Watercooling loops, anybody?

3vlNomad

3vlNomad

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Okay, just curious for those of you that have watercooling, what is the best setup for the loop?

I was thinking:

Res => pump => radiator => cpu block => back to res

This is a single loop, not sure what order it should go in but I was thinking cooling the water before it hits the cpu would be the best option.. Any ideas?
 
It doesn't matter unless you have multiple components you are cooling.

Tested and proven.
 
3vlNomad said:
Okay, just curious for those of you that have watercooling, what is the best setup for the loop?

I was thinking:

Res => pump => radiator => cpu block => back to res

This is a single loop, not sure what order it should go in but I was thinking cooling the water before it hits the cpu would be the best option.. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Thats the best loop to have, run the pump below the res and you're set. Sending the coolest water straight to the cpu. It's how I have my setup and my temps are Brilliant!
 
I was thinking about getting a real pump, not a fish-bowl pump.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108082


Another question for you guys, how fast should the water be moving to have the most affect? Fast probably wouldn't cool off quickly in the radiator, or would it need to if the water is barely picking up much heat from the block?

Or does it really matter how fast the water is moving?
 
More flow is always better, to an extent(at this point the benefit will not be noticeable, but more flow will never hurt performance).
 
3vlNomad said:
I was thinking about getting a real pump, not a fish-bowl pump.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108082


Another question for you guys, how fast should the water be moving to have the most affect? Fast probably wouldn't cool off quickly in the radiator, or would it need to if the water is barely picking up much heat from the block?

Or does it really matter how fast the water is moving?
Click to expand...


You will be much better off going with a Laing DDC (performance wise). It will be slightly louder, but if you are doing a WC setup, I am assuming Performance is more important than noise.

I would recommend the Swiftech MCP 355 (Laing DDC) it has 20ft of head compared to the 10ft of head from the 655. Head is much more important than the flow rate(GPH) because it dictates how restrictive your loop can be. If you have a very restrictive loop, it will kill your flow rate, unless you have enough head to still use it. Head is basically the amount of pressure the pump can exert. Generally the more restrictive a block/radiator is, the more efficient it is at dissipating heat. The 355 will allow you to use a more restrictive cpu block, and it is cheaper. :)


The only con is that it is a little bit louder.

With the xspc reservoir top, it is a very formidable pump that will give you plenty of room for upgrades ie: (watercooling your GPU/NB/SB).

Also, what CPU block and radiator are you using?
 
Watercool HeatKiller http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/heatkiller1366.html

And was thinking about this rad:
ThermoChill PA120 2x120 http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thpa2xhipera.html

Gonna mount this rad at the top of my HAF932 with fans on both sides for push/pull then let it drop down to the block then from there to the res/pump.

Probably gonna go with the res/pump combo you mentioned:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/xsacreforlad.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swiftechmcp355.html


Not sure where I'm actually going to put the res/pump. The inside of my case is already kinda packed, it might have to go outside the case.. It might actually fit at the bottom of my HDD area if I'm careful
 
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This pump bracket is extremely helpful when trying to find where to mount a pump: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/abpubrforlad.html

It is what I used when I built my loop.

Here are a few pics of my pump/rad placement:





I used a feser triple rad with the feser TFC Xtenders.

It has been a while since I put it all together, but if you have any questions feel free to pm me.
 
Everything that's been said here is on it for sure, smiles knows his stuff. One option you can think about is deleting the Res entirely. I just use a T-line and I've seen no drop in effectiveness, and it takes up less space as well. Just a thought.
 
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