Iwaki Pump Questions

[AllAgainstPaul]

So I'm about to buy a whole new WC setup and heard some conflicting information about Iwaki and Iwaki-like pumps. I can find most of the numerical information online I would like to know people's personal opinions instead of relying on what the store feed me.

First and foremost, what are the differences between the RD series pumps compared to the MD series?

Second, would a RD 30 be able to handle: 1 Swiftect Storm, 2 GPU blocks, 1 SB Block, 1 NB block, 2 RAM blocks, 2 MOSFET Blocks, 2 hard drive coolers, and a BI GTX 480?

Third, How large are the tube fittings on the MD and RD 30s?

Forth, Has anyone used Blueline pumps and how do they compare to Iwaki pumps?

Info on Iwaki MD series pumps
http://www.customaquatic.com/images/...2/MD_IWAKI.jpg

Info on Iwaki RD series pumps
http://www.iwakiamerica.com/nav/cm.aspx?cmid=33

Info on Blueline HD series pumps
http://www.bluelineaquatics.com/prod...r_pump/hd.html

[exhausted mule]

i can't answer on the differences between the md series and the rd series other than what the comparitive specs could tell you.

the outlet of the rd-30 however is 16mm and the inlet is 17.

no experience with the blueline pumps.


I have to ask though... why the sb, hd blocks? fans and a heatsink on the sb would be more than enough.

[Thomas FJ]

Keep away from the MD series... They are not worth it...
The Laing DDC +/18W/Ultra with a aftermarket top is best you can buy for reasonable money

I know that the RD and RLTX etc. series are more power full, but for the same money you can buy 2xDDC +/18W/Ultras, which will give you the same, if not better performance, but certainly better performance/$$ ratio.

www.h2okoeling.dk have testet MD15R, 20R and 30R against the DDC series and the IWAKIs are getting their butt kicked
The tests of the IWAKIs haven't been published yet, but P/Q chart will follow comparing them.
/Thomas

[johnanderson]

Keep away from the MD series... They are not worth it...
The Laing DDC +/18W/Ultra with a aftermarket top is best you can buy for reasonable money

I know that the RD and RLTX etc. series are more power full, but for the same money you can buy 2xDDC +/18W/Ultras, which will give you the same, if not better performance, but certainly better performance/$$ ratio.

www.h2okoeling.dk have testet MD15R, 20R and 30R against the DDC series and the IWAKIs are getting their butt kicked
The tests of the IWAKIs haven't been published yet, but P/Q chart will follow comparing them.
/Thomas

That may be true but I think most people buy iwaki's for their reliability. How many ddc's have you seen fail in this forum compared to iwakis?

[AllAgainstPaul]

I have to ask though... why the sb, hd blocks? fans and a heatsink on the sb would be more than enough.

I want to WC the SB because of how it will be confined to such a small space. I 'd rather not risk it overheating.

As for the hard drives cooler. I don't know how much better they keep a HDD cold compared to having a fan running over the top of it.

[Thomas FJ]

That may be true but I think most people buy iwaki's for their reliability. How many ddc's have you seen fail in this forum compared to iwakis?

Well compared to the amount of people who uses DDC pumps to iwakis, I think Laing is doing a very good job

But if reliability is your only point choosing a watercooling pump there is no way around the iwakis, no argue there.
/Thomas

[Eastcoasthandle]

Iwaki is reliable product and should last a lifetime. I personally prefer to use a power strip and just rely on Iwaki that uses AC then try to worry about a power supply for a water pump. Just turn the power strip off when you are finish using your computer. You'll never accidentally turn on your PC without the pump.

Any case when it comes to P/Q it's totally a subjective opinion when you attempt to relate it to better cooling your PC. As long as you are able to get enough water flow/head pressure it's not relavent if a Iwaki beaten by another brand. I have yet to see these so called "other" pumps cause better then 1 degrees of cooling. Therefore, that argument is mute. What we are trying to achieve is better cooling not the best head or the best flow rates.

I have used a 30 RT vs DDC vs D5 and notice very little (less then 1C) cooling benefit using the DDC or D5 vs 30RT. I don't care what P/Q chart you read it's mute when the objective is cooling. The only reason why I am not using it now is the noise. The only truly negative side to some of MD Iwaki pumps is the power draw and noise. That's it! Some say that all MD Iwaki pumps dump a lot of heat into your loop is false. That kind of statement is just not correct (with the equipment I use). If you have at least a good 3 fan rad (using decent fans) thats no longer an issue (at least for me).

[Whokidmo]

i for one think WCing your HDs is a pretty smart idea, many companies have come out with HDD blocks, in fact all big companies have. HDDs are used just as often as CPUs in computers, transfering files, accessing files etc when you have fast HDD they tend to heat up alot more then other HDDs

i for one have had 2 HDDs burn out on me, air flow isn't reliable. now especially in this persons situation having a small space to work with HDD blocks are an excellent idea.

as for Sb blocks... SB get very hot in OCed mobos, and i do mean very!!! if your mobo is OCed and you push it to it's limit and ur OCing the NB you'll easily burn out your mobo if you keep it that way. as i said air flow isn't reliable, air is like a cheating hot girlfriend, sometimes she makes you very happy and sometimes she makes u sad haha

thats my .02

[Levish]

HDD's need a tiny amount of airflow so watercooling them is anything but needed except in very specialized applications

NB's and SB's are situational.

Or you can just admit that you like the look of watercooling tubes running everywhere and you can get that out of the way. Some people run with a window or the side panel off and others have their cpu tucked out of the way and could care less.

And I disagree with you, airflow is very reliable, I would trust a few yate loon fans more than I'd trust a couple pumps 10-12 fittings and clamps and tubing

[AllAgainstPaul]

So I decide between cooling my hard drives with either the Mountain Mods' 120mm Hard drive rack (Brushed ALU) (http://www.mountainmods.com/product_...roducts_id=326) or water cooling them with the Danger Den Aqua Drive Hard Drive Water Cooler (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/20...tml?tl=g30c203)

What my deciding factor will be is if a single RD or MD 30 can handle 1 Swiftect Storm, 2 GPU blocks, 1 SB Block, 1 NB block, 2 RAM blocks, 2 MOSFET Blocks, 2 hard drive coolers, and 1 BI GTX 480

Now if you're wondering how I will be able to adequately fit all this in all in a single case, don't fret, I will be making my own with the help of a friend who works at a local machine shop.

[AllAgainstPaul]

Also, right now I'm seriously considering getting a Blueline pump, their costs seem much better than Iwaki's pumps with similar specs.

[Thomas FJ]

Keep away from the MD series... They are not worth it...
The Laing DDC +/18W/Ultra with a aftermarket top is best you can buy for reasonable money

I know that the RD and RLTX etc. series are more power full, but for the same money you can buy 2xDDC +/18W/Ultras, which will give you the same, if not better performance, but certainly better performance/$$ ratio.

www.h2okoeling.dk have testet MD15R, 20R and 30R against the DDC series and the IWAKIs are getting their butt kicked
The tests of the IWAKIs haven't been published yet, but P/Q chart will follow comparing them.
/Thomas

I just got the "go ahead" from www.H2Okoeling.dk to publish the P/Q graph.

Here you go:

[WildEye]

This graph does not show any information about the RD-30 pump... It's very different from the MD-30...

[Thomas FJ]

This graph does not show any information about the RD-30 pump... It's very different from the MD-30...

Nope, but I never said anything about the RD series, because I know they are more power full

H2Okoeling.dk would LOVE to test RD series, but they are VERY hard to get your hands on if you don't buy one, and they are quite expensive
/Thomas

[Levish]

What my deciding factor will be is if a single RD or MD 30 can handle 1 Swiftect Storm, 2 GPU blocks, 1 SB Block, 1 NB block, 2 RAM blocks, 2 MOSFET Blocks, 2 hard drive coolers, and 1 BI GTX 480

The deciding factor should not be if the pump can handle it, the deciding factor should be if you want that many blocks in the loop

if you insist on watercooling that many blocks for the sake of your CPU temps I suggest doing a small loop with a 120x2 rad for the cpu and a mcp655 + storm or whatever high restriction block and another loop with the rest and another pump.

Re: Pump PQ curves looks like the MD20R and the MD30R are the best, was it a MD20RZ tested or the plain jane 20R?

[Thomas FJ]

Re: Pump PQ curves looks like the MD20R and the MD30R are the best, was it a MD20RZ tested or the plain jane 20R?

All iwakis are, as written in the top, "just" MDXX-R models...
/Thomas

[Xion X2]

^Yes, but there are different models.

There is the MD-20RL, the MD-20RZ (which I have and which has the best head pressure), and there is the MD-20RLT and MD-20RLZ.

They do not all perform the same.

[Thomas FJ]

^Yes, but there are different models.

There is the MD-20RL, the MD-20RZ (which I have and which has the best head pressure), and there is the MD-20RLT and MD-20RLZ.

They do not all perform the same.

They are very well adware of that

Just for the records, the tested pumps are as written on the graph MDXX-R. Nothing more, nothing less...
/Thomas

[teko]

How do you know what type of MDxxR it is? All the ones i've had, has just been called MD20R and MD30R, and the ones I have now is both called MD20R..

[Mr. Peanut]

If you want an Iwaki, I would get it used TBH. You'll save on shipping from Japan and who cares if its used if they're supposed to last forever?

[AllAgainstPaul]

The biggest reason right now that I want to switch to blueline pumps is all the confusion surrounding the different models and series that Iwaki has. Blueline only has one series of pumps with two variants.

[Eastcoasthandle]

AllAgainstPaul you if you want get D5 from Danger Den and use your PSU as a power source and call it a day. If you get a Iwaki pump you will probably need to go to your local hardware store and by 3 prong replacement cord<---that's the name of it. Don't use a regular extension cord and strip it. That's a NO, NO!!! Because with replacement cord you can buy the same gauge and it's color coded which leaves no confusing guess work. And, that's what its designed for... Another thing, the MDs and the HDs will not fit in your case, most are very large pumps. I had modified my case to allow for external hose to reach the pump however, the noise of the pump was getting on my nerves.

US Standard 3 prong plug
Left prong neutral (white wire)
Right prong hot (black wire)
lower middle prong Ground (green wire)

UK Standard 3 prong plug
Brown (Live / Hot)
Blue (Neutral / Cold)
Green / Yellow (Earth)

I believe that's right

And, you are going to need to get a Female brass hose barb 1/2".


Here is what replacement will looks like although it will vary.

[AllAgainstPaul]

AllAgainstPaul you if you want get D5 from Danger Den and use your PSU as a power source and call it a day. If you get a Iwaki pump you will probably need to go to your local hardware store and by 3 prong replacement cord<---that's the name of it. Don't use a regular extension cord and strip it. That's a NO, NO!!! Because with replacement cord you can buy the same gauge and it's color coded which leaves no confusing guess work. And, that's what its designed for... Another thing, the MDs and the HDs will not fit in your case, most are very large pumps. I had modified my case to allow for external hose to reach the pump however, the noise of the pump was getting on my nerves.

Thanks for the wiring advice, But wouldn't that only apply to (W)MD pumps(which you recommended to stay away from)?

Also, pump size plays absolutely no role in my decision process. I'm making my own supper-wide case (hope to have a diagram up soon) so if I ever decided I wanted to stick an Iwaki MD-70RLZT or a MD-100RLT (lord knows not even the most restrictive and twisting loop would ever need anything remotely that powerful) I would find some way to fit it.

[epion2985]

As an actual OWNER of many of these pumps let me add my 2 cents.

The MD and WMD iwaki pumps are large and do not perform as well as two 18w DDC+. Big heat dump for the flow offered and theya re not very quiet. Not a great choice for pc water cooling. Unless you are running a chiller and need a reliable pump that can take the abuse.

The RD pumps are great. RD20 and 30 specifically. But only 30 really because it costs $15 more and you can always under volt it as it is 24v DC.

An under volted RD30 is on par with dual 18w DDC+ pumps, the later being a little better.

HOWEVER, there have been a lot of failures here on XS and other places of the DDC pumps. The good thing about iwaki pumps at the end of the day they don't break. As really they are made to run for over 15 years non stop 24/7 filtering aquarium water, often sea water which is very mean, which speaks volumes about iwaki pumps and reliability.

In the end of the day if you can find and afford an RD30 get it. You probably wont need another pump for the rest of your life.

Some good comments here about iwaki reliability and DDC failures:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=128888

our very ow NickS makes his point:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...0&postcount=23

[Eastcoasthandle]

Thanks for the wiring advice, But wouldn't that only apply to (W)MD pumps(which you recommended to stay away from)?

Also, pump size plays absolutely no role in my decision process. I'm making my own supper-wide case (hope to have a diagram up soon) so if I ever decided I wanted to stick an Iwaki MD-70RLZT or a MD-100RLT (lord knows not even the most restrictive and twisting loop would ever need anything remotely that powerful) I would find some way to fit it.

No, the (W) really doesn't mean a whole lot other then the fact that it's made in another country (USA I think). Some say that the (W)MD don't use the same reliable parts that come with the MD version. I cannot comment on that aspect. But I can say that the MDs and HDs will require a replacement cord. As an owner of a MD it was a shock to me to get my pump and see 3 spliced wires at the end of it.

As I implied in my previous post, when cooling your PC it's not about the pump that offers the best head pressure or flow rate. It's about finding a reliable, affordable, decent pump that will suit your needs. As I found out pumps that offer better head pressure or flow rate doesn't always translate to better cooling (as other cooling components come into play like type of rad, fans, etc) so that aspect is a waste of time if your objective is cooling. However, if you want bragging rights then by all means...