Laing DDC-1T Plus PWM vs EK DDC 4.2 PWM

ShadowChaser · June 12, 2023

The off-brand DDC I have in my NCase + Iceman loop is starting to run loud and hot and I'd like to replace it with something that's more performant and can be speed controlled. I'm not sure if I should go with the lower power, lower performance DDC-1T from Laing or the higher power, higher performance DDC 4.2 from EK.

I know the EK uses SATA instead of Molex but since I have no other SATA or Molex devices I need to run dedicated power for this pump anyway. I am fairly certain the water pump header on my motherboard supports up to 3A of power so I could potentially rewire the pump into a standard 4-pin fan connector.

Would I expect to see dramatically decreased performance with the DDC-1T given that the loop is fairly constricted? Given that DDCs are more pressure optimized than D5s I'd expect it to be a non-issue but if anyone has more experience on the matter could chip in just to make sure that would be great.

2x XSPC TX240
Bykski 3070 GPU Block
EK Quantum AM4 CPU Block

Since both are DDC pumps the pump base should be the same thickness, right? Assuming that I am keeping the stock plastic housing and not installing any metal housing or heatsink.

The 1T is quite a bit cheaper than the 4.2 so if it's adequate for my needs I'd just choose that one. If anyone would like to share their experience with either of these pumps I'd appreciate it!