Alphacool Introduces Shroud & Decoupling for Fans and 24-pin PSU Jumper

[btarunr]

Today, Alphacool presents the Fan Shroud & Decouplers for 120 mm and 140 mm fans, a must have for performance orientated liquid cooling enthusiasts. These silicon shrouds improve the performance of your liquid cooling system by optimising the airflow through the radiator.

The "dead spot" under the fan hub is overcome as air pressure builds up between the fan and radiator. The airflow is forced through the fins of the radiator as well as preventing air from escaping through gaps. This in turn also reduces the noise created from the escaping air as well as acting as a decoupler to dampen the vibrations being transmitted from the fan to the radiator and potentially to the case.



Alphacool also presents a 24-pin ATX PSU Jumper. This is a simple tool that allows you to power your pump whilst keeping the rest of the system dormant, this is particularly useful when you are filling a liquid cooling loop.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[ZoneDymo]

if this is such an issue/improvement....why dont fans come standard with that design, like it being part of the fan?

 

[Haile Selassie]

Extremely newsworthy.

 

[xtreemchaos]

nearly 5 Euro for a bit of silicon there having a laugh. i can buy a full tube enough to do over 50 fans black for £6 and just run a ring around the edge of the fan.

 

[KrazedOmega]

if this is such an issue/improvement....why dont fans come standard with that design, like it being part of the fan?

If it came standard they couldn't charge you extra for it after! /s

 

[Mussels]

I love that people still use an entire PSU to power liquid cooling setups
I use one of those powered USB 3.0 to SATA connectors, which gives 5V from USB (phone charger or even a battery bank) and 12V from an external source (power brick)

If i'm liquid testing i sure as poop dont want my PSU or anything not the pump to have power...

 

[turbogear]

I love that people still use an entire PSU to power liquid cooling setups
I use one of those powered USB 3.0 to SATA connectors, which gives 5V and 12V from an external source

If i'm liquid testing i sure as poop dont want my PSU or anything not the pump to have power...

That's good idea.
Somehow never thought about it and had been using the jumper method since long time.


I am not sure what is new with this Alphacool 24-pin ATX PSU Jumper.
These things exist since ages. I have one since 2014.

 

[TechLurker]

if this is such an issue/improvement....why dont fans come standard with that design, like it being part of the fan?

It's been a long known issue, but also a niche one. That's why there's a number of shroud/decouplers that are still sold to this day; for example, the Phobya Plexi Shroud for 120mm fans, aimed mostly at the liquid cooling market (in the consumer space), and in the professional space, having chambers that help focus the airflow (servers with high-speed fans and shrouding focusing all the air through the finstacks with no dead spots).

It's kind of worthless for typical desktop heatsinks only because of the weight and bulk it adds to them, and further, the low fan speeds some prefer, although some experimental testing showed shrouding the fan and heatsink worked, but wasn't worth the extra 1-5 degree difference, depending on shroud size, fan speed, and if the heatsink was shrouded (to force the air through all of it rather than escape out the sides). In a number of cases, one can get the same or better performance just strapping a fan on the rear, since most regular desktop heatsinks aren't one big, dense block.

Heck, it's becoming somewhat redundant in the liquid cooling space too, only because newer radiators trend towards low airflow restriction vs the older, high FPI airflow restrictive radiators before, although EU and USA have different opinions on radiator fin density and fan profiles.

 

[Totally]

if this is such an issue/improvement....why dont fans come standard with that design, like it being part of the fan?

If it was integrated into the fan it would make the fans thicker and it would need to be integrated into both sides of the fan due to orientation dependent on application further increasing the thickness. That extra material adds cost the extra thickness would only benefit a small number of users and inconvience a lot more because of clearance issue due to the fans being much thicker than standard fans.

 

[itguy2003]

I don't get it. Don't most/all radiators have a metal shroud around the fin stack already providing space between the hub and the fins? That is why you need square fans to keep the extra space sealed and positive air pressure in that "chamber".

 

[Totally]

I don't get it. Don't most/all radiators have a metal shroud around the fin stack already providing space between the hub and the fins? That is why you need square fans to keep the extra space sealed and positive air pressure in that "chamber".

Not all radiators especially slim radiators have this spacing.

 

[defaultluser]

Ye another reason why water cooling is not worth it: you either have to care about / optimize every little detail, or your $150 investment ends-up being worse than a 140mm tower cooler

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Sure would be nice to see proper shrouds over an inch thick again. And 38mm+ thick fans to go with it that aren't stupid high RPM.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

so they took anti vibration fan gaskets and renamed them ? what they dont show is the actual blocking of air between fans, if it even does that

Amazon.com: Coolerguys Anti-Vibration Gaskets (120mm (2 Pack)) : Electronics

Amazon.com: Coolerguys Anti-Vibration Gaskets (120mm (2 Pack)) : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[80251]

Sure would be nice to see proper shrouds over an inch thick again. And 38mm+ thick fans to go with it that aren't stupid high RPM.

For shrouds over a inch thick and 38mm thick fans wouldn't you need to have a pretty big case to fit those over any large heatsink?

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

For shrouds over a inch thick and 38mm thick fans wouldn't you need to have a pretty big case to fit those over any large heatsink?

Wasn't much of a problem in large ATX cases or super-towers. But with the migration to smaller and more space efficient cases, it's definitely an issue.

 

[turbogear]

I love that people still use an entire PSU to power liquid cooling setups
I use one of those powered USB 3.0 to SATA connectors, which gives 5V from USB (phone charger or even a battery bank) and 12V from an external source (power brick)

If i'm liquid testing i sure as poop dont want my PSU or anything not the pump to have power...

I was thinking about what you mentioned with regards to using this USB 3 adapter to operate your pump instead of operating it from PSU.

What kind of pump you have and how high is the power draw and which voltage it needs?
I am not sure if something like that will work for all pumps.

Most of these USB power adapters that I have are 5V and go maximum to 2.1A. For example Samsung fast charge adapter for my phone can give 2A at 5V.
My DDC Laing 3.2 PWM pump is 12V 18W device and I connect it to PSU while operating the PSU using 24-pin ATX PSU Jumper.
I am not sure if pump will run at 5V.

EK-DDC 3.2 PWM (12V PWM pump)

Laing DDC-3.2 high-performance water pump with power management control (via PWM - pulse width modulation) of rotation speed trough motherboard BIOS or dedicated fan controller.

www.ekwb.com

 

[xtreemchaos]

i just use a spare PSU to power my pumps when leak testing, ive got plenty of them 240 pin jumpers" ive had loads free ones when buying seasonic" but have got used to the PSU thingy and it feels a bit safer having the system psu off all together

 

[cvaldes]

I love that people still use an entire PSU to power liquid cooling setups
I use one of those powered USB 3.0 to SATA connectors, which gives 5V from USB (phone charger or even a battery bank) and 12V from an external source (power brick)

If i'm liquid testing i sure as poop dont want my PSU or anything not the pump to have power...

The article explains the reasoning behind the 24-pin ATX plug.

This allows the builder to fill and test the cooling loop by itself without powering up the motherboard. I do this.

I pull off the 24-pin ATX cable from the motherboard, add the plug, and power up the PSU to fill and test the cooling loop. That usually requires me to turn the power on/off dozens of times to get the coolant flowing and expel most of the bubbles during a 24 hour test run. Once I am satisfied with the cooling loop operation, I power down the loop, plug the ATX cable back into the motherboard, and power up the system.

Seasonic includes the 24-pin ATX plug with their Focus Gold power supplies.

In my experience, if a loop has a problem, the big leaks are immediately noticeable, the small leaks evident in 5-10 minutes.

And if you have a spare PSU anyhow, why not? I have an old unused PSU that I use for testing new cooling loop components outside of a functional build. It's not like I bought it for that purpose. I already had it.

 

[MDWiley]

Ye another reason why water cooling is not worth it: you either have to care about / optimize every little detail, or your $150 investment ends-up being worse than a 140mm tower cooler

From a purely price-to-performance standpoint, no it’s definitely not worth it. Water cooling is kind of a hobby in itself with all the tweaking and optimization for maximum performance, minimum noise etc. People who only want a good cooler are better off with a high-end air cooler or AIO.

 

[xtreemchaos]

Water cooling is kind of a hobby in itself with all the tweaking and optimization for maximum performance, minimum noise etc.

have ever built a custom loop or used one long term bud?.

 

[turbogear]

have ever built a custom loop or used one long term bud?.

Here is mine.
It is not the most beautiful at the moment.
Last time I did it little bit quick and dirty.
Next time when I have time want to re-arrange some things especially the tube going over the upper edge of RAM.

 

[xtreemchaos]

great looking rigg bud, blues my fav colour . heres what im using at the mo. charl chaos | Flickr if you what a look.

 

[turbogear]

great looking rigg bud, blues my fav colour . heres what im using at the mo. charl chaos | Flickr if you what a look.

That is also a beautiful looking system.

 

[Mussels]

I was thinking about what you mentioned with regards to using this USB 3 adapter to operate your pump instead of operating it from PSU.

What kind of pump you have and how high is the power draw and which voltage it needs?
I am not sure if something like that will work for all pumps.

Most of these USB power adapters that I have are 5V and go maximum to 2.1A. For example Samsung fast charge adapter for my phone can give 2A at 5V.
My DDC Laing 3.2 PWM pump is 12V 18W device and I connect it to PSU while operating the PSU using 24-pin ATX PSU Jumper.
I am not sure if pump will run at 5V.

EK-DDC 3.2 PWM (12V PWM pump)

Laing DDC-3.2 high-performance water pump with power management control (via PWM - pulse width modulation) of rotation speed trough motherboard BIOS or dedicated fan controller.

www.ekwb.com

EK D5, using a 12V 3A power brick and 5V 2A USB brick
More than enough power for a pump, and even fans if needed

The adaptors (the good ones) have a socket for an external 12V power source, which is key to them working in this role