3/8 to 1/2 inch is it worth it?

Hi all,
I have a 3/8 inch watercooling setup, using a Zalman ZM-WB2 block and a Maxpert rad, and a enhiem 1046 pump. I'm only cooling the CPU with this and its all I care to use my watercooling for.

Things are getting alittle toasty atm, so it's time to do something about it. My plan is to get a BIXII and a swiftech 655 pump, will I need to upgrade the block too? all of which is a 1/2inch setup, the Zalman block came with 13mm fittings so I'm sure I can keep that.


Any ideas anyone?

rangi

If it were me and I was gonna upgrade to a BIXII and a MCP655, I would def upgrade the block too and run all 1/2. There might not be that big of a different between going 1/2 over 3/8 (hard to say really) but you might as well got for 1/2 and be getting as much as you can from your new hardware.
A good block to go with that would be a Storm (if you can find one) or an apogee or 6002. If you like DD stuff the TDX is a nice block too.

The difference between 1/4" and 3/8" is much greater than the difference between 3/8" to 1/2". If you have really long tubing runs, you may benefit from using 1/2", but you may or may not see a tangible difference in temperatures. Personally, I would do whatever is more convenient.

The block should be the first thign you upgrade there!

3/8" vs 1/2" ? Well, I normally feed my pump with 1/2" fromt he res, but the rest of the loop it wont make a huge amount of diffrence.

I think your Eheim is fine, your waterblock is iffy, but your radiator definetly has to go. I would suggest getting a new radiator first, then a new WB second. Winding tube radiators aren't that efficient. Don't worry about the 1/2" barbs, you can simply stretch your 3/8" tubing over it.

Buy a new radiator first, if you still want better temps buy an Apogee.

The maxxpert is a 1x120 rad. It's functional, but something may be gained by going to a larger one considering his head load (7800gt and AMD X2).

Voodoo Rufus said:

The maxxpert is a 1x120 rad. It's functional, but something may be gained by going to a larger one considering his head load (7800gt and AMD X2).

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He's not cooling his 7800gt. A better radiator/fan setup may be all he needs for the CPU, although a dual 120mm radiator couldn't hurt.

Eh, you're right, it can't hurt....

I agree that the first thing that needs to go is that waterblock. Go get an Apogee or something decent, then see how that does before you go replacing everything else.

Maviryk said:

I think your Eheim is fine, your waterblock is iffy, but your radiator definetly has to go. I would suggest getting a new radiator first, then a new WB second. Winding tube radiators aren't that efficient. Don't worry about the 1/2" barbs, you can simply stretch your 3/8" tubing over it.

Buy a new radiator first, if you still want better temps buy an Apogee.

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This was exactly what I was going to say. I have an Eheim 1048, it's great. No need to change it. Looks like the rad is the weak link. By the way, I have 3/8" ID and my temps are fine.

Thanks for all the input there people awesome.

The Zalman block has a 1/2inch fitting, it came with 10mm, 11mmin and 13mm screw-in barbs, the reviews I read about the Zalman ZM-WB2 block were good, imo it was good buy from the socket A block I had.

I can get hold of a storm or Apogee but bang for buck may be a bit off there :/ If I could find a DD maze4 I would consider buying that though.

The big problem was the great fluctuation in temps rangining from as low as 36 to 50 at full load, dramatic in my opinion.
I have since purchased a new pump a swiftech 655, as It was my belief that the flow was poor, after all it was a 1046 and it was 3 years old the 3/8 tubing distance would be no more than 1200mm, With the new pump, I have noticed a huge difference on temps, at least 5 degrees @ load, imagine what a new rad will do

The radiator...Ok so its a pos huh, well that will be a priority, I agree there, BIX2 will be the one to get from the reviews I have read so far.

Recently I have been dealing with 30+ degrees ambient during the day 26 degrees at nite, Not good for my overclocking either way

rangi

i say 1/2 not because performance but because the ability to upgrade

Since my question is related to this, I'll post here instead of making a new thread. I'm changing my pump and radiator setup, and I bought a MCP350. Now everything in my loop is 1/2" except the pump. Is this a stupid idea? Am I losing any benefit of having 1/2" by having a 3/8" pump? Should I redo everything in 3/8"? I'm trying to avoid that because I'd have to switch blocks and fittings for everything.

GM1010 said:

Since my question is related to this, I'll post here instead of making a new thread. I'm changing my pump and radiator setup, and I bought a MCP350. Now everything in my loop is 1/2" except the pump. Is this a stupid idea? Am I losing any benefit of having 1/2" by having a 3/8" pump? Should I redo everything in 3/8"? I'm trying to avoid that because I'd have to switch blocks and fittings for everything.

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You're not getting much out of having 1/2" tubing if you're on a 3/8" pump, but I'm sure it'll still do sufficient cooling.

In my opinion, you will lose some water pressure on your 1/2"-barbed blocks by using a 3/8" pump. Losing pressure will take away from the cooling potential of the block.

Hmm thanks, I figured there would be some loss. This is really a silent project so I'm not worried about the absolute highest performance I can get. I'll leave it as is and see how it does.