Order of watercooling parts

[mribnik]

In terms of tubing, the best way to go with my tubing is from the pump to the heatercore, then to the reservoir, then to the cpu and gpu blocks. Do you get less performance out of this order than the traditional, pump --> HC----> cpu ---> gpu---> res ???

I would be able to do the tubing either way, but it's more convenient to go with the heatercore to res order.

From what I read, the system reaches equilibrium after a while anyways and it shouldn't matter right? Anyways, any suggestions are appreciated as always!

 

[Styyn]

This question is asked nearly daily, and the answer is technically it makes a difference, but the difference is about .2c on average. On the other hand, reducing your head loss by keeping your tubing short and tidy will increase your flowrate and drop your temp at least as much as having the rad before the blocks would have.

 

[mribnik]

OK, thanks. I think I'll just do that then since it saves tubing length.

One last question. I have a criticool reservoir and was wondering if there is any problem with the incoming water coming from the top, and the outlet at the bottom. This might sound like a stupid question, but I was just wondering if the water shooting down from the top and splashing into the reservoir would be a big problem. I only ask because nearly all the pics I have seen have people putting both the inlet and the outlet at the bottom of the reservoir. If I can have the inlet at the top and the outlet at the bottom that'd be awesome. Just wondering about splashing and bubbles and stuff. I will be using about 90% distilled water and 10% blue antifreeze if that makes a difference.

 

[mribnik]

Now at the criticool website they did it, but I was wondering about splashing. Would I need to fill the res essentially all the way to the top to minimize splashing, or does it not matter at all? Also, with the antifreeze and what not, I was wondering if it makes the problem any different.

 

[tsulas]

Do you get less performance out of this order than the traditional, pump --> HC----> cpu ---> gpu---> res ???

Maybe I am wrong, but I thought the traditional order was:
Pump -> CPU -> GPU -> HC -> Res

i suppose I could be wrong though, as looking at what I just wrote, you pump water that could have been sitting in the res for a while directly to the CPU, it would make more sense having the HC before the CPU so that the water going to the CPU is the coolest possible.

 

[mribnik]

Do you get less performance out of this order than the traditional, pump --> HC----> cpu ---> gpu---> res ???

Maybe I am wrong, but I thought the traditional order was:
Pump -> CPU -> GPU -> HC -> Res

i suppose I could be wrong though, as looking at what I just wrote, you pump water that could have been sitting in the res for a while directly to the CPU, it would make more sense having the HC before the CPU so that the water going to the CPU is the coolest possible.

Well, there is definately a good chance I messed up the "traditional" order. I wouldn't think that the water would be sitting in the res long enough to gain very much heat, if any though?

 

[tsulas]

true, but I was thinking more in the case of people with insane sized res.

 

[mribnik]

Thanks for the responses guys. Does anybody know about the "splashing" that I referred to earlier?

 

[Styyn]

Splashing isn't a problem unless your pump pulls so hard that the bubbles get pulled back into the loop instead of getting trapped in the res.