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

[Nouvolo]

Waiting for o-rings to arrive. Testing maybe next week. More details to follow.
For the time being, yes, it will just sit on my desk waiting...?

 

[thelaughingman]

Waiting for o-rings to arrive. Testing maybe next week. More details to follow.
For the time being, yes, it will just sit on my desk waiting...?

have I signed up yet? NO, then sign me up pls! ?

 

[oOflyeyesOo]

Damn, final product looks amazing. Been following since you posted. I need one.

 

[Highscore]

Super interested in this as I am currently dealing with an apogee drive ii which killed itself. Running a dual 240 rad + gpu and res set up if that matters to what builds you are looking to test this in.

If you want input on what kind of pumps to design around, DDC is really the only way to go to keep form small but power high. All the companies are just taking the Laing 3.2 or 3.25 and slapping their sticker and shroud on it. Since your block is also including the shroud, you can probably ignore their specs.

What is important to pay attention to is the flow rate at a given resistance. In my loop, 2 rads, gpu block, and about 12 90° fittings, I can napkin math that I have about 3.3 worth of pressure drop. If I want to stay above that magic 1 gpm number, then a 3.2 will give me ~1.25 gpm and the 3.25 will give me 1.3-1.4 gpm. The 3.25 will draw 1.5A to do so and the 3.25 will draw 1.55A to do so. So, a 3.2 would be just fine and have less heat to deal with.

Another pump to consider is the MCP50x as it can put out more pressure and uses a unique design that may avoid the air lock problem of the DDC 3.2(5) design. Not sure on that last part though. Anyway, at my assumed 3.3 pressure drop, the MCP50x should put out ~1.85 gpm, drawing 1.75A to do so. Of course, with such a huge overhead on the flow rate, you could lower the rpm and cut down on noise and heat even further when compared to the DDC 3.2 or 3.25.

Ofc, I am still very new at this, so please point out if I interpreted these graphs and assumed resistances incorrectly.

 

[Nouvolo]

...
What is important to pay attention to is the flow rate at a given resistance. In my loop, 2 rads, gpu block, and about 12 90° fittings, I can napkin math that I have about 3.3 worth of pressure drop. If I want to stay above that magic 1 gpm number, then a 3.2 will give me ~1.25 gpm and the 3.25 will give me 1.3-1.4 gpm. The 3.25 will draw 1.5A to do so and the 3.25 will draw 1.55A to do so. So, a 3.2 would be just fine and have less heat to deal with.

Another pump to consider is the MCP50x as it can put out more pressure and uses a unique design that may avoid the air lock problem of the DDC 3.2(5) design. Not sure on that last part though. Anyway, at my assumed 3.3 pressure drop, the MCP50x should put out ~1.85 gpm, drawing 1.75A to do so. Of course, with such a huge overhead on the flow rate, you could lower the rpm and cut down on noise and heat even further when compared to the DDC 3.2 or 3.25.

Ofc, I am still very new at this, so please point out if I interpreted these graphs and assumed resistances incorrectly.

Thanks for the data, it is super helpful. Seems DDC is the minimum needed to maintain decent flow rate.?

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

Thanks for the data, it is super helpful. Seems DDC is the minimum needed to maintain decent flow rate.?

u/Highscore 's use case is a bit unique though: 12x 90 degree fittings and 2x rads is a lot more in the pressure head department than most are going to fit in a sub 20L chassis. I definitely agree that compatibility with DDC is a must for people who want to take their system to the max, but other pump designs are more than sufficient for single radiator configs in say a Steck, M1, Sliger SM/SV, etc. OptimumTech ran a 9900ks and 2080Ti with a single rad off a 2600RPM DC-LT solo.

That said, I am a firm believer is designing in some margin when it comes to thermal-fluid systems; the last thing you want is to hit stagnation and have thermal run-away.

 

[Highscore]

u/Highscore 's use case is a bit unique though: 12x 90 degree fittings and 2x rads is a lot more in the pressure head department than most are going to fit in a sub 20L chassis.

I don't think 2 rads is out of the ordinary as it seems to be about every other build posted in the NCase. With the introduction of the NR200 as a cheap mainstream imitation of the NCase, and OT popular dual rad Ncase build video bringing a lot of attention to that kind of set up, I think that kind of set-up may become more common place, moreso with this kind of pump/block mod this thread is about. Not the default, but not a rarity either. However, this is all an opinion and not any real data.

So let's talk real data! The given number of 12 90° fittings doesn't really have that large a gap compared to say 6 90° fittings. which might be a more normal number.

6 of my 12 are true 90° and the other 6 are double rotary that I've adjusted to fit my needs, with their angle being between 45° and 90°. For the sake of napkin math, I just overestimated their impact to a full 90° to give the most extreme example. Each 90 fitting causes ~0.06 PSI pressure drop if that source from 2013 is to be believed. So, 12 bends in total account for ~.72 PSI of my total pressure, and cause ~0.5C° rise in temp vs everything being a straight barbed fitting. 6 would account for ~.36 PSI and cause about a .25C° increase in temps vs all straight barbed fittings.

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

I don't think 2 rads is out of the ordinary as it seems to be about every other build posted in the NCase. With the introduction of the NR200 as a cheap mainstream imitation of the NCase, and OT popular dual rad Ncase build video bringing a lot of attention to that kind of set up, I think that kind of set-up may become more common place, moreso with this kind of pump/block mod this thread is about. Not the default, but not a rarity either. However, this is all an opinion and not any real data.

So let's talk real data! The given number of 12 90° fittings doesn't really have that large a gap compared to say 6 90° fittings. which might be a more normal number.

6 of my 12 are true 90° and the other 6 are double rotary that I've adjusted to fit my needs, with their angle being between 45° and 90°. For the sake of napkin math, I just overestimated their impact to a full 90° to give the most extreme example. Each 90 fitting causes ~0.06 PSI pressure drop if that source from 2013 is to be believed. So, 12 bends in total account for ~.72 PSI of my total pressure, and cause ~0.5C° rise in temp vs everything being a straight barbed fitting. 6 would account for ~.36 PSI and cause about a .25C° increase in temps vs all straight barbed fittings.

I think the propensity of double rad builds get skewed by the likeliness to post in a forum like this if you are pushing things to the max (just look at Fabio's post count hahaha). I wouldn't say that double rad builds are necessarily "rare", but I'd say that they are less common in the SFF space, and most often "unnecessary" for most hardware configs outside of the bleeding edge of power consumption (yes some people value silence above all else, and more rads with low RPM fans is one of the best ways to achieve that).

That's a pretty solid resource for flow-rate/pressure-drop curves. I suppose I've just become more accustomed to 5->100 GPM flowrates common in industrial cooling where every 90deg fitting can cause anywhere between 1 and 5PSI drop per fitting. In the 1 to 2 GPM flowrate zone, I see that they are much less impactful that I remembered.

 

[Highscore]

@Allhopeforhumanity

Would you double check something for me? When I add up the resistance the loop creates, should I be subtracting that from the given value of a pumps head pressure value as listed on the manufactures spec sheet and use that to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph? Or should I be using that value to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph I provided above?

I used the later method in my first post, but on review, I think I did it backwards and may need to recalculate.

 

[Nouvolo]

Some photos for the time being ?


Edited: Photos showing transparent blocks. Which finishing do you prefer? Frost seems to be a thing lately?

• Transparent
• Frost

 

[Nouvolo]

@Allhopeforhumanity

Would you double check something for me? When I add up the resistance the loop creates, should I be subtracting that from the given value of a pumps head pressure value as listed on the manufactures spec sheet and use that to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph? Or should I be using that value to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph I provided above?

I used the later method in my first post, but on review, I think I did it backwards and may need to recalculate.

Check out the EK flow rate test with adapters. For practical purposes I think it's easier to monitor the flow rate, and we don't want to go below the magic number (1 gpm), after whatever resistance in between.

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

@Allhopeforhumanity

Would you double check something for me? When I add up the resistance the loop creates, should I be subtracting that from the given value of a pumps head pressure value as listed on the manufactures spec sheet and use that to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph? Or should I be using that value to find the estimated flow rate on the Laing graph I provided above?

I used the later method in my first post, but on review, I think I did it backwards and may need to recalculate.

This is kind of tricky as pressure impedance will often impact the pump speed for a given PWM/Voltage level; meaning that the flow "reported" might be a little off. Canonically, you typically assume that the flowrate is fixed in most industrial systems, and then calculate your total pressure drop, and if the operating head is >50% of the total head source you typically ignore the flow reduction.

My understanding of Laing power curves is that it is considering the pump only, and may not be representative of the pump/housing/rez sytem in all cases. I'd estimate that it's probably safer to refer to pump data directly and take the total dynamic head pressure of the system and find the flowrate that way; so I think you did it how I would have done it.

If someone has an inline flow meter and pressure gauge, and would be willing to test how well their system matches the spec sheet, that would also be very useful.

 

[Fitchew]

Some photos for the time being ?

Houston, we have one little problem - MSI B550i Gaming Edge wifi with it's nonstandard backplate.

 

[Highscore]

Houston, we have one little problem - MSI B550i Gaming Edge wifi with it's nonstandard backplate.

If the screws line up, shouldn't be an issue. My drive ii lines up with the backplate on the MSI B550i, but I have heard other coolers are not compatible.

 

[Fitchew]

If the screws line up, shouldn't be an issue. My drive ii lines up with the backplate on the MSI B550i, but I have heard other coolers are not compatible.

The point is that on this motherboard the thantal capacitors on the back of the processor socket are located differently from other motherboards. Because of this, MSI made a non-standard mounting frame (bracket, plate... whatever). So Nouvolo backplate on 3 image will be incompatible with MSI B550 motherboard. But this is one of the most interesting motherboards. I think that the demand for this board is very high, since it has one of the best VRMs, excellent overclocking potential of memory and processor. Plus, many will buy it precisely because of the installed network card from Realtek, but not Intel.
Although it is possible that I did not understand correctly how the waterblock and pump combo are installed. If this black frame from 3 image is attached above the processor to the pre-installed frame, then, of course, there will be no problems.

 

[Nouvolo]

The point is that on this motherboard the thantal capacitors on the back of the processor socket are located differently from other motherboards. Because of this, MSI made a non-standard mounting frame (bracket, plate... whatever). So Nouvolo backplate on 3 image will be incompatible with MSI B550 motherboard. But this is one of the most interesting motherboards. I think that the demand for this board is very high, since it has one of the best VRMs, excellent overclocking potential of memory and processor. Plus, many will buy it precisely because of the installed network card from Realtek, but not Intel.
Although it is possible that I did not understand correctly how the waterblock and pump combo are installed. If this black frame from 3 image is attached above the processor to the pre-installed frame, then, of course, there will be no problems.

AM4 water block will not come with backplates, and will just use the stock back plate. All AM4 boards should come with its own backplate.

Backplates are for Intel motherboards only. The "backplate" you are referring to could be the mounting bracket.

 

[Fitchew]

AM4 water block will not come with backplates, and will just use the stock back plate. Backplates are for Intel motherboards only. The "backplate" you are referring to could be the mounting bracket.

I see! Thank you!

 

[Shipright]

If you can get this rolling relatively soon you will have time the market perfectly. Block/pump combos are near nonexistent on the market now stock wise.

I prefer transparent on the acrylic.

maybe you addressed this already and I missed it, but how areyou machining the contact/transfer plate?

 

[Nouvolo]

If you can get this rolling relatively soon you will have time the market perfectly. Block/pump combos are near nonexistent on the market now stock wise.

I prefer transparent on the acrylic.

maybe you addressed this already and I missed it, but how areyou machining the contact/transfer plate?

Refer to the cold plates in the photos (the square metallic thing), with micro channels/fins. Once I get the o-rings I will post photos of the assembled version. And then it will be clearer on how the whole thing comes together.

 

[Shipright]

I was curious how you milled them if you did them yourself. But I see you sourced them elsewhere.