Production Aquanaut Basic/Extreme - Ultra Low Profile CPU Block & Pump Mount Combo

[spdfrek]

I’ve had an Aquanaut for awhile now that I’ve played with on the bench along with an ekwb supremacy evo, and an apogee drive II. Pump is an mcp35x from swiftech. Testing was done with a 10900k on an asus z490-I motherboard, cpu at stock settings. Radiator was a hardware labs gtx 240 with a pair of noctua a12x25 fans. The mcp35x was run at 2200rpm steady during testing. With the ek block I ran the stock mcp35x top. Room

Temps-
Supremacy evo 62.5c
Apogee drive II 63c
Aquanaut 69c

The mcp35x was quieter on the Aquanaut vs the Apogee, and about the same as the dedicated top.

Flow was noticeably lower on the Aquanaut vs Apogee and stand alone top. Where the stand alone and apogee would flow into the res fast enough to stir the air back into the loop, the Aquanaut barely made the bubbles wiggle. I disassembled the Aquanaut and ported out the pump outlet so that it lined up with the impeller a bit better, and saw a nice jump in flow, but little change in temps. I don’t have a flow meter, so aside from watching the movement in the res, I have no solid data there.

I did also see the acrylic bowing a bit on my block (intel) but the o-ring was making good contact. I used some slightly longer screws that I had on hand after test fitting the included ones. Felt more comfortable snugging the longer ones up.

The milling on the cold plate is a bit rough, with some small bits sticking out at the end of the slots. The grooves vary in depth across the plate, and taper as they go up rather the being straight. It was easy enough to get a good mount though, with consistent paste spread each time.

I’d like to see a better milled cold plate, and perhaps alternate material options. I’m found of raw copper and POM. Skip the expense of plating and put the savings into a bit better cold plate!

The upside of the design is it fits well, and keeps a nice low profile for those compact builds! Just a few bits to iron out and it’ll be solid.

*Edit for adding pic of outlet change.
Outlet porting before/after

 

[PKAWA]

If anybody wants a aquanaut I'm selling mine.

Moderator Edit: All sales must be conducted via the Trade section of the forums, which requires a Bronze subscription or higher. Please message an admin if you have any questions!

 

[Post-Newt]

I’ve had an Aquanaut for awhile now that I’ve played with on the bench along with an ekwb supremacy evo, and an apogee drive II. Pump is an mcp35x from swiftech. Testing was done with a 10900k on an asus z490-I motherboard, cpu at stock settings. Radiator was a hardware labs gtx 240 with a pair of noctua a12x25 fans. The mcp35x was run at 2200rpm steady during testing. With the ek block I ran the stock mcp35x top. Room

Temps-
Supremacy evo 62.5c
Apogee drive II 63c
Aquanaut 69c

The mcp35x was quieter on the Aquanaut vs the Apogee, and about the same as the dedicated top.

Flow was noticeably lower on the Aquanaut vs Apogee and stand alone top. Where the stand alone and apogee would flow into the res fast enough to stir the air back into the loop, the Aquanaut barely made the bubbles wiggle. I disassembled the Aquanaut and ported out the pump outlet so that it lined up with the impeller a bit better, and saw a nice jump in flow, but little change in temps. I don’t have a flow meter, so aside from watching the movement in the res, I have no solid data there.

I did also see the acrylic bowing a bit on my block (intel) but the o-ring was making good contact. I used some slightly longer screws that I had on hand after test fitting the included ones. Felt more comfortable snugging the longer ones up.

The milling on the cold plate is a bit rough, with some small bits sticking out at the end of the slots. The grooves vary in depth across the plate, and taper as they go up rather the being straight. It was easy enough to get a good mount though, with consistent paste spread each time.

I’d like to see a better milled cold plate, and perhaps alternate material options. I’m found of raw copper and POM. Skip the expense of plating and put the savings into a bit better cold plate!

The upside of the design is it fits well, and keeps a nice low profile for those compact builds! Just a few bits to iron out and it’ll be solid.

*Edit for adding pic of outlet change.
Outlet porting before/after

My test matches your results:

Stalled - Winter One -- 15.6L SFF case, 3090 Support, 3-slot GPUs, dual 280mm radiators, CFD Optimized Design

man every time I pop into this thread - makes me want one soo bad after seeing the black one.

smallformfactor.net

 

[Brandon86]

I have one of these already and love it, but I have a quick question. Does anybody know what the thickness of the cold plate by itself is? I don’t want to take mine apart right now, but was thinking about trying to use an optimus cold plate v.2 and see if I ended up getting better temps with same setup. The optimus cold plate is 3mm thick. It’s only $50 so I want to try it out and report back.

 

[thelaughingman]

I have one of these already and love it, but I have a quick question. Does anybody know what the thickness of the cold plate by itself is? I don’t want to take mine apart right now, but was thinking about trying to use an optimus cold plate v.2 and see if I ended up getting better temps with same setup. The optimus cold plate is 3mm thick. It’s only $50 so I want to try it out and report back.

IIRC also 3mm and somebody tried it already but mounting holes doesn't line up, and EK cold plate as well.

 

[supey]

I have one of these already and love it, but I have a quick question. Does anybody know what the thickness of the cold plate by itself is? I don’t want to take mine apart right now, but was thinking about trying to use an optimus cold plate v.2 and see if I ended up getting better temps with same setup. The optimus cold plate is 3mm thick. It’s only $50 so I want to try it out and report back.

3mm thick. Sorry, I don't have links to any of the posts but it's been stated a few times throughout this thread.

 

[Nouvolo]

3mm thick. Sorry, I don't have links to any of the posts but it's been stated a few times throughout this thread.

3mm is pretty standard for most cold plates of different brands. Thickness of cold plate not a major factor except for being stronger mechanically and less likely to bend.

 

[srekal34]

@Nouvolo few months ago there was discussion regarding 'premium' version of Aquanaut - with better coldplate and acetal/copper top. Is this still on the cards? Maybe just sell the top and make it compatible with Optimus coldplate?

Replacement CPU Cold Plates

Individual Optimus Gen2 cold plate with latest micron fin design, providing even higher surface area, flow and cooling. Both plates will provide extreme cooling for all applications. Some builders prefer raw copper because it provides the best heat transfer. Our electroless nickel finishes are...

optimuspc.com

 

[Nouvolo]

@Nouvolo few months ago there was discussion regarding 'premium' version of Aquanaut - with better coldplate and acetal/copper top. Is this still on the cards? Maybe just sell the top and make it compatible with Optimus coldplate?

Replacement CPU Cold Plates

Individual Optimus Gen2 cold plate with latest micron fin design, providing even higher surface area, flow and cooling. Both plates will provide extreme cooling for all applications. Some builders prefer raw copper because it provides the best heat transfer. Our electroless nickel finishes are...

optimuspc.com

going to show something here soon

 

[Nouvolo]

[2012-06-25] Development Update

• Sampling of high quality "ultra" micro fin copper cold plate - complete
• complete re-design of the rest of the water block required

Specification

• cold plate size: 62x62mm
• micro fin width/gap 0.25-0.3mm
• micro fin area 40x40mm (cover 100% of Intel Core [32x32] & AMD Ryzen [37x37] CPU)

Main take away points

• "new" version is not yet coming soon, redesign not yet even started
• "new" cold plate costs much more
• expect new version to be considerably more expensive (you get what you pay for)
• planning for 2 versions
  • POM (black) with original copper (colored) plate
  • acrylic (clear) with nickel plated (same copper inside) plate
• no plan to support server grade CPUs (until more support from mini ITX motherboards)

I assume price is not an issue since you guys are ok with Optimus prices?

 

[srekal34]

Awesome, cant wait. I think the mediocre coldplate was what was holding you otherwise great product down. Price is not an issue for SFF-maniacs
May I just suggest to include both mounting plates in the package as well(ofc for increased cost)? Many of us change rigs quite often, additional flexibility would be great.
As for Optimus - I dont think anyone has issues with their pricing. You get what you pay for - quality that is hard to beat. Unlike EKWB, which charges almost the same amount of money as Optimus for products that are barely on Bykski level.

 

[Nouvolo]

Awesome, cant wait. I think the mediocre coldplate was what was holding you otherwise great product down. Price is not an issue for SFF-maniacs
May I just suggest to include both mounting plates in the package as well(ofc for increased cost)? Many of us change rigs quite often, additional flexibility would be great.
As for Optimus - I dont think anyone has issues with their pricing. You get what you pay for - quality that is hard to beat. Unlike EKWB, which charges almost the same amount of money as Optimus for products that are barely on Bykski level.

Cannot tell you how difficult it is to get hold of this cold plate considering the quantities for a small creator. I didn't want to announce anything until I am confident that it is possible. I hope that the factory will keep its promise to make for the small quantities commitment.

And you do NOT want to know how much it costs me to get 3 samples made...LoL guess I have to now get it to market, otherwise I have already lost money . Or I will just make 3 Aquanaut "Personal" edition for myself

 

[Valantar]

The new cold plate looks very promising! I like the way it's cut, which should lend itself well to efficient flow. Speaking of, any idea how the flow characteristics of the new design might be? Is there any chance of it not being reverse flow, or is that simply not feasible within the form factor? Either way I'd be interested, though the pricing talk is making me sweat a bit

 

[evadne]

The new cold plate is probably the most definite change you can make to the product indeed, congratulations.

If you could use the same holes as the Optimus plate then you could consider offering a no-plate version (since you already offer no-pump).

Next step would be to raise QA bar on the acrylic parts IMO…

 

[Nouvolo]

The new cold plate looks very promising! I like the way it's cut, which should lend itself well to efficient flow. Speaking of, any idea how the flow characteristics of the new design might be? Is there any chance of it not being reverse flow, or is that simply not feasible within the form factor? Either way I'd be interested, though the pricing talk is making me sweat a bit

the whole block needs a re-design, due to the bigger cold plate. Will try to make it proper forward flow and to full make use of a jet plate.

 

[Nouvolo]

The new cold plate is probably the most definite change you can make to the product indeed, congratulations.

If you could use the same holes as the Optimus plate then you could consider offering a no-plate version (since you already offer no-pump).

Next step would be to raise QA bar on the acrylic parts IMO…

best will be someone to post the Optimus cold plate dimensions here. Nothing guaranteed though, as mentioned before it is not a good idea to piggy back on other people's product which I have no control whatsoever.

And btw, what's with all the reference of Optimus cold plate (rectangular) for AMD Theadripper server chip (TR4)? I have no plans to make a water block for server cpu at the moment... desktop CPU's are square in shape, and so are the water blocks...

I will just attach a proper Optimus desktop CPU water block photo here, in case people misunderstand for the rectangular cold plate. i.e. Rectangular cold plate looks nice but only exists only in your dreams, that's not for desktop PC users .

 

[srekal34]

Cannot tell you how difficult it is to get hold of this cold plate considering the quantities for a small creator. I didn't want to announce anything until I am confident that it is possible. I hope that the factory will keep its promise to make for the small quantities commitment.

And you do NOT want to know how much it costs me to get 3 samples made...LoL guess I have to now get it to market, otherwise I have already lost money . Or I will just make 3 Aquanaut "Personal" edition for myself

I really appreciate the effort you are making for the community. Some people don't understand how low margins are for such niche products produced in small quantities. As you say - you've already paid for the samples, so it has to come to the market, no one wants to lose money. If the quality will be good, then they will certainly sell - I think you have bigger market now then when Aquanaut originally launched - with cases like Winter One almost requiring such solution. Combined with your revised Steck - it cannot go wrong

If the coldplate is significantly bigger, make sure to test it on some z590 itx(or even wait for Alder Lake release with new mounting) - original Aquanaut was very tight fit on Asrock z370 fatality itx.

 

[srekal34]

best will be someone to post the Optimus cold plate dimensions here. Nothing guaranteed though, as mentioned before it is not a good idea to piggy back on other people's product which I have no control whatsoever.

And btw, what's with all the reference of Optimus cold plate (rectangular) for AMD Theadripper server chip (TR4)? I have no plans to make a water block for server cpu at the moment... desktop CPU's are square in shape, and so are the water blocks...

I will just attach a proper Optimus desktop CPU water block photo here, in case people misunderstand for the rectangular cold plate. i.e. Rectangular cold plate looks nice but only exists only in your dreams, that's not for desktop PC users .

Optimus for TR3 is rectangular, so is Threadripper die itself:

But that's niche of a niche. Let's forget about it

 

[thelaughingman]

I think you have bigger market now then when Aquanaut originally launched - with cases like Winter One almost requiring such solution. Combined with your revised Steck - it cannot go wrong

agree, Ghost, Steck and T1 and the Taobao cases are so prevalent and so they should be the target for Aquanaut or any low-profile pump block solution. Even Wahaha is coming back to his Freeflow, after hiatus from Aquanaut v1 launched. The Barrow one is good but too tall for mentioned cases so I still see good potential for Aquanaut.

But that's niche of a niche. Let's forget about it

greatly put man! there's only 1 MATX TR board and the chipset has no path forward already so why bother.

 

[eedev]

[2012-06-25] Development Update

• Sampling of high quality "ultra" micro fin copper cold plate - complete
• complete re-design of the rest of the water block required

Specification

• cold plate size: 62x62mm
• micro fin width/gap 0.25-0.3mm
• micro fin area 40x40mm (cover 100% of Intel Core [32x32] & AMD Ryzen [37x37] CPU)

Main take away points

• "new" version is not yet coming soon, redesign not yet even started
• "new" cold plate costs much more
• expect new version to be considerably more expensive (you get what you pay for)
• planning for 2 versions
  • POM (black) with original copper (colored) plate
  • acrylic (clear) with nickel plated (same copper inside) plate
• no plan to support server grade CPUs (until more support from mini ITX motherboards)

I assume price is not an issue since you guys are ok with Optimus prices?

View attachment 1121 View attachment 1120

I am very interested =)