to try reseating the CPU block. (All specs in sig) Cheers
DDC pumps are not normaly that loud tbh, Have you checked there is no air caught in the pump? As for the temps i would try amd reseat the block although if the pump is being nosiey to could be faulty and not running at full capacity increasing the temps. But on the plus side that loop is very very clean
Thanks Its my third waterloop setup and I spent lots of time mesuring (and browsing your site lol) to get it just right, I think the X flow rad helps the most in keeping it so neat and using less than a meter of tubing in total. If I disconnect all of th fans in the case and stop the GPU fan with my finger the pump sounds exactly like a high RPM fan. Do you think the fact that its connected directly to a large res could cause excessive vibration? Although to touch there is hardly any vibration coming from the pump, res of any of the tubing. I bought this pump from a guy on this forum but I have a second DDC pump so I might try hooking both of these up outside of the case with a makeshift res to compare noise.
If you have a second pump try to come pare them if not just sawp them over and see if it makes it any better. if you still need to reduce the noise then Aquacomputer make a ddc controller
Did you try kicking shaking the pump? If it always sends 0 RPM signal I'd say the pumps electronics are faulty. Is it just bought pump or was it used somewhere else before? EDIT: Nice clean looking system
I'd tend to agree with Jozo on this one, sounds like the electronics could be faulty. Are you sure it's not airlocked? I know it doesn't look like it, but try unmounting it and having a fiddle. From the way you describe the sound it's exactly how it sounds with air stuck in there somewhere. Very nice job though, it's a great looking loop!
you cannot control a ddc pump via the monitoring wire, you'll need to manually adjust the voltage going to it via a high end (20w per channel+) fan controller or a custom rheostat. can you post a pic of how you've mounted the pump, my ddc is also a little noisy but once throttled down is decent. +1 to the faulty electronics theory.
Did a bit thinking The DDC is constructed so it would be lubricated with the fluid it pumps. What coolant are you using? Maybe it doesn't lubricate the pump enough (hardly but worth a try) Did the rotor (the blue/whatever colour thingy) seat in its position correctly after you changed the top for the pump? Maybe something fell inside the pump while you were changing the top of the pump? Hope it helps
Firstly thanks for all your helpful replies and nice comments about my loop Im very proud of it hahaha Im going on holiday this week but as soon as I get back im going to swap them over and try my second pump. I bought the pump unused from a guy on this forum, thats a shame that its brand new yet faulty but if I can get it running quietly I dont mind about not having RPM monitoring. Although I can't see a visible air lock there a chance there could be one in the rad for example and I wouldn't know, before I swap over the pumps I will I will try emptying and refilling the loop. It's mounted like this with rubber O ring separating the pump from the bracket (not pictured) Thanks for for clearing that up about the monitoring wire Using Feser One which seems pretty common but your theory about the impeller is a posibility, when I get back from holiday I will try rebuilding the pump and run both of them with a makeshift res to compare noise like so:
from your mounting, chances are that all vibrations are being carried through the bracket and into the mobo tray (ie amplifying them). the rubber washers that come with the pump are insufficient to stop vibration... i'd mount a piece of soft foam between the mobo tray and the bracket and between the pump and the bracket...
Haha yea I tried to do it with a breakfast bowl but it went everywhere, the milk bottle idea was actually my dads idea but it works a treat!
Ok.. originally I though I had a small leak in my radiator as I foud a couple of drinks underneath my rig but today I looked inside my pc and saw a small puddle of fluid sitting ontop of the pump! its not getting any worse or anything and it looks like it must have came from the "male to male adapter" that connects the pump to the res.. strangly the idle temp has dropped by 3 degrees (ambient is constant), any ideas? I thought maybe theres a bit of pressure or something so I have taken the top off of the res for now. I know I really need to strip this down and fix the problem but im going away this week so all Im going to do is drain the system today to prevent any leaks while im away.
Ok so I couldn't wait, replaced the pump, refilled the system and replaced the "male to male" adapter with one which has longer threads. Its been running 6 hours strong now without any bad signs and the new idle temp is 37 and load is 80 which has made a tiny difference but at least this pump is A LOT quieter with the same mounting method. Next job is to try remounting the CPU block to fix the issue with the temps. For a cooling setup like mine, what should I be expecting temp wise? Using three low speed Yate Loons on the rad and im running them at full whack.
I had a very similar experience recently with a DDC that had been running fine for over a year. Attached it to an EK res pump top and it was like running D4 - horrid screaming noise! I confirmed it wasn't anything to do with the base of the top touching the impeller or anything like that. When I went back to a straight bit of hose from another res into the DDC, this cured the problem. My only conclusion was that the top was maybe touching it but the inlet on the EK res top was very small - much smaller than a 1/2in barb. Maybe DDCs start screaming when the inlet is too restrictive.
Back from holiday, reseated the CPU block and the new temps are 35 Idle and 61 primed which is alot better, its a shame the idle temp is still crappy but 20 degrees off the load temp is great! As for the pump I haven't mounted it back in place yet (sloppy I know) but im just happy to have a working rig. EDIT: Its hitting 88 degrees @ 100% load - 3.3Ghz.. that can't be right! I wanted to keep the max temp below 80 to be on the safe side which means that im going to be stuck at about 3Ghz or less which sucks for an expensive WC setup.. any ideas? Im now thinking that its a faulty chip... This is my third (and best) time applying the paste, I applied a thin layer that was enough to evenly cover the chip and spreaded it evenly with my finger.
Maybe you've got a bit of a curved block or a domed chip? Sounds like a serious delta to me. Have you tried increasing the fan speeds? That'd tell you if it's the cooling loop that simply won't take the heat, or if there's poor transfer of heat from chip to block. Maybe the chip isn't reading the temps properly, but I doubt it's very far out, since the idle temps are pretty realistic.
All 3 rad fans and all case fans were at max speed for those temps. I have run out of thermal paste to take it all apart again but when I buy some more I will check the profile of the chip and block as you suggested, thanks.
Unless you have a HORRIBLE i7 920 chip, there's no way those temperatures should happen. You should be able to run the i7 at that speed on the stock Intel cooler. Have you checked the flow rate through the CPU block? Though unlikely, there's always the off chance that the block could have a flow issue due to manufacturing mistakes. Assuming the flow through the block is okay, I'd +1 what Krikkit said and check the block and chip for non-flat surfaces. Also, I would double check BIOS settings. If the CPU voltage is set to auto, check what voltage Everest or CPU-Z shows for the CPU. It's possible that you could be getting the high temps due to a high voltage on the chip. Again unlikely, but it's an easier check than taking the block back off the chip only to find out it was a BIOS issue.
