D5 Single Top Summary
It was very noticeable and unsurprising that Alphacool, EK and Koolance had similar high end performance, beating the default Laing top across flow rates of interest to water coolers. It was however surprising that AquaComputer’s top was so far behind. However differences that look large on a pump plot may be small in reality. If the expected flow in a “medium” restriction loop is plotted it can be seen that the actual differences may be small enough to choose on secondary issues if you’re not a “min-maxer”:
Given that “bare” pumps are now sold for less than the original D5 that comes with the Laing top then the case for buying an after market top is stronger. Of the 5 brands, I would recommend both the Koolance and EK. They are fairly priced and perform at the top of the bunch and didn’t have any of the leak issues I had with the Alphacool.
Gold Awards:
EK X-TOP CSQ:
Koolance COV-RP450:
