D-Tek Fuzion Nozzle Kit Pressure Drop Test Results

[Martinm210]

So the latest thing with the Fuzion is to get the nozzle kit, yet everyone asks what nozzle is best? The answer obviously depends on your particular setup. But the Fuzion has always been known to be very free flowing, with little pressure drop. This is great for multiple block loops because the block without a nozzle won't effect flow rates too much for other blocks and your radiator in the same loop.

But...what happens when you add in the commercial washer and a nozzle from the kit?

Let's see...

Measurement
First up is inspection and measuring of the nozzles:
You get 5 nozzles to choose from:

3.6mm , 4.4mm, 5.5mm, 6.3mm, Quad 7.3mm x 2.8mm split


Testing Sample (3.6mm pegs manometer)
Here is a quick sample of in action testing of the 3.6mm nozzle. Extremly restrictive!!. I can barely even get over 1 GPM and max out my manometer. My testing equipement consists of a Dwyer Series 475 Mark III model with a pressure range of 0.0-199.9 IN WC. Accuracy is .5 to 1.5% depending on temperature. My flow meter is a King Instruments Acrylic 7520 series (250mm scale) with stainless parts 14" length .5-5.0 GPM. I can read it fairly well with the large size down to .01GPM and it has an accuracy of 2% of full scale.


And now onto each nozzle with washer results:










And the summary chart showing each nozzle curve as well as the stock plus washer, stock without washer, and D-Tek's own published curve from the D-Tek site. The only thing I'd like to note is my Fuzion was previously bowed with an o-ring, so the dark blue (no washer) curve is possibly going to be lower than a straight from the box fuzion because the bowing likely has left the gap between the top and middle chambers a little larger allowing more water to bypass the block. The remainder of the curves should be representative of what you might expect.



Summary

• The nozzles with washer are more restrictive than expected. The 3.6mm will put any pump to a crawl (D5 and DDC will be lucky to see 1GPM), up to the Quad nozzle which only has moderate losses. Overall though a good range of nozzles to choose from.
• There is a suprising amount of water that bypasses the block without a washer. I would recommend anyone with a fuzion to at least run a washer in place. It won't bow the block and is extremely easy to install. All of the nozzles are very easy to install and remove as well.
• Pressure drop (as expected) is relatively proportional to the nozzle size with the Quad nozzle being the least restrictive and 3.6mm nozzle bing the most restrictive.

Recommendation

CPU only loop - Install the most restrictive nozzle that gives you the best possible temps. High powered pumps like the Iwakis may favor the 3.6 or 4.4mm nozzle. More mainstream pumps may favor one of the slightly larger nozzles. It may turn out the 4.4mm nozzle is best for Iwaki/CPU setups, and the 5.5 is best for D5/DDC CPU only setups.

CPU & GPU or Multiblock Loops - You need to prioritize where you want to cool more, the CPU, the other blocks, or a balanced combination. Putting a nozzle in place will likely improve CPU temps, but it will increase temps on your other blocks and reduce efficiency of your radiator. Everyone will have a different priority on what they want to cool more. You may just want to use the washer by itself without a nozzle.

Just be aware of this substantial pressure drop increase with these nozzles along with the washer. It doesn't mean you shouldn't use them, just be aware how restrictive they are....probably best to experiement a little and see what happens. I would recommend a washer as a bare minimum, it really should be included as part of the boxed fuzion IMHO.

Hope this gives some perspective on what the nozzles do to flow rate.

I'll plan on adding these equations into my flow rate estimator so you can experiement with it...

Martin

[Marcng]

hey martin, thanks for the info there!!
also, great photography too.

just for aesthetics' sake, tint the images behind the graphs, they will look better and the graphs will be more clear.

[Martinm210]

Originally Posted by Marcng

hey martin, thanks for the info there!!

just for aesthetics' sake, tint the images behind the graphs, they will look better and more clear.

Sure, just having fun with my new testing toys..

Yeah, I was fooling around in excel, your right, I should tint the images a touch.

[nikhsub1]

Good info Martin! I run the Dual DDC's with alpha tops (18w) in series with the 4.5mm nozzle, MCW60, MCW30, PA 160, PA 120.3 and my res. Flow rates seem to still be 'good'. At a guess I'd have to say ~1.5 - 1.6 GPM or so.

[Darkatom]

I'm amazed at the difference a washer alone will make.

[Xilikon]

Great results, it mean that I should ditch the 4.5mm nozzle and get a bigger one or the quad nozzle since I have just a DDC3.2 with Petra's top. With the 4.5mm nozzle, the water is barely moving in the microreservoir.

Anyway, I'm running the 4.5mm nozzle just as a test to see if this one work good on a quad core versus the quad nozzle, as promised. I have almost a week worth of CoreTemp log and i'll work the min/max/average per core.

About the washer, it seems that it's mandatory to have good performances so D-Tek should include it with all the Fuzion cpu blocks to fix a design issue.

[toejam]

That seems weird they would include that washer as part of the package.

[Vargher Warg]

Great test!

Thanks for your effort and the test results, and I'm looking forward to see it implemented in your flow rate estimator.

So waddaya reckon? I'm going to have a cpu+gpu loop with Fuzion and
MCW60 - driven by a DDC 10w pump w/Alphacool top, cooling my B3 Q6600 & Ultra 8800

So should I at least use the washer that comes with the nozzle kit?
I was thinking to use the Quad nozzle, but that is maybe to much for my weak pump?

Sorry if I sound too noobish, I'm totally new to the watercooling stuff!

Thanks!

[AndrewZorn]

Originally Posted by Vargher Warg

Great test!

Thanks for your effort and the test results, and I'm looking forward to see it implemented in your flow rate estimator.

So waddaya reckon? I'm going to have a cpu+gpu loop with Fuzion and
MCW60 - driven by a DDC 10w pump w/Alphacool top, cooling my B3 Q6600 & Ultra 8800

So should I at least use the washer that comes with the nozzle kit?
I was thinking to use the Quad nozzle, but that is maybe to much for my weak pump?

Sorry if I sound too noobish, I'm totally new to the watercooling stuff!

Thanks!

I was wondering almost the same thing, I'll be using a 655 pump and a 120x3 radiator myself. I don't want to sacrifice my GPU temp by like 10*C or anything just to get another 1*C lower on the CPU... what's a guessing tradeoff, using the Quad nozzle?

What I don't get is the washer... it comes with the nozzle kit? I don't see it in pictures or anything, I don't know what it is or where it goes.

D-Tek should be including these nozzles and washers with the block. $7+shipping for small molded plastic pieces... if I can be convinced that a CPU+GPU loop doesn't want the nozzled, I'd be so happy to not pay for all that extra crap.

EDIT: and wow, this is already #1 Google result for "fuzion nozzles"...

[Petra]

Just ran a quick, dirty test with the retail 4.4mm nozzle and washer in place and, yeah, you're right, the pressure drop with the retail nozzles and that washer in place is a lot higher than the prototype nozzles without washer. Looking good, Martin

Interestingly, though, I'm seeing about 6.2psig at 1.5GPM on my analog gauges and my manometer is rather useless right now because the battery is dead. *sigh* Nothing ever works right when I need it to...

Oh well, I'm gonna be ripping the whole thing apart and changing a bunch of stuff again anyway...

[Xilikon]

AndrewZorn, the washer is included in every nozzles kit. Even if you buy it just for the washer, it's a worthwhile investment for sure.

[MorGo7h]

Thats some nice work over there!
I cant get the nozzles here in Belgium And if I order them from the UK I have to pay more shipping costs than the nozzles cost :p

[Talonman]

Outstanding report Martin!

Thanks for the post.

[Martinm210]

Thanks all, I still have some work to do on my set rig and calibration checks to make sure, but you can at least compare the nozzles to the washer only curve for a relative difference..

Originally Posted by nikhsub1

Good info Martin! I run the Dual DDC's with alpha tops (18w) in series with the 4.5mm nozzle, MCW60, MCW30, PA 160, PA 120.3 and my res. Flow rates seem to still be 'good'. At a guess I'd have to say ~1.5 - 1.6 GPM or so.

If those are DDC2's I wouldn't be suprised, they are great pressure pumps and running two in series would be ideal for a nice tight nozzle.

I just got my spare D5 from Petra's yesterday, and I also have a spare heatercore sitting here. So it would probably help to run one more comparison of actual flow rate using the D5, just to get that feel for it..

Originally Posted by Xilikon

Great results, it mean that I should ditch the 4.5mm nozzle and get a bigger one or the quad nozzle since I have just a DDC3.2 with Petra's top. With the 4.5mm nozzle, the water is barely moving in the microreservoir.

Anyway, I'm running the 4.5mm nozzle just as a test to see if this one work good on a quad core versus the quad nozzle, as promised. I have almost a week worth of CoreTemp log and i'll work the min/max/average per core.

About the washer, it seems that it's mandatory to have good performances so D-Tek should include it with all the Fuzion cpu blocks to fix a design issue.

I don't think you should necessarily ditch it, you may get better temps with it...it's just that you should be aware of what the reduced flow rates may do to other blocks. More than anything I would just recommend that people try a couple of different ones and see what works best. They are very restrictive so there is going to be a perfect one that is likely different for several different setups.

Yeah, I think at least the washer should come with the fuzion. My washer only curve seems to match D-Tek's posted curve, so it has me wondering if that's what they tested with. Either that or there could be added drop from the test rig that created it.

Originally Posted by Vargher Warg

Great test!

Thanks for your effort and the test results, and I'm looking forward to see it implemented in your flow rate estimator.

So waddaya reckon? I'm going to have a cpu+gpu loop with Fuzion and
MCW60 - driven by a DDC 10w pump w/Alphacool top, cooling my B3 Q6600 & Ultra 8800

So should I at least use the washer that comes with the nozzle kit?
I was thinking to use the Quad nozzle, but that is maybe to much for my weak pump?

Sorry if I sound too noobish, I'm totally new to the watercooling stuff!

Thanks!

Yeah, I'd probably start with just the washer, maybe try a couple of the other larger nozzles too

Originally Posted by Petra

Just ran a quick, dirty test with the retail 4.4mm nozzle and washer in place and, yeah, you're right, the pressure drop with the retail nozzles and that washer in place is a lot higher than the prototype nozzles without washer. Looking good, Martin

Interestingly, though, I'm seeing about 6.2psig at 1.5GPM on my analog gauges and my manometer is rather useless right now because the battery is dead. *sigh* Nothing ever works right when I need it to...

The other thing I never accounted for in the estimator either is the added viscosity with something like a more typical 5% ethelene glycol mixture.

Oh well, I'm gonna be ripping the whole thing apart and changing a bunch of stuff again anyway...

Thanks Alex,

I appreciate the quick test, that gives me something solid to compare against. Your results are a little lower than what I got but relatively close at least within one nozzle deviation...still closer to the 4.4 than the 5.5 results I ran.

I've been curious if water temperature and visocity changes would have any influence on a test run. I've been using cold tap water for my testing which is probably close to 10C (snow on the ground at the moment). I should make a quick run with some temperature variations just to see if it does make any difference at all. It would be pretty easy to splice in another T with a temperature probe for information. I know my manometer specs notes accuracy is only within 1.5% on the colder side, and .5% when more room temperature. Worth a test run anyway...

[madmaxx]

Martinm210 again thnx for your time and effort that you put into getting some answers and definitive #'s for us to go buy. your info will be well used.

i applaud you

[NaeKuh]

dayam another great review martin...

[disruptfam]

awesome martin has anyone tested the 4.5 and the quad nozzle on a quad??

which is better?

[eva2000]

Great stuff... you had me scared there first few graph background photos i saw, i thought I had my nozzle installed the wrong way round.. until i saw the last photo background graph hehe

[Xilikon]

Originally Posted by disruptfam

awesome martin has anyone tested the 4.5 and the quad nozzle on a quad??

which is better?

I did... Matter of fact, I just swapped the nozzles 2 hours ago (took a bit of time since the damn T line made the filling and bleeding a big mess !!! I cannot wait to receive a new microres back from NCIX). Right now, it seems the quad nozzle gave me 2-3 degrees better versus the 4.5mm nozzle along with less variations between the cores. I'll know better when I will let it run another week so we have enough data to compare both because the bleeding isn't 100% done.

IMHO, on a quad core, either a 6.5mm nozzle or a quad nozzle would be a better bet since the 4.5 mm nozzle will point to a small area which fall between 2 cores so the cooling area is not enough.

My testing methodology isn't very rigorous (I cannot bear to do remounts and nozzles changes with a T line a limited time) but I like the temps (average 35,36,31,33 on all cores vs 37-36-32-34 with 4.5mm).

[AAjax]

Op, thanks for the post

[leo_bsb]

great review martin! Thanks for your time.
We just need that the greatest tool of planning WC, the excel sheet, to be updated with your data.

[SiGfever]

Nice test. I have a Dwyer manometer and was not aware that it was rated for water, did you check with the factory about its use?

Quote:
"SPECIFICATIONS
Service: Air and compatible combustible gases.
Wetted Materials: Consult factory."

[septim]

very informative as usual. thanks...

[Martinm210]

Originally Posted by SiGfever

Nice test. I have a Dwyer manometer and was not aware that it was rated for water, did you check with the factory about its use?

Quote:
"SPECIFICATIONS
Service: Air and compatible combustible gases.
Wetted Materials: Consult factory."

Yeah, but you just need enough length of tubing between your fittings and manometer. A water column will raise up on the posotive side, but it just compresses the air that's trapped in between. It's a sealed connection, so the water pressure is transfered directly to the airpressure the manometer is measuring. You do have to keep an eye on placement though to ensure no water can get in there.

I'm currently making the T lines rise up a couple of feet then back down to the manometer. It works fine although I'm thinking of going with some 1/4" tubing. The 1/8" is a bit small to be self purging.

[jayhall0315]

Hey Martinm,
All the testing seems very sound. Sorry I have been too busy to add more data from my own testing to back you up/help you out. Keep up the great work. I do not know if you have much of a background in the sciences but you should look into some of the better texts available on heat flow, hydrodynamics and thermodynamics...might generate even more crazy ideas for you to work with.

Cheers to your hard work,
Jay