Im deciding on pumps for a watercooled rig, what would be the best choice of the two above? Ive considered the D5 vario with an aftermarket top, (EK d5 rev2) and using an ek multi option res, but ive seen the laing ddc with the xps res top, initially i just want to cool the cpu, (i7 920 DO), gpu's are out of the equation as i might be changing my sli 275's shortly. Case is a Lian Li A70F, i know il have to get another top case panel (or send my current one away) to be modded for a radiator, thermochill 120.3 15mm spacing im thinking off. The cpu block im considering using is the full copper heatkiler.
Laing d5 or ddc18w
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I would probably opt for the ddc since its only a cpu loop
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I think it would be more tahn enough but if your really pondering the idea of having the graphics on the same route in the future you might as well get the more powerful d5 vario. It'll save you more of a headache for later.
The d5 works better in low restriction loops (few blocks), ddc shines when in higher restriction loops (multi gpu/mobo/cpu) as it has a much higher head pressure which is more important than flow rate with restrictive loops. A d5 is fine for a cpu+gpu anything more than that and i'd get the ddc. I use a d5 vario speed 2 for my cpu and gpu loop, i noticed a pretty big drop in flow rates adding the 1 gpu block.
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As said the D5 will be better in low restriction loops, however since most CPU blocks are pretty high restriction these days the chances are the DDC will outperform the D5. Compared to the D5 the DDC has the advantage of slightly better performance (under most circumstances) and a smaller form factor, but hasn't got the ability to be turned down like a D5 vario if you decide it needs to be turned down.
In the past DDCs have also had reliability issues, and whilst DDC deaths are less common with later revisions they are still more frequent than D5s dying (infact I've yet to hear of someone with a dead D5).
On another note depending on what you plan on upgrading your graphics cards too, it may be worth trying to find out if you can squeeze a larger rad into your case. If you are going with dual cards again or a single 480 the added heat dump could cause quite a temp increase with just a triple rad. Chances are you'd be fine with just a triple rad for a <200w GPU and your CPU though.
In the past DDCs have also had reliability issues, and whilst DDC deaths are less common with later revisions they are still more frequent than D5s dying (infact I've yet to hear of someone with a dead D5).
On another note depending on what you plan on upgrading your graphics cards too, it may be worth trying to find out if you can squeeze a larger rad into your case. If you are going with dual cards again or a single 480 the added heat dump could cause quite a temp increase with just a triple rad. Chances are you'd be fine with just a triple rad for a <200w GPU and your CPU though.