D5 water pump - vario vs pwm

[jathor]

hey guys, i'm planning to water cool but I'm having trouble finding the big difference (benefit & drawback) between the d5 vario and the d5 pwm.

 

anything i need to know about? and which would be better and why?

 

thanks for your help!

 

p.s. planning on getting the ek-xres 140 d5 combo but not sure which to get, vario or pwm.

[Grrizz]

I think they are the same performance wise (at least Laing doesn't differentiate between them in their spec sheets - http://documentlibrary.xylemappliedwater.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/22/files/2012/07/SS-07R1_D5-Plastics.pdf) the only difference is the speed control methods where with the vario you set the speed with a manual potentiometer at the back and with the PWM you set the speed via a PWM input (4 pin fan header).

Personally I favour the PWM control because its adjustable on the fly either manually or automatically relative to temperatures and I like making custom controllers for my gear so I get a lot of flexibility with them but if you just want to set and forget it the vario is fine, though I'd probably only pick it if it were cheaper, in saying that it also depends on your setup because if you don't control it by a fan controller or with a motherboard that has software control it would require you to adjust it in the UEFI which might be less convenient...

[DirkW]

With PWM you can adjust the pump speed via BIOS and/or software (either manually or according to temps), while the normal vario requires you to open your case and use a screwdriver to turn that dial on the back of your pump.

[GhostHitWall]

DirkW just answered it, I own both a vario and a pwm.  In reality, vario is easier to fill your loop because you can't use your PC when leak testing.  However, if you have another PC, problem's solved. 

[jathor]

so it wouldnt spin up(turn on) if the pc is off and i want to fill up the system? it doesnt default to max or something?

 

also, any reliability issues between the versions?

 

and is there a benefit to have the pump speed ramp up? i read there is barely a difference.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

hey guys, i'm planning to water cool but I'm having trouble finding the big difference (benefit & drawback) between the d5 vario and the d5 pwm.

 

anything i need to know about? and which would be better and why?

 

thanks for your help!

 

p.s. planning on getting the ek-xres 140 d5 combo but not sure which to get, vario or pwm.

 

If you're going to set the pump on 3/5 for example with the dial on the bottom and leave it there "forever" go with the vario, if you want it to do this manually through PWM or let the CPU do it based on temps go with the PWM version. No drawback really. Although some don't like how the pump changes speeds all the time on PWM.

[Maxwit44]

hey guys, i'm planning to water cool but I'm having trouble finding the big difference (benefit & drawback) between the d5 vario and the d5 pwm.

 

anything i need to know about? and which would be better and why?

 

thanks for your help!

 

p.s. planning on getting the ek-xres 140 d5 combo but not sure which to get, vario or pwm.

 

I'd go with the vario. Setting and forgetting at speeds 2-3 has given the best performance I've found, even for large loops.

 

I've never had a PWM pump, but just not a fan letting the motherboard control pumps, since if you set it wrong, you may not have enough flow through your loop.

[jathor]

interesting, i guess the general consensus is the vario - set it and forget it -

 

thanks for the advice guys

 

now that the hard part is done, time to plan the rest of it!