Watercooling radiators question

[Animalpak]

Any benefits when adding 120mm radiator after CPU waterblock then go to GPU waterblock ?


In theory you should cool the water after the CPU to have a more fresh water input to the GPU right?

Pics are for examples.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Depends how hot your cpu gets. I never did mainly because I couldn't fit one.

 

[dogchainx]

I remember trying this a long time ago (read GTX 480 SLI)

Didn't make much of a difference. Wasn't worth the hassle. Water can hold a LOT of heat, and can only cool so quickly, and the 1/2 degree that it is cooler before it hits the GPU won't make much of a difference.

Where you place the radiators in respect to the chain of components didn't matter much from my experience. Whether the radiator was after or before the component you want cooled was negligible. What did matter was the size of the radiator, and number of. So if your current radiator(s) are insufficient, then adding a 120mm radiator will help. How much depends upon your setup.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

It will help for the first 5 minutes that the loop is going, but once the system hits equilibrium state, it won't do much for you. Should just go CPU then GPU then the 120 if you really need it.

I had the same mentality, that the water should be cooled inbetween the blocks, but soon realized after reading and talking to few users such as MT Alex reveal that having rads between the blocks is a useless practice.

 

[Animalpak]

Thank you friends of accurate and comprehensive answers, you make me feel comfortable for the setup I want to do to my pc.

CPU Block: D-Tek Fuzion V2
GPU Block: Aquacomputer GTX 690 Hole edition copper + backplate
Pump: Aquacomputer D5 Solo with RPM Sensor
Reservoir: XSPC Acrylic Dual 5.25 "for D5 pumps
Radiator: Alphacool Monsta 280mm 80mm thick in push pull config.

I just want to overclock the CPU to 4.2 Ghz or higher need to test after installing all watercooling components

GPU will be stock.

How it sounds?

 

[Flibolito]

Agreed. Also the water is moving through the system very rapidly, faster than it seems. The most important things are the order you put stuff in. Make sure the reservoir feeds the pump with as little restriction as possible. A very good trick that does make a difference is to put you most restrictive piece in the chain at the end for consistent pressure throughout the loop, In my case the GPU block on the hydrocopper, doing this will help a little.

 

[skline00]

I have a XSPC RX 360 rad and added a Swiftech MCR120-QPK rad to it before entering the cpu block. Helps with cooling a 3930k @4.4Ghz and an overclocked GTX 680.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Agreed. Also the water is moving through the system very rapidly, faster than it seems. The most important things are the order you put stuff in. Make sure the reservoir feeds the pump with as little restriction as possible. A very good trick that does make a difference is to put you most restrictive piece in the chain at the end for consistent pressure throughout the loop, In my case the GPU block on the hydrocopper, doing this will help a little.

Nope, order does not matter. Only aspect that looks past that rule is reservoir feeds pump. Really anyone doing a custom loop should strive for the shortest routes, and cleanest look.

If you have a pump with enough head pressure, restriction should be less of an issue.

 

[Steevo]

Your internal surface area of the radiator is the limiting factor (laminar flow allows conservation of energy in the form of heat as only a small percentage of the coolant actually makes contact with the radiator tubes in a small radiator), an effect known as heat soak will cause smaller radiators to fail where a larger one will work.

If you are concerned use a 360mm radiator. Or a thicker 240.