Newbies proposed water cooling setup - need advice

[yishuen]

Hi guys,
I am thinking about building my very first water cooling system and have a few questions and would really appreciate any comments from you guys. Here are the parts that i have in mind

Dangerden maze 2 waterblock
maxi-jet 1200 pump ( using it as an inline pump)
Becooling standard radiator

Housed in a chenbro junior

Here are my questions
1. 1/2" or 3/8" fittings for the dangerden ( i believe that the becooling radiator has 3/8" fittings, but i am not sure)

2. What is the advantage of 1/2" over 3/8"

3. Should I mount the radiator at the top or at the bottom of the case ?

4. How does the fill line work , in theory the water should rush out both sides of the T, but from what i have read , it seems to not rush out of the fill line.

thanks for the help guys

[William]

go with 3/8" there isn't a huge advantage to 1/2". As far as where to mount to the radiator, its debatable as to where, I would say wherever you find it most convienent. Don't know about the last one.

[cjtune]

Originally posted by William
go with 3/8" there isn't a huge advantage to 1/2". As far as where to mount to the radiator, its debatable as to where, I would say wherever you find it most convienent. Don't know about the last one.

It is always better to have larger diameter piping -your pump has to oppose less 'back' pressure and can supply more flowrate. But just as William suggests, use whatever that's more convenient
to you. The radiator you can place anywhere but I recommend to place it at the bottom, in case any leaks spring. Not sure about your last question either, and what does it have to do with water rushing out? Flows divided through equal-diameter orifice T-joints will be slowed down because in order to maintain a constant mass flow, the speed of the outgoing water will be x2 slower to make up for 2x the outlet opening area.

[Naeleros]

Originally posted by cjtune


It is always better to have larger diameter piping -your pump has to oppose less 'back' pressure and can supply more flowrate.

Be careful with this theory. This is true if your entire system is running at the larger diameter. But.. if your system is all 1/2" but, your radiator is 3/8" then you will be hurting your performance, I believe.

My logic for this is that the water will have to accelerate to rush through the smaller area of the radiator... therefore decreasing the amount of time that the water has to be cooled before exiting the radiator.

In my case, I use 3/8" all around and the BeCooling block style radiator (what I use) has a slightly larger dia for a low pressure drop. It is not 1/2" but, it is slightly larger than 3/8".

James