Danger Den DD12V-D4 Water Cooling Pump
Review by: Steve
Edited by: Ji4m
Provided by: Danger Den

Introduction:
Water Cooling is something only dared by computer enthusiasts. Pumping water through your $1500 computer makes you look nuts to most of your friends, trust me :) When choosing the parts for your water cooling system you are going to want to make sure that you have high quality and good performing components. The pump is a very important choice. Make the wrong choice and you may be stuck with a poor performing, noisy and maybe leaky pump, trust me on this one too! If you make the right choice, the Danger Den DD12V-D4, then you will have a high performing and silent solution.

From Danger Den:
This Danger Den DD12V-D4 pump is one of the best 12V pumps on the market. It will run off of a standard computer power supply. This tiny pump, size shown in Figure 1 below, will fit in almost any case. The flow rates at various pressures proves to be better than any of the 110V pumps offered at Danger Den.

Fine tuning the pumps flow rate can also be done with a rheobus. The rheobus needs to have at least a rating of 18W per channel. The current (amps) draw for each voltage level is shown in Figure 3 below. Just like a fan control, if a user wants the lowest sound level possible, the pump voltage can be decreased. This can lead to different CPU temperatures and as an end user, you can control this! The sound level of this pump is also greatly reduced compared to the pump I was previously running, and this is a huge blessing. The noise of my previous pump was almost unbearable. Also remember that at least 6 Volts is required to start the pump.

(Box, click to enlarge)

In The Box:
(1) Danger Den DD12V-D4 Pump
(1) Foam underlay pad
(1) Manual

Specs:
Motor Design: Electrically Commulated Spherical Motor
Rated Voltage: 12V
Voltage Range: From 6V - 24V

(Contents, click to enlarge)

Features:
The first thing I noticed when turning on the pump was that it was VERY quiet. Out of the many pumps I've had a chance to hear/use this has got to be one of the quietest. Although the foam pad is included to dampen the noise and vibrations it may not be needed. The pump itself has almost no vibration when in operation. Danger Den including the pad with the pump shows that they are committed to quality and silence, so even if you don't use it, you can't say they didn't include something :)

Since the pump operates on a very low voltage and can be run off the PSU you also have the option of controlling it with a rheobus/fan controller. One thing you MUST keep in mind when doing this is that the device controlling it MUST be rated for at least 18W per channel! Controlling the pump speed allows you to almost totally get rid of what little noise it makes in the first place. This may be handy for late night use (after everyone is in bed) or just doing everyday tasks on the computer with a little more silence. Keep in mind, the pump is one of the most important parts in the water cooling system, it keeps everything flowing, hence, controlling it's speed will result in higher temperatures if turned down. I can't say that I would really recommend slowing the pump down. I think you should just buy a good quality quiet pump in the first place.

(Click to enlarge)

The DD12V-D4 is also very compact and small in size. The motor itself is not enclosed in any kind of casing and is exposed (blue part) at the back of the pump. This means that the pump is not submersible. Considering the vast majority of people run their pumps inline, this should not cause much of a problem.

(Click to enlarge)

The entire front part of the pump with all the fittings is molded out of one piece of strong plastic. This is a huge plus considering that the fittings on most pumps screw in on the front and can cause problems. My personal experience with my previous pump is that I had a massive leak around the fittings which had to be fixed by using silicone around the entire pump seal before I could use it in my computer. The fittings that are on the Danger Den DD12V-D4 pump are 1/2", but don't worry for those of you who use 3/8"! Danger Den offers one with 3/8" fittings as well!
The fittings themselves fit very firmly into the hose, so no need to worry about any water leaking out.

(Intake, click to enlarge)

One more plus, this pump generates no EMR interference. Pretty much every other pump on the market does which makes the computer user mad when their CRT monitor image starts shaking when the pump is running.  This I know from experience also.

(Rear of pump, click to enlarge)

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