Requesting advice for cooling

[Max.Moody1]

only difference i can see is the ftw cards come with the swiftech waterblock and the single PCI slot plate as i recall i did the math a while back and its cheaper to buy the standard 480, a waterblock and PCI plate and just do the changing yourself, then you also have a spare fan if you want to wake the dead or something...

then again by removing the stock fan i would assume you voided the warranty whereas if you buy the ftw card you still have a warranty...

 

[m0r7if3r]

With EVGA you keep the warranty as long as the stock hsf is still attachable, so, there's no real reason to not go with an evga card then put your own stuff on it.

 

[Max.Moody1]

originally i was going to do the 480 then put my own waterblock on it then i decided i would take the easy route and for the ftw card, screw it, best plan is to just buy the standard card and use my own water block, so i can choose how i want it to perform...

i'll be doing a parallel system for the 480's not as easy as series but i feel it would be the better option, go with a high flow rate, that will be cut in half before it goes to the GPU then increases again after...

 

[m0r7if3r]

You can pretty easily parallel it with one of these, also comes in triple flavor, don't forget to get the blanks. It's pretty simple too do.

EDIT: youtube link

 

[Max.Moody1]

quick question, i've read around looking at how people set up their loops. and i've seen quite a few people who put the reservoir AFTER the pump... when that is the dumbest idea i've heard...

wouldn't it make much more sense to have the reservoir first? make sure the pump always has water to pull from

what i see as the ideal loop is
res>pump>block(s)>radiator>res

so the block gets water at the highest pressure its going to be at, picks up the heat and carries it directly to the radiator to get rid of that heat then to the res to cool a tiny bit more while waiting briefly to continue the loop again

but i've also seen people setup the rad immediately after the pump... so the block(s) dumps heat into the reservoir which will radiate heat into the case while sitting there... then the pump has to move hot water instead of cooled water... wouldn't the heat wear on the pump faster?

 

[m0r7if3r]

In all the testing I've seen, loop order makes no difference except for the res being right before the pump (otherwise you kill your pump). Pumps are good up to a water temp of 60c, so anything to there you shouldn't have to worry about. The temps in your loop equalize, so as long as everything is in there, water temp won't be much more than 2-3c different between rad in and rad out at load.

 

[Conumdrum]

Aha! Res before pump always. Seen very few loops otherwise, few. Might be a two pump loop, might be a confusing tubing layout or a pump your not used to seeing. It gets me at times too.

Good question!

Putting it in a res/pump/rad/CPU back to res is the best way. The pump makes heat, the DDC3.2 18 watts. In a perfect world you worry about 18 watts. When it comes to placing the parts and the tubing, it makes little difference in the loop as long as res before pump, the golden rule.

You start digging into low DT temps, total diff between coolest water vs warmest water in a loop, it becomes a very small issue. A 200 watt CPU, pump, res and a 120x3 rad, I bet you'll see a bit over 1C diff anywhere in the loop, maybe under 1C. Thats within measurement error so it is nothing to even consider when running your tubing.

The water temp even in a 3 GPU loop with one massive rad is just a few diff C anywhere in a loop. Even Skinnee attests to that when he validated my DT article in the stickies.

Your ready, "Good brain on this one, Padwan"..................

 

[Max.Moody1]

the only way i can think of to work having the res after the pump is to have a fully pressurized system, so as water if pumped into the res, in order to make room for the added water some water has to go into the main part of the loop...

and after you explained about the rad being right after the pump it makes more sense now. personally i'll stick with the rad just before the res...

i'm going with the EK Supreme HF

with the results here