Laing D5 Top Comparison

[skinnee]

Sorry for posting in English, my German makes babies cry.

Alright, here is all of the test data from the individual D5 Aftermarket top tests in one chart per speed setting...I'm not going to muck all this up with details, you can find the full write-up on my site, skinnee labs D5 Top comparison.

A look at the contenders.




Test Methodology

The pump testing loop is a completely separate loop on the test bench. The pump test loop is comprised of a custom built half gallon PVC reservoir, and gate valve for controlling flow. Bitspower 1/2" High-Flow fittings were used for consistency across all D5 pump top tests. I use an assortment of measurement tools for pump testing, here is the list.

• Power: Mastech HY3005D (0-30V, 0-5A) Variable DC Power Supply
• Volt/Amp Measurement: Fluke 23 Series II Digital Multimeter
• Flow: King Instruments 7520 Rotameter, 0.5-5 GPM, 10" Scale
• Flow Control: 3/4" Inlet-Outlet Gate Valve.
• Pressure: Dwyer 490-3 Hydronic (Wet/Wet) Digital Manometer 0.00-50.00 PSI

For each configuration tested, the loop was bled and ran for 20 minutes prior to measurements taken. After 20 minutes, power to the pump was shutoff, and the Manometer was reset to zero PSI. This step ensures a proper measurement of the total dynamic pressure for the pump is recorded. Voltage is adjusted to 12.00 volts in order to achieve a constant voltage across all tests, voltage was verified prior to the 2 minute runtime and verified before measurements were recorded. Also to eliminate and pressure variation, each flow setting was , given a 2 minute runtime before measurements were recorded. For each flow setting the PSI, Voltage and Amperage are recorded.

Performance Results Intro

P/Q Curves

The legendary Martinm210 has the best explanation on pump curves and how to decipher the results, and most of the following information comes from his site, I paraphrased a portion of the explanation from the legend.

Pump Curves or P/Q (P is pressure, Q is flow) curves are derived from two measurements, flow and pressure, and the P/Q curve is just a visual representation of the relationship between flow and pressure. For the curve, maximum flow rate (GPM or LPM) is the X axis and Pressure (PSI, mH2O, ftH20, mBar) is the Y axis.

Almost every pump specification I have ever seen comes with a defined maximum head (or lift) and maximum flow rate. Problem with these curves is they are based on perfect world conditions, where no restriction or resistance are factored into the data and resulting P/Q curve. The key for testing is setting up a test fixture to collect data for all capable ranges of the pump and top in order to develop a real world P/Q which uses the common components in a PC Liquid Cooling System, and that is exactly my goal for each Pump and Top test performed in the lab, we aim for real world scenarios and the resulting data.

One other item to note on P/Q curves is the Trendlines used on the scatter plots. DDC's trendline has a best fit polynomial using a 3rd Order, where as D5's have a best fit with 4th or 5th Order. Now the problem I am running into with Excel is a defect that has been around since Excel 2000 and polynomial trendlines. Sometimes no matter what you do, the trendline will not work on a best fit, the code inside Excel is not consistent. As a result, some of the trendlines you see on the individual test reports will not represent the proper trendline. Additionally, I did not forecast or predict ahead on the compiled P/Q curves for all results, some did not have the Excel bug and some did.




Dynamic Head Pressure

In short, dynamic head pressure is the pressure measurement at the outlet minus the pressure at the inlet or the differential. Dynamic head pressure is a better measurement for the actual pressure the blocks will see in the loop. Many other pump tests have only measured the outlet pressure, which does not take into account the inlet pressure and does not represent a true pressure measurement for your cooling loop. Dynamic head pressure is quite easy to add to the Pump test fixture and requires a T fitting at the pump inlet and a T fitting at the pump outlet. The pump inlet T is hooked up to the negative side of the manometer and the Outlet T to the positive side of the manometer.


Power Consumption vs. Flow Rate

I took Martin's lead on this measurement and included these in the individual test results that you will find at the bottom of each speed setting graph. For each flow setting the voltage was regulated to 12.00 volts as set on the DC Power Supply and verified on the multimeter hooked up for all tests. In addition, the current (amps) draw was recorded for each flow setting, luckily the DC power supply I have has a display for amp draw, initially I had a multimeter hooked up but as tests went on the two displayed identical readings. As with Martin's tests, the voltage regulation and amp draw data recording is really used for the efficiency charts, but power consumption is displayed on the P/Q curve charts for your reference as well.


Efficiency

No shocker here, another test result that was started by Martin and I only feel that it is right to continue providing the information. The efficiency charts are simply a graphical depiction of the water horsepower to break horsepower of the pump at the given flow rate, showing which flow rate the pump (and pump top) will perform with the best efficiency.


Test Results













And there you have it, all the compiled data. Thanks for reading! For the full reviews, please visit skinnee labs D5 Top comparison.

[Madz]

Hey skinnee,

very interesting results. Can you tell us something about the noise developement of the pump? Maybe compared with the ddc1t (with alternative top) or the Aquastream Xt in low frequenzies?

[Nickel020]

Yeah, I would also be interested in that!

Also a comparison graph of the better tops to a DDC 3.2 would be great!

The D5 is used very rarely around here since it has only recently become available at prices that are competitive with the DDC 3.2.

[skinnee]

Let me start out by saying my hearing isn't the greatest, but after radiator testing thus far I do know that Ultra Kaze fans will never be in a build of mine outside of my lab. Mom always warned me about playing the music to loud in my headphones.

After the initial 20 minute loop warm-up is observed, I could barely hear the pump with all of the tops and I am sitting right next to them in order to adjust the gate valve. For each test run I had the pump sitting on a block of Petra's Gel Stuff. Each one of the tops is a lot thicker than stock, I wonder if the additional noise most of you hear is from vibration and from the stock top being thinner, that would explain why I cannot tell much in noise. While sitting at the bench, I have a DDC sitting next to me and I can't hear that pump either. I hear the fans I have, but not the pumps.

I have DDC testing planned, still rounding up tops for the testing. I will be providing a chart showing DDC vs. D5 results.

[MGReader]

Pretty interesting... only problem thus far, I don't understand the graphs
Okay, so on one side, you got Psi, meaning pressure, and the X-axis displays the flow rate, right?
So, that would mean, that you got a chart that displays the flow rate in relation to the resistance in the loop.
Well, if everything I said is correct, that would mean I understood it.
But, let yourself be sure, as I started reading, I did not understand anything.
Aww, crap

Nice test, thanks!

[skinnee]

You're close.

PSI, the Y axis is the Dynamic Head pressure of the pump at the given X-axis. The Laing Stock top @ 2.00 GPM has a dynamic pressure output of 4.06 PSI (2.85 meters of H2O).

I will update the first post to include my explanation of P/Q Curves, which are the charts I included in the first post.

edit:
Done, hopefully that helps explain the charts! Please let me know if you have further questions, I'm here to help!

[MGReader]

Oki thanks, everyday I'm a student

The explantation is really helpful, but I'll look a bit more into the topic, as I'm quite interested in it, myself.

Just one short thing I'd change, if you want to continue posting your results here.
most germans are more used to having the flow rate displayed in LPH, not minute.
A gallon is near to never used here, so you'd probably reach more people.
It's no critique, don't get me wrong, but if you do these graphs in excel, I suppose it wouldn't be hard to just take the LPM value and multiply it by 60- for you, it won't make a great difference, and most internet users are more than a tad bite lazy, and won't do it themselves, and instead ask themselves (as did I) what in the name of Luxx, is GPM?

Anyway, as I've said before, nice test, and with the extra-explantations, it's value grows even more

(If you ever need any assistance translating any stuff in this forum, feel free to ask me)

Cheers,
Marvin

[Nehrun]

Thx for the very interesting trials!
The D5 ist not very common in Germany therefore only few reports are available at forumdeluxx. As mentioned by Nickel020 a comparison with DDC 3.2 would it make easyer to classify the results.


I look forward to read more of your reports.

[skinnee]

Oki thanks, everyday I'm a student

The explantation is really helpful, but I'll look a bit more into the topic, as I'm quite interested in it, myself.

Just let me know if you have any questions, I can always change my intro/explanation to include your questions and corresponding answers to help others.

Just one short thing I'd change, if you want to continue posting your results here.
most germans are more used to having the flow rate displayed in LPH, not minute.
A gallon is near to never used here, so you'd probably reach more people.
It's no critique, don't get me wrong, but if you do these graphs in excel, I suppose it wouldn't be hard to just take the LPM value and multiply it by 60- for you, it won't make a great difference, and most internet users are more than a tad bite lazy, and won't do it themselves, and instead ask themselves (as did I) what in the name of Luxx, is GPM?

That sounds like an excellent idea, I was thinking about that last night when I posted and used these stupid american units. I for one prefer the metric system anyhow.

Would LPH or LPM be preferred? Also, what is the standard unit of measure for pressure? KPa? If you let me know which pressure unit I will include those charts in my standard review as well as change the ones I have posted here.

Anyway, as I've said before, nice test, and with the extra-explantations, it's value grows even more

(If you ever need any assistance translating any stuff in this forum, feel free to ask me)

Cheers,
Marvin

My pleasure! Thanks for the kind words!

[Nehrun]

LPH is the mostly used unit for the flow. For the pressure often the hydraulic head in m Water is used, as far as I know. I would prefer KPa but for most people maybe mH2O is more descriptive.

[MGReader]

LPH is the mostly used unit for the flow. For the pressure often the hydraulic head in m Water is used, as far as I know. I would prefer KPa but for most people maybe mH2O is more descriptive.

Seconded.
The easiest way to look at this would be to just look how all these pumps are described in the various german shops out there.
Most times you get a flow rate (e.g. 400lph, however this is not trusted much) and a messurement for pressure, most times in mH2O. Anyhow, I'd agree with Nehrun and say that KPa would be nice, too.
Maybe just add a nice and clean transformer script onto your webpage? With a link at the top of those graphs, so that you can just click on them and get to a unit transformer. I haven't looked into your website source code yet, but from my school experience I take the cheek to say, it wouldn't be to hard to code

Cheers,
Marvin

[skinnee]

All of the charts/graphs are saved out as images, so a unit transformer would not do much good. What I can do is save out the charts using the units you prefer. Even further I can make a subdomain (luxx.skinneelabs.com or whatever you guys prefer) and host all of the information translated over.

Now where can I find someone enough to volunteer for translation?

For now, I will convert the charts in the original post to use LPH and mH2O, with links to LPH and KPa.

Thanks guys, this helps me a great deal!

[MGReader]

Meee meee take mee pleeeease I'll be a good dog. Can I? Can I? Can I? YES? YES?


*smiles*
I thought more about the lines of a standard unit transformer script, something where you can ENTER the data, and it transforms it. After all, we internet people are lazy, and to google for "Kpa to mH2O transformer" takes sooooo much time ;-)
If you add a subdomain you should look into getting it translated- I would volunteer, unless someone with better English/ more free time comes around ;-)
Cheers (and now off to school, 30 min left for 5km, heavy rain and my bike whooooohooo)

[skinnee]

I do all the conversions in Excel...I enter GPM and PSI, all the conversions happen once I have them setup in my testing templates (pumps, pressure drop, radiators, cpu blocks, chipset blocks, etc.), I create a template so I don't have to recreate the wheel every time.

I've got the kPa, and LPH worked out...just have to implement that into 40 different data tables, and then save out the charts...thats going to take me some time.

Never fear, I'll work on it a bit each night.

Thanks again!

[MGReader]

As I've got to much free time, I translated your test.
Write an email to me (My email is: MGroeb (at) ***** (dot) com ) and I'll send you the word file, or just plain text, as you like it
Cheers, Marvin

[skinnee]

Oh wow!

Thats great news! You have a PM!

[MGReader]

oh lol, why did it censor my Email adress?
anyway, the providername is:

g m a i l

[skinnee]

ok...thats what I was wondering.

haha... *****.com is invalid...lol.

[MGReader]

Yeah, I'm pretty pissed of. Why does this forum censor my provider? Not like it's something illegal to post one's own email address.

That *****.com does not work... pity. Would've been a really cool email provider... But harder so say, "my provider is 5 asterisks