Corsair Nepton 120XL AIO external pump?

[DavidVioMC]

I have a Corsair Nepton 120XL in which the pump died. The whole system is in mint condition so I still want to save it somehow. I would like to put in a pump with reservoir so I don't have to take off the heatsink plate to refill. I could take out the little circut board and the magnetic part of it that makes the pump inside spin to make it free-flowing as much as I can but will it be able to still cool down properly? Or will the pump will not be able to pump enough water thru the heatsink? I can't find a thread or a video of someone putting in a external pump into a dead AIO system.

 

[Eximo]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you'll be spending more than just replacing it. Given that the pump housing is basically right there and you would be removing the pump itself, I'm not sure how everything would flow.

If you want to go custom, just do so. A decent CPU block is only going to cost you around $50, a 120mm radiator around $40 ($50 for a thick one). Probably some savings if you buy a kit too.

 

[Gam3r01]

It wouldnt be worth the trouble, you would still be using a cheap radiator (which probably mixes metals with the waterblock), and the original housing would slow down flow quite a bit.
Considering the price, if you really want to do something like this, do it right and build a custom loop.

 

[DavidVioMC]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you'll be spending more than just replacing it. Given that the pump housing is basically right there and you would be removing the pump itself, I'm not sure how everything would flow.

If you want to go custom, just do so. A decent CPU block is only going to cost you around $50, a 120mm radiator around $40 ($50 for a thick one). Probably some savings if you buy a kit too.

It wouldnt be worth the trouble, you would still be using a cheap radiator (which probably mixes metals with the waterblock), and the original housing would slow down flow quite a bit.
Considering the price, if you really want to do something like this, do it right and build a custom loop.

I appreciate both of your replies. The only reason why I got this cooler was because a guy offered it to me for $5 on here, the reason it was so cheap was due to loud pump noise. After I got it, turned out to be a lot of air bubbles in the system and after quick fill up and letting the air inside escape, the pump was quiet as if it was new. I know open loop is 1000 times better but I can't afford all the bits right now due to college spendings and I purchased a 1070ti about a week ago which I'm awating to be delivered. I don't want this whole sketchy external pump setup to be permanent, I just want it to be good enough to be able to cool down my CPU at full load reasonably well just so I can sell my old GPU save up a bit and get a custom loop. I'm always up for a challenge aswell and try this out and document it. I was also one of the first people to fit in a GTX 750Ti in a stock Dell Optiplex 960 SFF and document it so I wouden't mind doing this. The only issue I can see myself running in to is that the tubes are glued or RTV'ed to the fitting on the rad and the pump, but I found few threads were people fit custom tubes on AIO's and just putting them over the stuck ones like this guy

 

[Eximo]

There are some fairly cheap pumps out there, so I say go for it if you want to make the attempt.

Only suggestion would be to maybe find a way to fill the old pump housing so that you get the flow through the fin stack as much as possible.

I have an old Corsair h80i I've been meaning to dissect, it leaked, but I believe the pump is still good. I just need to see what is wrong with the seals and maybe add a fill port. I might be willing to send that along for the cost of shipping if it works.

 

[DavidVioMC]

There are some fairly cheap pumps out there, so I say go for it if you want to make the attempt.

Only suggestion would be to maybe find a way to fill the old pump housing so that you get the flow through the fin stack as much as possible.

I have an old Corsair h80i I've been meaning to dissect, it leaked, but I believe the pump is still good. I just need to see what is wrong with the seals and maybe add a fill port. I might be willing to send that along for the cost of shipping if it works.

That would be great, I have taken off the copper plate off before when I was topping up the system so it's not an issue to fill up the housing, I also don't know which way the flow supposed to go and if it would be better if I place the pump closes to the housing as possible so more pressure will come out the pump to push thru the housing.

 

[Eximo]

Bad news, I took it apart and the outlet pipe was the culprit, probably could have fixed it until I popped the motor windings off while I was trying to get the cold plate off. (All because I didn't want to pull the thermistor out) I might still make an attempt at repairing that blunder, but it would be some time this weekend. (I don't have high hopes, I can't even tell which winding is which) Also have to hope the circuit board came through okay, it was soaked and they didn't bother sealing it.

If yours is anything like this one the pipe closer to the middle is the intake and the outside pipe is the outlet. Pretty much the way it has to be with a centrifugal pump laying flat like that.

 

[DavidVioMC]

Bad news, I took it apart and the outlet pipe was the culprit, probably could have fixed it until I popped the motor windings off while I was trying to get the cold plate off. (All because I didn't want to pull the thermistor out) I might still make an attempt at repairing that blunder, but it would be some time this weekend. (I don't have high hopes, I can't even tell which winding is which) Also have to hope the circuit board came through okay, it was soaked and they didn't bother sealing it.

If yours is anything like this one the pipe closer to the middle is the intake and the outside pipe is the outlet. Pretty much the way it has to be with a centrifugal pump laying flat like that.

The tubes seems to be equal, I'll take a picture inside the housing later today because I know one of the tubes enters/exits at the very bottom of the housing, anotherone must be inside the housing. I have ordered tubing for the AIO cooler because I was going to replace it but when my pump broke, I canceled the order since I though it was the end of the AIO. They did cancel the order and they refunded me but I it was delivered to me today :/ I guess I got some free tubing which is good thing since the factory tubing is anti-kink and it would be a pain to put a pump in-between.

 

[DavidVioMC]

So I took apart of the housing as much as I could. I found out how the water flows so that's not an issue anymore, there is this piece inside that directs the water from the inlet tube, around the block before pushing it direct into the pump which then it pumps it into the outlet tube. I'm considering trying to run the whole system without that piece because it does seem the old pump fins will restrict the flow a lot. I'll do a bit of benchamarking when the pump gets to me and I'll try it with that piece and withouit and see which is better. I took few pictures aswell.

With piece

Without the piece
I think if the system will have zero air bubbles, it will be able to pull the water from the rad and push it into the block and it will push out any water in there thru the outlet. I guess we will see on the benchmarks.