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EK pump RPM speed question... and bubbles in res

6K views 45 replies 7 participants last post by  Salem13 
#1 ·
I have the EK X-Res Revo D5 PWM 140 and I'm sure I'm being daft here, but how do I change the pump RPM speed? I had it plugged in to just the molex for filling loop, and having now plugged PWM header in to motherboard, it's still doing so. I can't see any option in the bios, just the monitor which shows me the speed (around 4800RPM). I have an MSI X99A board.

Also, I do still have a lot of bubbles around the side of my reservoir. Tubes are clear and the bulk of the liquid in the res is mostly fine... they're just all around the sides. Any ideas? Will they go away in time? Should I leave cap off top until they do?
 
#2 ·
Great question, I can adjust my speed via the motherboard bios or software but I understood it was not advisable to put it on the CPU header?

I have mine on the motherboard chassis fan header.

What I'm electrobaffled by is how does PWM work when it's getting juice from a molex?
 
#3 ·
PWM works independently of DC power. You can connect the pump to any header that supports PWM, and it will control the RPM. This includes CPU header, nothing wrong with that. You should be able to control it via BIOS or software. I've no experience with MSI X99A specifically; it is usually in the monitoring section.

Small bubbles with dissolve with time, cap off or on does not matter, just keep an eye on the coolant level, and top off as needed.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salem13 View Post

Great question, I can adjust my speed via the motherboard bios or software but I understood it was not advisable to put it on the CPU header?

I have mine on the motherboard chassis fan header.

What I'm electrobaffled by is how does PWM work when it's getting juice from a molex?
Because the way PWM works is the fan gets a constant voltage from the PSU molex but the mobo header controller sends a repeating start stop pulse to the fan. So essentially a PWM fan is turning on and off 100s of times a second.

I don't prefer PWM pumps, regardless of the temps of my system I would rather my flow be full blown and constant. If the pump is too loud that way then I use noise dampening efforts instead of slowing the pump down. I think the D5 vario is the best D5, set it to 3 or 4 and forget it.
 
#5 ·
I have it connected to the 'pump' header on my motherboard, so I'm assuming that's correct... some bad mobo design if it's not haha!

I can see the pump speed via a hardware monitoring section in the bios, but there doesn't seem a way to change it. I must be missing something, although I thought with PWM it controls it automatically... but perhaps you need to select a PWM mode first.

The molex must stay connected... the pump wouldn't work at all otherwise, it needs power lol! I recall an EK rep saying on these forums a while back that the new revisions of the X-Res work at full speed with just molex connected, but PWM obviously allows control... I just need to figure out how I obtain that control!
 
#7 ·
No...
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmpxchg8b View Post

Do you see any RPM controls at all in your BIOS?
No I don't, just the read out of what they are... actually, I've just seen a thread on Reddit which may explain what's happening. Apparently, it seems there may be only ONE fan header on this mobo which is PWM controlled, that being the CPUFAN1 header. It is true of the Gaming Pro Carbon board... I have the Titanium. Utterly ridiculous for MSI to do that if this is true!! I currently have x3 Corsair ML120 fans of a splitter plugged in to that header.

mad.gif
 
#9 ·
Are you saying that you have it plugged into the motherboard AND the molex? is the wire going to the motherboard just a single wire? If so that's probably not for pwm and is only for RPM monitoring.

Add a single drop of dish soap to your loop to quickly dissolve all the bubbles and air pockets in your loop. It works as a surfactant to lower the surface tension of the water.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by atomicus View Post

It's two wires, but in a 4-pin connector.
Forget using a pump header on the mobo, i hear they are garbage anyways. Just plug the pwm connector at the cpu fan header and you're done. Its more then likely a true pwm header so might as well try it to that. Then in your BIOS you can set a fan curve (rpm curve in our cases) or just leave it to a single solitary speed.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluej511 View Post

Forget using a pump header on the mobo, i hear they are garbage anyways. Just plug the pwm connector at the cpu fan header and you're done. Its more then likely a true pwm header so might as well try it to that. Then in your BIOS you can set a fan curve (rpm curve in our cases) or just leave it to a single solitary speed.
The only problem is that I already have x3 fans on a splitter connected to what is apparently the only true PWM header on my motherboard. These fans are Corsair ML120's which are on my bottom rad. Unless I could add the pump to this via another 2-way splitter?
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by atomicus View Post

The only problem is that I already have x3 fans on a splitter connected to what is apparently the only true PWM header on my motherboard. These fans are Corsair ML120's which are on my bottom rad. Unless I could add the pump to this via another 2-way splitter?
Could but why not set your three fans on actual fan headers and control em that way? I have an msi z97 board and i know in the BIOS you can set a fan curve on regular fan headers even if they are/aren't pwm.

P.S. Im shocked your mobo doesnt have dual CPU fan headers. I know my gaming 5 has 2 cpu fan headers for dual cpu fans. Try to look around you should def have one. You can use the second one if you have one as its pwm as well.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluej511 View Post

Could but why not set your three fans on actual fan headers and control em that way? I have an msi z97 board and i know in the BIOS you can set a fan curve on regular fan headers even if they are/aren't pwm.

P.S. Im shocked your mobo doesnt have dual CPU fan headers. I know my gaming 5 has 2 cpu fan headers for dual cpu fans. Try to look around you should def have one. You can use the second one if you have one as its pwm as well.
Could I put the x3 fans (on splitter) on an OPTFAN header? Or does it need to be a SYSFAN? Perhaps doesn't matter, but it's VERY difficult for me to access the SYSFAN headers due to my bottom rad, and the other sysfan header is very awkwardly placed on the far left. I know what you mean about only one CPU fan header, surprised me. I have had MUCH older boards with 2, very strange decision by MSI.

Here is my mobo layout... am I missing anything?

 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by atomicus View Post

Could I put the x3 fans (on splitter) on an OPTFAN header? Or does it need to be a SYSFAN? Perhaps doesn't matter, but it's VERY difficult for me to access the SYSFAN headers due to my bottom rad, and the other sysfan header is very awkwardly placed on the far left. I know what you mean about only one CPU fan header, surprised me. I have had MUCH older boards with 2, very strange decision by MSI.

Here is my mobo layout... am I missing anything?

Shocked you only have 1 cpufan from what i can see.

Me personally what i would do, id for sure put the pump on the cpu header. That pump header seems to be only a 3pin header but accepts 4pin. You could check in the owners manual to see if its a true 4 pin. Id put the pump on the cpu header then the fans on sysfan or optfan and either control em with pwm if they are, or with the msi BIOS software and set a smartfan curve.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluej511 View Post

Shocked you only have 1 cpufan from what i can see.

Me personally what i would do, id for sure put the pump on the cpu header. That pump header seems to be only a 3pin header but accepts 4pin. You could check in the owners manual to see if its a true 4 pin. Id put the pump on the cpu header then the fans on sysfan or optfan and either control em with pwm if they are, or with the msi BIOS software and set a smartfan curve.
OK, thanks, I will try that and see how it goes.
smile.gif
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by atomicus View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluej511 View Post

Yea i def wouldnt keep it at 800rpm though thats a bit too low haha.
Will it not ramp up when necessary? Or is that a permanent speed? My CPU is only around 18 degrees idle.
If it's connected to CPU header then yes it should ramp up the speed with temp increase and you should be able to adjust the curve. I would keep it no lower than 50% speed and then do a straight curve to 100% at 50c.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Radnad View Post

If it's connected to CPU header then yes it should ramp up the speed with temp increase and you should be able to adjust the curve. I would keep it no lower than 50% speed and then do a straight curve to 100% at 50c.
18°C at idle for him is pretty insanely cold already haha. Not sure if he lives somewhere cold or has lots of rad space. I run mine at a fixed 3800rpm and have had no issues. Too low a speed and youll see high temps. As long as you have the curve set right its going to ramp up. Just monitor it with hwinfo or something while doing a stress test youll see the cpu fan speed go up.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Klue22 View Post

Remember flow rate does not greatly affect temperatures. You may only see a 1-2 degree difference between 1gpm and 5gpm.

18c can't be his internal temp. Thats 64 degrees f.
tongue.gif
Why not? Mine is 22-23°C with a water temp of 21°C. Not uncommon to have colder ambient temps so its totally possible.

And btw you say flow rate doesn't matter but i went from 54°C on my gpu when i had my pump speed set to 25% after a reset to 44-45°C when i changed it to 75% pump speed. So yea in my case it definitely made a difference haha.
 
#25 ·
I meant internal temp as in cpu core temp as opposed to some CPUs which can read external die temp as well.
As long as the flow rate through a loop is high enough to prevent laminar flow through the blocks and rads temps wont vary by much. Exceptions can especially arise in the case of long single loop systems.
 
#26 ·
I do have x2 360 rads, and I'm in the UK where it's quite cool at the moment. So that helps with temps lol!

One thing that is bugging me a bit now is that with my x3 bottoms ML120 fans (on a splitter) connected to the OPTFAN header, they are spinning higher than they were on the PWM header. Before they would hover just above 400RPM, but with the manual control
Now the lowest I can take them is about 650RPM. The moment I drop below 23% speed they shut down. What's that about?
 
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