Pump Question

[N-Gen]

Hi guys,

I would like to know if there would be any negative outcomes on running an EK DCP4.0 on a fan controller to turn it down a bit. It's quite noisy at its constant speed and I really don't need all the power right now just cooling the CPU.

Will there be any problems running it with lower values than it is at stock? I don't see why there should be, seeing other pumps have variable controllers, but better be safe.

 

[Bundy]

Hi guys,

I would like to know if there would be any negative outcomes on running an EK DCP4.0 on a fan controller to turn it down a bit. It's quite noisy at its constant speed and I really don't need all the power right now just cooling the CPU.

Will there be any problems running it with lower values than it is at stock? I don't see why there should be, seeing other pumps have variable controllers, but better be safe.

You should check the fan contoller is rated for enough amps or it might burn out.

 

[N-Gen]

You should check the fan contoller is rated for enough amps or it might burn out.

Thanks for that, it completely slipped my mind!

 

[sneekypeet]

pump is only 1.8A most fan controllers should cover that. I did also notice that the pump has a starting voltage of 8V and most controllers will go way below that. Just be sure you arent accidentally turning the pump off. I would normally say just use the CPU fan header on the board and set the PWM function to control it, but even there, the low end of the PWM can deliver 7.5V rendering the pump inactive too. (although most boards will tend to bottom the voltage out at close to 9V, make sure you sre keeping an eye on that pump if you do try this way of using it powered from the motherboard)

 

[N-Gen]

pump is only 1.8A most fan controllers should cover that. I did also notice that the pump has a starting voltage of 8V and most controllers will go way below that. Just be sure you arent accidentally turning the pump off. I would normally say just use the CPU fan header on the board and set the PWM function to control it, but even there, the low end of the PWM can deliver 7.5V rendering the pump inactive too. (although most boards will tend to bottom the voltage out at close to 9V, make sure you sre keeping an eye on that pump if you do try this way of using it powered from the motherboard)

I'm currently running it off of the Chassis Fan #3 header and I get an RPM reading of ~1.9k rpm, assuming this is working properly, I could just monitor a rpm reading on software to see if it shuts off. I tried to change the power on the header using speedfan but it didn't turn it down.

I managed to get a credit note for my H80 and I was looking at the NZXT Sentry LXE since my case sits sideways on a unit, would be handy to have something I can actually monitor.

 

[sneekypeet]

well you can always use a DMM and watch the voltage of the CPU fan header with the PWM on. This way it will be most silent at idle, and as you game and stress it the pump will increase circulation. I say plug a fan into the CPU fan header and see what the voltages are with the bios configured to PWM. As long as you dont drop below 8V you can be sure that the pump will be fine off it.

 

[N-Gen]

I have fans running off both CPU headers at the moment, will give it a look in a few hours when I'm back home. So technically what we're saying is that a 3-pin header on a PWM would be controllable? Or should I use the secondary 3-pin CPU fan header?

 

[sneekypeet]

PWM is set to a sliding scale. Not sure on the ASrock motherboard, but there are other ways in bios to contol the amount of voltage through the CPU fan header (on my GBs). As for the other headers on the board, it really depends on what the PC Health section of the bios offers for each headers control.

 

[N-Gen]

I quote from the ASRock Manual:

CPU Fan 1 & 2 Setting
This allows you to set the CPU fan 1 & 2 speed. Confi guration options: [Full
On] and [Automatic Mode]. The default is value [Full On].
Chassis Fan 1 Setting
This allows you to set the chassis fan 1 speed. Confi guration options:
[Full On], [Automatic Mode] and [Manual Mode]. The default is value [Full
On].
Chassis Fan 2 Setting
This allows you to set the chassis fan 2 speed. Confi guration options:
[Level 1] to [Level 4]. The default is value [Level 4].
Chassis Fan 3 Setting
This allows you to set the chassis fan 3 speed. Confi guration options:
[Full On] and [Manual Mode]. The default is value [Full On].
Over Temperature Protection
Use this to enable or disable Over Temperature Protection. The default
value is [Enabled].

 

[sneekypeet]

Well that makes sense that they are tied together like that, seems your board has dedicated power for coolers with multiple fans

I have to assume Automatic is PWM, you may want to investigate how the Manual Mode works, but keep in mind the fans on the other header will match what you do to the pump on the other header.

This is just to try something for free. There is no reason your fan controller solution wont work!

 

[N-Gen]

Manual Mode uses levels going from Level 1 to Level 10 max for the CPU headers. It should be no problem running the pump from the motherboard alone, I still wanted to get the controller to slow down the 4 fans on the rad, I could only slow down 2 of them, the other 2 were a problem. And besides, them running at 100% 24/7 is kind of annoying along with the pump.

But seeing as I know the board for sure can handle the pump, if I can have variable software control, I'd feel safer knowing that I'm not going to burn out an expensive fan controller. I've already had it happen to me with a 48w Delta fan and my poor Zalman has a burnt header, don't wanna do that again, lol.

 

[sneekypeet]

If you are grabbing a fan controller, look at what NZXT was offering, I know they have a couple that are well into the 30W range, as that pump will draw 18W from the pdf I looked at.

50W per each of 6 channels http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_mix
30W per each of 5 channels http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_mesh

 

[N-Gen]

Those are actually quite good looking, pity the store doesn't stock them. I'll check on the CPU headers to see if I can control the pump from there. If it works I'll just run the pump from the motherboard and just have the fans on the fan controller seeing as I will probably not be pushing the pump to it's max settings often.

 

[N-Gen]

Well so far I only managed to run it at 800rpm on a header which will only do 800rpm max, the noise level was ok but I think I need to push it a bit more than that.

 

[N-Gen]

Update - Ordered the Sentry Mix