One or two loops?

[davidm71]

Hi,

Last year I built a new system intending to water cool it. This would be my second go at water cooling. Along the way I got lazy from working too many hours and just didn't setup my water loop despite having collected all the rads, tubing, pumps I need. The GPU is an Evga Kingpin 980 Ti and last week I bought another one for sli on ebay including another EK waterblock for it (unused according to the seller). The CPU is a 5820K though been considering upgrading to something a little faster. Anyhow because these guys are 980 tis and may want to upgrade the gpu in a year would it make more sense to have two loops? Such that taking down the gpu loop not affect the cpu?

So to sum up I have three rads at my disposal. I have one of those thin 360 black ice stealth rads, a 280 mm rad, and a fat 240 monster rad.

Thanks

 

[AlienALX]

What case do you have?

 

[davidm71]

Parts detail

Hi,

I have a Cooler Master Cosmos II case. My top rad a black ice stealth 360, Front rad is a Hardware Labs SR2 280, and bottom rad is an Alpha Cool Monsta 280, Tube is PrimoChill 7/16" Red tube, Pump is a Koolance PMP-500, the res is a Bitspower Z-250 (wish I went with a shorter one), and now I have a couple EK GPU blocks for the Kingpins. I have a number of angled Bitspower compression fittings. The considerations I have are number one do I have too many rads? Number two is my tube not up to the job? Should I have go 1/2 inch as the head pressure from the pump I read could be a problem but was planning on using a 7 volt mod on the pump to reduce the head pressure? Thirdly should I have gone with hard tubing though I have no experience with hard tube setups...

Thanks

 

[Bartacus]

Just an opinion, but I'd stick with one loop. Upgrading stuff is a great way to test if you did your drain properly. Keeping it all in one loop evenly distributes the cooling too.

Also, there is no such thing as too many rads. Overkill is underrated!!

Tube size doesn't matter much IMO for performance, if at all. Just aesthetics. As for the pump, I know nothing about that one.

 

[davidm71]

Ok

Thanks for your advice..

Got to research this further. Need fittings to connect the two video card blocks together first then buy coolant. Considering distilled water..

Thanks

 

[Kaapstad]

Hi,

Last year I built a new system intending to water cool it. This would be my second go at water cooling. Along the way I got lazy from working too many hours and just didn't setup my water loop despite having collected all the rads, tubing, pumps I need. The GPU is an Evga Kingpin 980 Ti and last week I bought another one for sli on ebay including another EK waterblock for it (unused according to the seller). The CPU is a 5820K though been considering upgrading to something a little faster. Anyhow because these guys are 980 tis and may want to upgrade the gpu in a year would it make more sense to have two loops? Such that taking down the gpu loop not affect the cpu?

So to sum up I have three rads at my disposal. I have one of those thin 360 black ice stealth rads, a 280 mm rad, and a fat 240 monster rad.

Thanks

Go single loop and use quick disconnects so it is easy to remove parts without draining the whole loop.

This will also save you money on parts as you won't have to worry about an extra pump/res/fittings etc.

You will also get the maximum use out of your rad space.

 

[Dawelio]

Go single loop and use quick disconnects so it is easy to remove parts without draining the whole loop.

This will also save you money on parts as you won't have to worry about an extra pump/res/fittings etc.

You will also get the maximum use out of your rad space.

And Kaapstad came to the rescue!

 

[Drider]

Don't Trust Distilled 100%

Thanks for your advice..

Got to research this further. Need fittings to connect the two video card blocks together first then buy coolant. Considering distilled water..

Thanks

Just be careful with the distilled if you buy from the local grocery.
I just got my new loop back online after 3 months being down because my distilled I bought from the store was a PH of 4 and started eating away copper in my Rad.

See the Pictures here of the copper deposits collecting on my blocks and in the res:
https://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=77289

Be sure to PH test anything you put in your loop. I even had 4 bottles of Mayhem's ultra pure, mid you it wasn't as bad at the distilled, but I still found the PH at a solid 7.8, nothing a drop of PH down couldn't solve.

 

[AlienALX]

For peace of mind get a kill coil or a silver bullet.

 

[tinytomlogan]

I think Id go single loop too, keep the hosing clean. Just dont make the mistake of putting rads between blocks, just loop it up as tidy as possible.

 

[Surfie]

I think Id go single loop too, keep the hosing clean. Just dont make the mistake of putting rads between blocks, just loop it up as tidy as possible.

This. Totally this. Ignore the fact that I have actually done exactly this in my latest build.

The only reason you should put rads between blocks is if it is neater to do so.... the water temperature will always average out over time...

Oh, and I would go single loop - personally.