Question about splitting a loop

I might be able to start buying WC parts soon for my first setup. I have most of the system figured out but I'm still a little stuck on cooling the northbridge and southbridge chips. My southbridge is nicely stuck under my bulky 8800GTS and I'm not sure I'm going to WC the video card so atm the bulky heatsink will be staying. The only water block that I can find that will fit in that tight area only takes 1/4" tubing and I'm planning on using 3/8". The northbridge block seems to be the same size and shape as the southbridge block, so how will it affect flow / performance going from 3/8" in and out of the CPU then to a splitter where it goes to 1/4" in to both NB and SB chips, then back out to another splitter where it returns to 3/8". If I keep the lengths of all the 1/4" tubes about the same and since the blocks are the same size then there should be no flow stalling in either block, correct?

Well first off, there is basically no need for you to water cool the southbridge. Northbridge water cooling isn't really even necessary, unless you have high FSB over clocks, and you push lots of volts.

So, don't bother water cooling the southbridge. If your motherboard has an intergrated heatpipe type cooler that spans the NB and SB and possibly othe rcomponents, just find yourself a decent little air cooler for the SB.

Jas said:

Well first off, there is basically no need for you to water cool the southbridge. Northbridge water cooling isn't really even necessary, unless you have high FSB over clocks, and you push lots of volts.

So, don't bother water cooling the southbridge. If your motherboard has an intergrated heatpipe type cooler that spans the NB and SB and possibly othe rcomponents, just find yourself a decent little air cooler for the SB.

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Well my motherboard is an EVGA Nvidia 590 SLI board. It does not have any heatpipe coolers or I wouldn't even think about another method of cooling them. The northbridge is passively cooled by a one inch tall heatsink that gets very hot to the touch. The southbridge I read for this specific chipset and board gets hotter than the northbridge and is cooled by a very small copper heatsink with a low rpm fan. I can't imagine there is a lot of good air flow to it given my video card heatsink is in the way.

If I don't water cool the chipset and video card than I might as well cool the CPU with my EXOS1 with 1/4" tubing I have collecting dust. Than I will be adding a very large bulky piece of hardware to the top of my already very large TT Armor case.

So I'm looking to build a custom water cooling system I want it to be as contained within this case as I can make it and I want to cool most anything that gives off heat within reason. I'm not cooling the four hard drives since the case came with some decent air cooling fixtures for that and the only reason I'm hesitating on the video card is due to money for this project.

Everyone always says no need to cool you NB and SB. If you want to water cool it. Do it. The plumbing will be a pain, but you will be dumping most of you heat into the rad. Will it net you higher clocks? Maybe maybe not. I am setting up WC on my NB. It gets quite toasty an it is very close to my video cards. I will be putting the rad outside my case so the heat will not be inside.

If you split the lines using an F adapter from swiftech I think you'll be ok.

Jas said:

If you split the lines using an F adapter from swiftech I think you'll be ok.

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I checked these out and I'm not sure I see what makes them any better than other splitters. The only one I could find that can connect to a 3/8" tube is this one.

Now with a split like that wouldn't that unevenly reduce the pressure and make the 1/4" side stall?

That splitter in your link is the swiftech one I was refering to.

the 1/4" side shouldn't stall completely, assumin gthe block on that side isn't horribly restrictive.

I used to use the MCWRamcool fro mSwiftech to cool the ram on my olg 7950GT. That used a 1/2" to 1/4" F coupler and Despite the difference in tube sizes, I could actually see quite a bit of flow going in and out of the ramcool. So, I think you would probably be ok doing that.

You'll want a beefy pump, with tons of head. I'd say check out the MCP355 if yo uhaven't already.