DDC Pump question (EK 3.1 PWM) - High pitched noise

[Owen Chief]

 

this is the pump that came with the Lian Li o11 distro block (https://www.ekwb.com/news/o11d-distro-plate-g1-the-result-of-perfect-collaboration-with-lian-li/), this is my first custom loop and its making a high pitched sound.. its almost like a static noise at times.. I have managed to isolate it as if I put my hand over the back of the unit it completely silences it

 

Is this normal? the whole point of going water cooled was to do with silence for me and having a high pitched whine sure is spoiling that. I've tried turning the pump speed down which does help a little bit (but also gains around 8-10c temp by reducing it greatly) according to core temp.. taking the cpu to higher 60's instead of high 50s with it on full speed (under load)

 

I mean the sound is almost like a static noise, and quite high pitched.. is that normal? I have read the ddc pumps run quite hot so I suppose putting something around it is out of the question too? 

[Wyzzy Moon]

I am afraid that's the downside of pumps. They make noise. There are better and worst pumps but they are not silent.

 

[W-L]

2 hours ago, Owen Chief said:

-SNIP-

Some mechanical noise is normal since there are moving components and water flow but similarly to PSU's it's not unheard of for a pump to have coil whine. As you've tried varying the speed already, try another PWM capable headers or running the pump directly on 12V from the PSU to see if it's possibly due to the combination of that PWM control system and pump.

 

Other than that it's somewhat the luck of the draw where that specific pump you have on hand may coil whine but getting another of the exact same model may not. 

[Owen Chief]

I've been pretty lucky with no coil whine since a psu from 10 years ago and then a GPU i had years later I believe it was an old radeon. Since then I've been lucky (albeit I RMA the graphics card under my 14 day return and got a different one which solved it)

 

(Having to disable c1e on the bios aside that let off a super static high pitch noise in the last year) 

 

What would be the implications of muffling or stifling this noise? I am guessing I need to not cover the back of it due to heat dissipation? having my hand over the back of the pump it completely silences the static high pitched noise. I have a lot of 3M pads and masking tape! lol 

 

I do realise that there is heat sink material inside the units I'm led to believe, the thing is would covering it completely damage the unit or cause it to overheat? I would love a soundproof modded box to slip around it but such a thing won't exist lol 

 

I did lookat other DDC pumps I could swap it out for such as https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-xtop-ddc-3-2-pwm-elite-plexi-incl-pump (would seem pretty easy to remove hte plexi part and fix it to the block as all the DDC pumps are standard size, although most people I read just say to get a D5 that sadly isnt an option..

 

I did a ton of research before venturing on this project and the distro block I felt gave me the perfect mix of style and performance/silence  

[Owen Chief]

maybe its just my rose tinted glasses but i did need to drain my system to RMA the cpu block (light issues) and change over the radiator.. now getting the distro block in question empty proved rather difficult and the best way I found ot do it was instead of going blue in the fact trying to blow a bit of pressure through with my mouth.. well basically i attached the EK leak tester and I used a pump to blow air to force it out..

 

I don't remember the static noise being quite as bad as it was last night to the point i was getting so strung out..

 

I wonder could that have damaged the pump? getting the water to move was a real ball ache at times so you wre having to build up pressure, tilt the case and let it go a bit to move it.. 

 

(as beautiful as the distro block is, draining it when you have 2 x 360 rads is for sure a pain..) 

[W-L]

20 minutes ago, Owen Chief said:

-SNIP-

Yes covering the unit in a box wouldn't be good as the DDC isn't actively cooled by the fluid but by the heatsink on the rear end despicably if it's run at high power. It's probably possible to construct a heatsinked dampening box around it but not worth the effort compared to getting another pump to test. 

 

Try running the pump directly on the PSU so there is no PWM control signal and see if that affects it at all, if so it may be due to the PWM control circuit causing tat whining noise. 

[Owen Chief]

50 minutes ago, W-L said:

Try running the pump directly on the PSU so there is no PWM control signal and see if that affects it at all, if so it may be due to the PWM control circuit causing tat whining noise. 

 

I'll try fish out the PWM to molex adapter I bought recently to fill up the loop and give that a try later

 

Thanks W-L

 

[Owen Chief]

On 2/20/2020 at 2:20 PM, W-L said:

Yes covering the unit in a box wouldn't be good as the DDC isn't actively cooled by the fluid but by the heatsink on the rear end despicably if it's run at high power. It's probably possible to construct a heatsinked dampening box around it but not worth the effort compared to getting another pump to test. 

 

Try running the pump directly on the PSU so there is no PWM control signal and see if that affects it at all, if so it may be due to the PWM control circuit causing tat whining noise. 

 

First and foremost W-L thanks for taking the time to reply to me I do appreciate you going out your way

 

been fairly busy recently with other things so got around to doing the following that you suggested to try eliminate this:

 

I tried using molex instead of the pwm using an adapter I had delivered but the same issue with the static/high pitch noise

I then ordered a replacement reservoir unit from amazon, as stripping out the pump is possible without having to drain it if you just lay it down flat and screw on the pump, that process was fine however the other pump had the same high pitch noise so I swapped the pump back out and returned the 2nd unit. I have seen people online speak about this noice when discussing DDC pumps so perhaps it's normal, and some people who are more succeptible to higher pitch noise frequency are able to hear it better than others.

 

I really love this distro plate but the more I googled online the more it seemed to be deemed as normal that DDC pumps do emit a high pitch noise during operation, so yesterday I contacted the company I bought the distro plate from and explained my issue and they agreed to RMA and refund it

 

I won't lie I'm pretty sad, I've ordered a EK quantum tbe 300 with D5 instead https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-quantum-kinetic-tbe-300-d5-pwm-d-rgb-pump-reservoir-combo-plexi-wc-9wv-ek.html which will be delivered tomorrow. I really wish I could've kept the distro plate though as its almost like a nice wee work of art and really made my first loop I've done feel complete

  

 

Everyone is of the same opinion online that I can see that a D5 is the way to go if you crave a more silent build (well obviously the pump will make a noise.. but not the electrical/static noise) the best way to describe it is, it was like a dampened version of the c1e issues some people have when its enabled and the computer is idling..  or a bit like very mild coil whine from a PSU (not to that extent.. but its ever present) 

 

 

[Kizzster]

The DDC may have been faulty. Someone on reddit says he barely gets a noise like that and he runs it 100% always and claims he doesn't hear it. He did recommend a DDC Housing kit from EK that also comes with a thermal pad for the DDC PCB, Not sure if it helps with noise but definitely a drop in temperature! I might buy that kit for my distroplate. I'm guessing the issue you had may of been the bearings in the pump rotater which is unfortunate if so.

[Letgomyleghoe.]

Well guess who's not buying that distro plate he really wanted...

 

[gnar]

Have the same distro plate, same pump, same issue.

 

The pump makes a loud high pitched noise which sounds kinda like coil whine. The distro plate acts as an amplifier making the sound even worse. Adding rubber washers to the pump screws helped a little bit.