Lotsa noob questions for WC, helpz0r plz.

Hey guys was wondering if you could help me out with a few questions that have interested me but I cant seem to find a decent full answer for em so please be detailed as possible when answering, thx

1. How does more tubing (length-wise) affect performance? Does it mean one needs a pump with more head or more gph? and if Im using a T-Line and not a res?

2. How silent are the Hydor L20/Eheim 1048?

3. What combo is recommended? Pump > Rad > Block or Pump > Block > Rad?

4. Does it matter what place in the loop the T-Line is? (of course it's supposed to be at the top of the loop but does it matter if it's before the block, after, or whatever).

5. In general, fans set to suck or blow when on Rad? (noise/performance)

6. Is there a "universal" cpu block or I can buy anything and if need be use some plexiglass + nuts and bolts to hook it up? (or this can crush core)

7. Can pumps be run without water? (if I wanna drain a loop for instance, open T-Line and run pump till there's no more water)

8. If I close off a pump in a box filled with foam, will the pump transfer more heat to the water? or will nothing change? Will the pump overheat?

1. More tubing means you need more head. More head is generally better than more GPH, which is why a MCP600 pump will outperform an eheim 1250.

2. I don't know about those pumps specifically, I do know that Eheims are supposed to be very quiet. I have an aquaxtreme, and when it is mounted on foam I can barely tell it's on.

3. Order does not matter.

4. Not really. Wherever is most convienient.

5. Depends on where it is. I have mine mounted in the front of my case under the 3-1/2" bays. I have a 120 pulling cool air into the case through the rad. You just need to get cool air through the rad for best performance. For noise, use a shroud. Shrouds also help performance as well.

6. When you order a CPU block you can choose which mounting kit you want with it. I have a Whitewater, which can fit on any socket. You do not need a different block for different sockets, just the mounting kits.

7. No. Bad for the pump

8. Pumps radiate most of their heat through their casings, I believe. I know I have seen experiments where people have modded their pumps with small fans, but that is overkill. I dont think that the heat added to the water from enclosing the pump with no airflow will even be measureable. So long as you have a good rad, (1x120 heatercore or 2x120) the pump is not going to be a big factor in temps.

Zac42 said:

1. More tubing means you need more head. More head is generally better than more GPH, which is why a MCP600 pump will outperform an eheim 1250.

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Can you explain more about the correlation between head and GPH? Logic would say that more head = more gph? I never really understood why it isnt linear. Reason I asked about tubing is that I want to put the radiator on the outside of the case (I dont care about mobility) and perhaps the pump as well (inside a box) and so I will need longer tubing.

Zac42 said:

2. I don't know about those pumps specifically, I do know that Eheims are supposed to be very quiet. I have an aquaxtreme, and when it is mounted on foam I can barely tell it's on.

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Im looking for a silent pump and I'm very very sensitive to noise I can hear my motherboard whine because of my lame PSU and it annoys me.

Zac42 said:

6. When you order a CPU block you can choose which mounting kit you want with it. I have a Whitewater, which can fit on any socket. You do not need a different block for different sockets, just the mounting kits.

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Was thinking of getting a silent pump and they have low flow, so the best candidate as a block was a swiftech 6002 but the website states that the Socket A block wont fit the the 64bit Athlon because of a step in the base of the block? Anyway I dont have tons of cash to spill on leet pumps and blocks. This is a hobby and Im really curious to get knee deep into watercooling.

My understanding is that you won't hear Eheim pumps over your fans.

The Eheim 1048 is more quiet than the Hydor L20. Its not a powerful pump in terms of head or GPM however. Same goes for the L30.

Pump head is basically how 'hard' it pushes the water. Pump flow (GPH or GPM) is how much water can be pushed in a certain time.

Quick illustration-

Say you have two cars, one with a large V-8 Engine, one with a small V-4. Each one has identical transmissions etc so their top end speed is basically the same. Now, which vehicle do you want to pull a large trailer behind it and why? While both can go the same speed with no resistance once the resistance is increased the V-8 will do a better job at maintaining higher speeds. In this illustration the V-8 has more power or 'head' which allows it to maintain speed despite increasing its load. The same goes for pumps.

Most WCing systems have fairly restrictive flow paths. The waterblocks have fairly small flow paths in particular then on top of that you have the radiators, fittings, and tubing which makes it hard to push the water throughout the entire loop. By having a greater head a pump can generate more pressure to force water through the loop. The more water that goes through the loop the more effective the WCing setup will be.

I use a Hydor L35 which has a rated flow of around 480gph. Its head however is around 6'. In a standard WCing setup a PanWorld PX40 which has the identical flow rating - 480gph but a much greater head at 13.5' will push much much much more water through the loop. The reason being that that 480gph is the best possible flow performance either pump can do but the Hydor flow rates will drop much faster as the loop becomes more restrictive than the PanWorld.

Now one last thing to understand. Selecting a pump should be based on your goals. If you plan on WCing only the CPU then a high end pump is not needed. If you dont plan on overclocking your CPU significantly then once again a high end pump is not needed. It boils down to what you want to do. If you plan on watercooling your CPU, GPU, and Northbridge with an option of adding a HD cooler later on you will have quite a bit of restriction in that watercooling loop. If you go a step further and plan on overclocking your CPU and GPU then the heat needing to be removed from the system increases further yet. If you are doing the CPU only and not overclocking the Eheim 1048 would be a great, dependable, and reasonably priced pump. It will handle your requirements. If you plan on going with the multi-block system and overclocking I would take a serioius look into the Swiftech, Iwaki, PanWorld, etc type pumps that will be able to continue to meet your expectations as you add restrictions and length to the loop.

I am very pleased with my HydorL35 btw, its been pretty solid for me so far. On my future wish list however is the PanWorld PX40 because it will increase the performance of my system as well as increase my options as to what else I decide to do in terms of additional components.

Keep in mind for the most part as flowrates and head ratings increase in a pump most of the time the noise level will as well. When looking for a pump also make sure to avoid picking an 'occasional' duty pump like a sump pump. Yes, they do pump water but are meant to be used for short periods when needed. Look for a sustained duty pump like those you see on most watercooling sites.

Lastly on running a pump dry- dont. Pumps like the Eheim and Hydor are meant to be used only when there is liquid in the loop. Some pumps will sustain impeller damage if run dry. I found this out the hard way

If you want to drain a loop then simply disconnect one of the lowest tubes and gravity will take care of it pretty quickly.

Aye, the 1248 is pretty crappy. Get a 1250 if your going to buy from Eheim. Its only ~$10 more i think.