Looking to add reservoir - possible flow rate issue?

[davewah3]

Below is a list and picture of my current water cooling loop. I'm not the biggest fan of the tube that runs boringly up to the reservoir. I was considering spicing it up a little and running the tube from the bottom radiator into this reservoir mounted vertically into the top reservoir. Should I just ditch the top reservoir altogether and mount the pump on the bottom of this new reservoir? Or should the flow still be decent enough to add this extra reservoir without a major issue? As it stands the pump is doing a fantastic job, it's really quite impressive how well it chugs the water. I'm also considering upgrading the bottom radiator when I drain while I'm at it to a fatter 60mm width Alphacool UT60. And eventually yes I will paint that red part of the PSU, it was in my prior red/black themed build just haven't gotten around to it. :crazy:

Res: XSPC 5.25" Dual Bay Reservoir
Pump: Swiftech MCP655
CPU: XSPC Rasa
Rad1: XSPC RS360
GPU: EK VGA Supremacy Bridge Edition (Linked via EK FC Bridge Dual Parallel)
Rad2: Black Ice Stealth 240

 

[jamesriley94]

You're best of with the single reservoir really.

Just get a pump top, attach that to the bottom fans/rad, then put the tube res above it and just have done with it.

Is the pump mounted into the res that you already have? I'm slightly confused as to whether it's a standalone bay res, or a combo.
Either way, the idea you've suggested would put the pump pushing water straight into the second reservoir, which would dissipate most of the water's energy. If you really wanted 2 reservoirs, you'd need the pump in the loop after the second res.

 

[OcSurfer]

Why don't you run the tube from the bottom rad through the grommets and up the back panel?

 

[Greenback]

if you added the tube res to go from the bottom rad>res>res>pump, the bottom of the first res would need to be above the bay res inlet. Looking at your pic and the space above between the bay res and top rad the tube res would need to lay horizontal and you would probably end up with a longer tube going from bottom rad to res.
Putting a thicker rad in the bottom would reduce the length of tube going from bottom rad to bay res.
If you do as James suggests you would have a tube going from the bottom of the case to the cpu unless you changed the flow direction of your loop, either way you will get a long run of tube I'm assuming your loop goes res>pump>cpu>rad>gpu>rad>res

 

[davewah3]

OcSurfer - Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you're suggesting going external with the loop which is something I am trying to avoid in this build, just out of preference really.

jamesriley94 - It's not a combo rather, a bay reservoir that is designed to have a MCP655/D5 fit into it. The flow goes Res/pump/cpu/rad/gpu/rad, so the second reservoir *would* be after the pump. To my understanding the additional reservoir would kill the water's energy as you put it, though, regardless of the layout.

if you added the tube res to go from the bottom rad>res>res>pump, the bottom of the first res would need to be above the bay res inlet. Looking at your pic and the space above between the bay res and top rad the tube res would need to lay horizontal and you would probably end up with a longer tube going from bottom rad to res.
Putting a thicker rad in the bottom would reduce the length of tube going from bottom rad to bay res.

The thicker rad is purely for aesthetics to shorten that length of tubing. The one in there now adds the perfect amount of dissipation for the heat my CPU and GPUs produce. I just want it to look tidier and to be honest, I didn't really expect that length of tube to bug me at all until well after the installation - duly noted though, never going bay reservoir again for a full tower. I'll also be tossing two fans on the opposing side for push pull to further reduce that length.

That part I underlined is as much as I figured, as far as ensuring the water keeps flowing properly. It's that length of the tubing that leaves me unsettled with the loop. Any way I can tidy that up I am open to. It just doesn't fly with me having a two foot tube running across my case. At this point I'm leaning towards running it without the bay reservoir at all just to make it as clean as possible.

What if I reverse the flow, and do as such: bay res/pump/res2/bottom rad/gpu/top rad/cpu/bay etc. etc.? Would this approach mitigate the whole "energy" issue the water needs to get through the vertical reservoir by using gravity to essentially give it said energy? Or am I just brewing up some mad science to justify having two reservoirs...

 

[OcSurfer]

Indeed you are wrong,
run a 90 out the bottoms rad and route the tube up to the reservoir behind the motherboard tray, thus hiding it

 

[davewah3]

Indeed you are wrong,
run a 90 out the bottoms rad and route the tube up to the reservoir behind the motherboard tray, thus hiding it

Thanks for the clarification! I figured I was just misunderstanding. I'll give that a try, just have to make sure there's adequate clearance behind the mobo tray.

 

[Greenback]

OcSurfer option would be the easiest
res/pump/res2/bottom rad/gpu/top rad/cpu/bay you would lose pump pressure in the res2.
The other is what James said tube res pump top, go with the tube res you have linked as it has 2 ports on the top then go res>pump>brad>gpu>trad>cpu>top port in res, though you would want to make sure res is full or you'd get the running water sound