Danger Den MAG II LE (review & pics inside)

[Spam]

And the noise of the pump?

[el rolio]

nice work there buddy

[Petra]

If that was, in any way, a valid enough form of testing to constitute a review, then my name is mud.

If you wanted to do some primitive testing (i.e. lacking any real instrumentation), then I would suggest the following:

- Simple flow tests: Timed filling of a graduated container (at least 2 gallon or so) at free flow. Not sucking water up hill, as you were doing, but by using a large-capacity (or continually fillable) reservoir plumbed directly to the pump's inlet. This test can also be expanded upon by adding common cooling loop components to the pump's outlet (before the graduated container).

- Simple head pressure tests: Using the same reservoir setup as before, connect a long, vertical run of tubing (at least 10' for the MAGII and at least 20'+ for the DDC+) to the pump's outlet and measure the height of the water column which results. Now, the reservoir (depending on how it's set up) will affect the max sustainable head pressure result... However, it would be reasonably easy to find and subtract from your measurement, if it's substantial. If you wanted to throw together a crude PQ curve, then you could cut a foot or so from the end of the vertical tubing run (allowing water to flow out of the top) and then set up some sort of collection pan to catch the water and drain it into the previously used large, graduated container. Do multiple timed runs, then cut another foot off and repeat.

[Seufari]

lol petra's probably right...

[JoeBar]

He definately is.

[Sneaky]

basic head/pressure test:

filled a bucket with water, pump sucks water from bucket, and pumps it up a vertical length of 1/2" ID tubing, marked in 1 foot increments up to 6ft (at the ceiling)




Danger Den Mag II LE - just over 4ft of head:






Laing DDC Rev. 2 w/ Alphacool Acrylic Top (inlet drilled out to 1/2") - pushes water up to 6ft and over the hook that the tubing was on, and flowed back down into the bucket without even thinking twice:






Laing DDC Rev. 2 w/ Alphacool Acrylic Top (inlet drilled out to 1/2") - pushes water up to 6ft and over the hook that the tubing was on, and flowed back down into the bucket again, but had alot more pressure at the end of the tubing when i tried to stop the flow by putting my thumb over the end of the tubing:










***IMPORTANT*** During the head/pressure test with the Mag II LE, I turned the PSU on once, the pump sounded like it was on, but pumped no water (yes it was primed) - I had to hit the pump against my hand in order for it to start - I had to do this anytime I let the pump sit turned off for more than 30 seconds, so it seems that the Mag II LE has some serious reliability/start issues

I will be calling Danger Den tomorrow to explain the issues with the pump not starting, and to possibly return it, as I am not at all satisfied with its performance in comparison to other pumps that I've owned... but I guess you get what you pay for (not that I ever doubted this)

[sdkevin]

go to backyard and climb up to 20ft tree to hang your tube and try to test your DDC again

[Sneaky]

lol, i was gonna go outside, cause i knew the DDC would rape my 6ft head pressure setup, but it was dark out


tomorrow or sometime i might just droop some tubing out my second story window and see how the DDC's handle that

[majestik]

I'm starting to dislike DangerDen. They claim 8ft head, results show 4. If thats not lying, I dont know what is. Oh wait, I know - its marketing!

[eXa]

lol, i was gonna go outside, cause i knew the DDC would rape my 6ft head pressure setup, but it was dark out


tomorrow or sometime i might just droop some tubing out my second story window and see how the DDC's handle that

well you could use and y splitter an 2 tubes, then you get 12feet instead of 6. but thats probably not long enough anyways for an ddc....

[creidiki]

well you could use and y splitter an 2 tubes, then you get 12feet instead of 6. but thats probably not long enough anyways for an ddc....

doesent quite work like that...

[eXa]

why not? with twice the wolume in the tube youll get half the height. should be the same as using a larger tube... it wont be any flow restriction when the water aint moving!

[creidiki]

I think youll find head isnt dependant upon the ID of the tube used...

[yngndrw]

A larger ID tube will hold more weight of water per unit length .. Therefore it would be dependant on ID ?

Can you explain why it wouldn't be ?

[creidiki]

Its not. If you put a large column of liquid above it itll longer to equalize because there's more space for the pump to fill, but the head of a pump is basically v^2/2g, where v is the velocity of the liquid at the periphery of the impeller, and g is simply the acceleration due to gravity. Use feets per second for both and you get the pump's head in feet.

Actual head is modified by impeller design, but dont become confused by inaccurate analogies with solids.

Take a tank of water, and put a pressure sensor at the bottom of it. The only water putting pressure on it will be that which is part of the column of water directly above it. A bigger tank will weigh more, but 2 tanks of different sizes with the same height column of water will have the same pressure for any one point on the bottom.

A pump with a hose is no different than a pump connected to a water tank.

So long as the ID of the tube isnt smaller than the smallest ID in the volute, head doesent change.

[eXa]

oh i see...

[JoeBar]

Nice work Sneaky!
Seems that this DD pump is worse than bigwater's one...

I agree with sdkevin about the tree climbing though.

[Petra]

Okay... yeeaahhh..... something didn't look right about your results, for whatever reason... so I decided to make a few "modifications" to one end of my test-rig-in-progress and do it myself. Anyway, here goes..

The Data:

MAGII LE: (at 11.98V) ~3psig (6.92' -- 2.11m)
3psig ~= 83.03" water column at 4 deg. C (using the same conversion that Lee at SystemCooling does--1.0" = 0.03613psig)

CSP-MAG: (at 11.98V) ~2.8psig (6.46' -- 1.97m)
2.8psig ~= 77.5" water column at 4 deg. C

The Shiy Photos:

MAGII LE:


CSP-MAG:


...and, just so that everyone knows, the MAGII LE turned out to be quieter than the CSP-MAG, the D5, and the 50Z... but, as far as the latter two go, that's no great accomplishment.

None of this says anything about reliability, though... that takes a very large sample to determine (i.e. numerous pumps).

If anyone doesn't understand the setup, take a look at the shutoff valve position or ask me tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing, C-Systems usually does their testing at 12.5V... which is why their specs are a little fishy.

[septim]

its water supply going to pump going to T-1 where 1 branch goes to that sensor above the mobo going to another branch on T-2 then back to Water supply. now the other T-1 branch goes to a smaller T-3 with a Pressure gauge on 1 branch then the other branch going to the T-2 branch before the Water Supply (a larger picture would be nice)

now using C clamp, clamping the smaller tube on T-3 branch so we could messure how much pressure is produced (close up on pressure gauge is required)...

how about testing a ddc ultra if possible request...

[Fairydust]

If the setup is still standing, please measure the power consumption.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

deffiently seems like a nice little pump for the money. ive been considering picking two up to replace my mcp600 which is getting a bit worn out.

[creidiki]

is that nearly 7 feet? thats pretty darn good for something thats smaller than my mouse...

[Rezag1000]

So whats the consesus? Is this pump could for a heatercore, White water CPU block, and Maze 4 GPU block?

[creidiki]

Its a little on the weak side (50Z and D5 have 10 feet, DDC-Pro 12-ish, Ultra 20-ish) for a double-rad, 2-block loop, imo. But its cheap as chips and very small, and quiet.

Depends on what you want from your loop really.

[Rezag1000]

I want to get quality parts right now so I don't have to constantly upgrade, but my budget is also important.

How much of a difference do you guys think a Mag II le vs. D5 would make?