Defective noisy pump? (EK-XRES 100 SPC-60 MX)

[W-L]

3 hours ago, Raxxath said:

Well, the new pump arrived. It's definitely quieter, but still nowhere near "silent" at any setting.

I don't understand. This review at Thermalbench shows a 100% SPC-60 is quieter than a D5 at setting 3. And people regularly say that the D5 is so quiet at setting 3 and below that they can't tell it's on unless they put their ear to it. Look at this video from HardOCP where Kyle says exactly that.

I don't know what to do now. The rumbling/grinding nature of this noise is really unpleasant. Much worse than the muffled "woosh" of fans inside of a case, for example. And again, decoupling the pump by picking it up has almost no effect on the sound, so it's not really vibration.

Edit: Pressing on the very center of the bottom of the pump makes some of the noise disappear... what's up with that?

Might be something like the PCB board or something vibrating against the casing, the SPC isn't dead silent and will have some motor noise from my understanding. 

[Raxxath]

Here's a better video showcasing the sound. It's that grinding/buzzing noise that keeps changing in pitch/intensity.

 

Even this german review says "The EK-XRES 100 SPC-60 MX PWM is the quietest pump we have ever tested."

 

 

[W-L]

4 minutes ago, Raxxath said:

Here's a better video showcasing the sound. It's that grinding/buzzing noise that keeps changing in pitch/intensity.

Even this german review says "The EK-XRES 100 SPC-60 MX PWM is the quietest pump we have ever tested."

It sounds almost like air bubbles making it's way into the pump, and the vary sound could be the PWM control changing under system load. 

[Raxxath]

9 minutes ago, W-L said:

It sounds almost like air bubbles making it's way into the pump, and the vary sound could be the PWM control changing under system load. 

In that video it's running at 100% off of a sata connector, so it's not PWM. And when running on PWM, it sounds exactly the same, except the frequency of the sound lowers as the speed lowers. When going down to 35% and below it actually starts to make a "helicopter" noise.

 

I've tilted, shaken, and even smacked the pump and no more air bubbles come out. I actually had a similar problem with the old D-Tek dB-1 pumps where it sounded like air was rattling around inside no matter what I did to release it.

[W-L]

Just now, Raxxath said:

In that video it's running at 100% off of a sata connector, so it's not PWM. And when running on PWM, it sounds exactly the same, except the frequency of the sound lowers as the speed lowers. When going down to 35% and below it actually starts to make a "helicopter" noise.

 

I've tilted, shaken, and even smacked the pump and no more air bubbles come out. I actually had a similar problem with the old D-Tek dB-1 pumps where it sounded like air was rattling around inside no matter what I did to release it.

I know the SPC isn't dead silent as a pump but that doesn't seem normal to me. @EK Luc any insight to what it might be, I'm at a loss. 

[Raxxath]

In an effort to prove that I'm not crazy, I made a recording of my old DDC 3.2 18w. This is known to be a loud pump, and while it's got quite a hum to it... and yet it's substantially quieter than the SPC-60. This can't be right.

 

I suggest putting on headphones and compare this clip to my previous one to get an idea of the difference. The DDC is only a humming sound, while the SPC-60 has humming, grinding, crackling, and slurping.

 

I'm slowly undervolting it as the video progresses, that's why the pitch is changing.

 

Edit: I should also note that it isn't quite running at 100% at the beginning. The fan controller only does 4v to 12v, while the pump can actually use 13.2v when run directly off the molex. The point still remains.

 

 

[EK Luc]

You're really unlucky with the SPC

 

I admit that it's noisy.  I would link those new videos in your RMA if it's not closed.

[Raxxath]

Just an update, I've been letting it run in a test loop for a long time now, and the sound has improved a little. Still not great though. The crackling sound is more intermittent, but there's still an intermittent grinding going on too. Also there's definitely some vibration noise within the unit, but lifting it off of a surface doesn't help. Describing sound is hard, but... Basically a rattling sound builds up, then there's a 'crunk' sound, then it's quieter for a few seconds before the next rattle builds up.

 

And there's still the issue of pressing on the bottom of the pump reducing the noise a lot (is that normal?).

 

Also I noticed mine tops out at about 2370 RPM, while Thermalbench's went up to 2560. My minimum speed is also 200 RPM slower. Does more restriction in the loop slow the RPM down or something?

 

Edit: Here's a video showing the way the noise changes when pressing on the very center bottom of the pump, even lightly:

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Raxxath

[mmurray]

Raxxath, sorry to necro a 3 month old thread, but I wondered if you ever resolved this satisfactorily. I'm having the same issue with this pump although not quite as loud. Did you RMA your second pump?

 

Thanks in advance.

20171211_042617.mp4

[Raxxath]

18 hours ago, mmurray said:

Raxxath, sorry to necro a 3 month old thread, but I wondered if you ever resolved this satisfactorily. I'm having the same issue with this pump although not quite as loud. Did you RMA your second pump?

 

Thanks in advance.

20171211_042617.mp4

 

 

I sent it back and got an EK D5 instead. I run it at 34% speed (a little over 1200 RPM) and decoupled with the spongy foam from a Shoggy Sandwich kit. It's dead silent while inside a case from any reasonable distance. Turning it up higher creates a light whirring sound of the motor, but no other annoying noises.

 

I just don't think the SPC-60 is a quiet pump. There's also the fact that bleeding air with the SPC-60 is a pain, since its maximum power is so low. With the D5, you can turn it to 100% and blast air bubbles out of tight places.

 

Also, Performance-PCs was great through the whole process.

[ctudor]

I have the same model and for almost 2 weeks was making same noise but not all the time; it was getting quiet when the liquid was warm from the use of PC. nows completely gone, never had the problem again. my advice is to add the foam inside the pump(anti-vortex) and connect the "out" of the pump to "in" the CPU block, this way you will create a pressure btw pump and cpu waterblock fins; the pressure helps balancing the pump rotation.

[cougar214]

I have this exact pump and it sprung a leak at the main seal. I have been looking and looking but can't seem to find the seal kit for this or any pumps. Anyone know where the hell I can find the seal kit for this pump?.....

[Jagweya]

I had the same problem as Raxxath, the impeller was in contact with the plastic case, I pushed the central cylinder inside the impeller to create more space, the noise disappeared.