Flow restriction advice needed

Hey everyone, I've run into an issue on which I'd like to get some opinions. I just upgraded from a couple of GTX 980 Ti HydroCoppers to a single ASUS Poseidon 1080 Ti and I've noticed that my flow meter is is running a lot more slowly. I'm running 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) tubing and I have to assume the decrease in flow is because the ASUS card has a smaller channel and is aimed at people running smaller tubing. I'd like to get my flow rate back up and I'm thinking of adding a sort of bypass to the video card and adding a y-splitter to recombine the flow once it's gotten past the video card.

My question is, with this bypass implemented, will the video card get sufficient cooling? In other words, will enough flow make it to the card?

I'm attaching a picture to help illustrate this. This is a work in progress so it's a bit of a mess, plus I have no artistic skills so I hope it makes sense. The red lines is where I want to run another piece of tubing and join it to the existing exit tubing using a Y-adapter.

Thanks.

Well fluid will flow through the path of least resistance. By adding a "Y" to the bottom of the vga block, the fluid will bypass/avoid/skip the block and just flow straight down. You video card's temp will suffer. Tho the flow as slowed, how are the temps of the card under load?

Ya, that 'path of least resistance' was my concern too.
Temps are not bad really, I maxed out at about 61 C running Heaven at 4K, everything maxed. That was in OC mode with the GPU clock hitting 2025.

So, you're thinking leave it as-is?

It's not too bad. Remember ambient temps play a role as well. My card on air maxes out @ 60c running 2k @ 2100. Of course I have an aggressive fan curve set, but I barely hear my fans. You stated you just upgraded so you still might have air trapped somewhere. Once all the air is gone, your temps will improve somewhat.

Give it a few days, keep tilting the case back & forth to remove whatever trapped air you may have.

Appreciate the help, thanks! Due to the way the Poseidon handles fans I wasn't able to use my powered PWM splitter so I'm down two rad fans (6 out of 8 are still running tho). I have a 480 rad running push/pull with 4 of the fans controlled by the CPU fan header and 4 controlled by the video card. Getting those last 2 online may help a little as well. Plus, I run a really relaxed fan curve - the system is nearly silent which is what I'm after. Even with the benchmark running it's very quiet.

I would leave it as is but further the investigation and see what others have to say that own this GPU or at least reviewed it.

After doing a bit of research my self, it looks like the horrible design of the hybrid "WB" design or whatever you want to call it. They should have said, 20% DECREASE, not increase in water flow because of the horrid attempt of a waterblock design. To me, all I see are very thin looking channels, not as wide and deep as a real waterblock would have it. All I see is a nice RGB blingy GPU with fans on it.

I also have a 480 rad running 8 push/pull fans @ silent level, but only for cpu. Only fan I hear spin up is the psu and that's just when I fire up the pc in the am. Another thing to note is the flow meter. I know some ppl use them, but in reality it hinders flowrate and it's another obstacle that the fluid has to travel through. I, personally, never used one, but all the ones I've seen with the wheel does more harm than good.

The cpu has a thermal shutdown and once enabled in the bios will prevent it from damage if there's pump failure and temps spike. Really no need for a flow meter unless for asthetics/bling factor. Just a thought

Nebulous said:

I also have a 480 rad running 8 push/pull fans @ silent level, but only for cpu. Only fan I hear spin up is the psu and that's just when I fire up the pc in the am. Another thing to note is the flow meter. I know some ppl use them, but in reality it hinders flowrate and it's another obstacle that the fluid has to travel through. I, personally, never used one, but all the ones I've seen with the wheel does more harm than good.

The cpu has a thermal shutdown and once enabled in the bios will prevent it from damage if there's pump failure and temps spike. Really no need for a flow meter unless for asthetics/bling factor. Just a thought

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With all due respect, I disagree. I wouldn't want to get to the point of a thermal shutdown, etc. My flow sensor gives me a peace of mind of the loops health as well as possibly saving my loop and PC's life in the past without doing further damage. It showed me signs of flow degradation, which forced my hand to investigate. It was clear I had started to see a blockage ensue. Of course I was being lazy at the time but waited till the flow got to the point of no returned before I ended up doing a complete tear down of the loop. Some how a small piece of tubing got melted internally, on the CPU's lanes. No idea how that happened lol but it was obviously a freak accident from tube cutting during the assembling of the loop.

Nonetheless, it showed me that the loop was deteriorating before I got to the end point where the damage was done to the block and could have to the pumps. I personally will always have flow meters/sensors in my loops. Not that big of a deal if you're running a premium pump but on a weak 6w AIO pump, I could see it being an issue.

GTXJackBauer said:

After doing a bit of research my self, it looks like the horrible design of the hybrid "WB" design or whatever you want to call it. They should have said, 20% DECREASE, not increase in water flow because of the horrid attempt of a waterblock design. To me, all I see are very thin looking channels, not as wide and deep as a real waterblock would have it. All I see is a nice RGB blingy GPU with fans on it.

Click to expand...

Ya that water block channel does not impress me either. However, after the research I did and the reviews I read, this card was the best choice for me, hitting most of my requirements (not the least of which was availability!). Despite the small channel, it does keep the card reasonably cool. And, if you run it with the card's fans on (they're almost silent) you get additional cooling in the loop which I welcome.

GTXJackBauer said:

With all due respect, I disagree. I wouldn't want to get to the point of a thermal shutdown, etc. My flow sensor gives me a peace of mind of the loops health as well as possibly saving my loop and PC's life in the past without doing further damage. It showed me signs of flow degradation, which forced my hand to investigate. It was clear I had started to see a blockage ensue.

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Same. I added a flow meter when one day I realized that I was getting almost no flow. Wasn't easy to tell with no bubbles in the system. It wasn't hot enough to throttle anything but the coolant was way warmer than it needed to be. And, right now, the flow sensor isn't my problem, it's the card water block

can you add another pump?

I'm not telling the OP NOT to use a flow meter. I'm merely stating that using one will hinder flow and also putting more stress on the pump. If the OP (or any other member here) chooses to use a flow meter, that's on them. I would not use one from past experience. I rely on the overtemp protection set in my bios and it hasn't let me down yet even when my pump died. Nothing else was damaged.

Jack, if you use a flow meter and it's worked for you, then that's great news and that it saved your hardware from more damage is outstanding!

We can agree to disagree

maxfly said:

can you add another pump?

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Sure, I have spare pumps but I can't see that helping me. In the end, I still have the same restriction with the water block. Plus, the pump I have is plenty strong (Swiftech MCP655) and hasn't left me wanting as far as the flow is concerned.

- - - Updated - - -

Nebulous (and anyone else reading), follow-up question:

I was thinking, could there be an advantage to lower flow rate? If the heated up water is flowing slower though the rad, does that give it the ability to cool down more? Just musing...

What will happen is the heated fluid will eventually overtake the cool. So in essence you'll have warmer fluid flowing through the system which will defeat the purpose of watercooling, get me? You'll be better off getting one of the top-of-the-line air coolers saving you money and this will cool better than a slow flow pump.

Not to get sidetracked with the two blues =)
I think you are fine the flow meter is just showing you that it is less than it used to be , not that your current flow is bad . You added a restrictive block flow will go down . I think your temps look fine , I dont think the 2 fans down for now will be a problem I dont see much of a diffence with only 3 of my 5 fans running ( normal use ) then with them all on . Only when Im really pushing the volts .