Order of parts in a watercooling setup

[Roisen]

Just wondering what the communities opinion on this was, as I couldn't find it in a sticky.

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/2278/watercoolingoptionsym3.th.gif (http://img400.imageshack.us/my.php?image=watercoolingoptionsym3.gif)

Also, if I were only going to cool my CPU and GPU, would it be a good idea to have a split in the line so that both the CPU and GPU would receive water fresh from the rad?

[||Console||]

Better to use a Large rez and 2 pumps if you are gonna do dual loops

[BobcatDan]

Flow rate is more important than fresh water, as the temp coming out of a block is typically only a degree or so higher.
Dan

[muddocktor]

I think it would be better to keep everything inline and feed the gpu waterblock with the return from the cpu waterblock. The bad thing about trying to run a split loop is to get decent and relatively equal flow through both sides of the split loop. That's not too hard if you are using the exact same waterblocks (like for SLI/Crossfire or a duallie rig) but could be very hard to do with different waterblocks being used.

[treatmentx]

Well this has been discussed before, the order of your rad/blocks won't matter much due to the flow rate, i think there's a thread if you look around.

I don't know what #5 is.

And the "split" or the parallel flow, if you read around has been discussed isn't as efficacious vs a serial loop. I really wanted to believe the order mattered, but after my own set up, I found out the differences are too small to be measurable (least by my eyeballing of coretemp/speedfan)

[Roisen]

5 is supposed to be the pump pumping water onto the CPU:beer:

3 minutes in paint past midnight isn't as effective as I thought it would be.

A big question of mine was the placement of the pump. Since it dumps most of it's heat into the water, should it be the last thing in the loop before the radiator? or should it be located somewhere else for pressure reasons.

[treatmentx]

If you read the other posts, people have said and measured that the placement of the pump matters none to little.

In my own testing, pump-->rad-->cpu and pump-->cpu-->rad, resulted in the same temps.

[ARCJr]

As others have said, order doesn't matter nearly as much as minimizing the amount of hose in the loop. Just connect each element in your loop to what is closest.

Reading that, I don't believe its clear, but I hope you get my point.

[batboy]

Right, order isn't critical as long as you have good flow. Just use a single loop, don't split the loop. Personally, I prefer having the GPU after the CPU block. Here is how I have my system and it works great (note: I don't have a GPU in my loop anymore).

res > pump > CPU block > rad

[Big Mike]

To chime in, I've run both Pump -> RAD -> cpu and pump -> cpu ->rad with little perceived difference. Personally I also put my CPU before other stuff (VGA/NB etc) in the loop.

[Otter]

Neither component order or an extra foot of tubing is going to make much difference. You can choose your route based on ease of installation and bleeding, access to headers on the mobo, and airflow in the case without worrying about your WC performance.

Use this formula to estimate the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of a block or pump:
c=.0038*watts/gpm

For example, if you've got an 18w pump and a flow rate of 1.5gpm, the coolant will be only 0.05C warmer at the outlet of the pump.

Cathar's new sticky on tubing sizes doesn't address the length of the run, but it does point out how little restriction matters with current pumps and blocks.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=515368