I started my first watercooling project, and as time went on, the budget went out the window. Then, it got downright expensive and almost silly. Now I have all these parts which are probably overkill, but since I have them, I could use some advice on radiator/loop setup.
Basically, what I did was design an external "cooling box" which, at this time, will only be cooling my one computer (2 loops), but I designed it with the idea that I could potentially cool two computers from the one box some day if I wanted to.
The box is about 18" x 24" and about 12" high. On each side are two Swiftech 320 radiators (4 total) which vent directly to the outside. They are boxed in with homemade shrouds, about 3/4" thick, and have a total 12 x 38mm ultra kaze fans working in a push configuration. The fans will be hooked to a sunbeam fan controller with each set of 3 fans on a different channel. The box has two intake fans: 120mm on the front and a 250mm on the back. It will also house two water pumps (Laing D5's) and two reservoirs (Swiftech Micros). I am using 7/16(ID) 11/16(OD) tygon tubing throughout.
One loop: has a D5 pump, swiftech res, 2 of the rads and will be cooling two ATI 4870's in crossfire. Currently, I am using the stock heatsink with as 120mm fan blowing on them (until D-tek makes a unisink). The GPUs are cooled by D-tek Fuzion GFX2's.
Second loop: D5 pump, swiftech res, 2 rads, CPU on Danger Den MCTDX block, northbridge, southbridge, mosfet all cooled by EK blocks.
While using 2 big radiators per loop is probably unnecessary, I already have them installed in the box, and I figure I might as well use them. With that in mind, I have three questions:
1. For the GPU loop, should I simply loop one radiator directly into the one next to it, or should I consider running a radiator after EACH gpu in the loop. If I seperate the gpus and seperate the rads, I will be adding as much as 8-10 additional feet of tubing into the loop because of the placement. However, will it be useless to run hotwater through two radiators in a row?
2. Similarly, for the cpu loop, should I consider looping one radiator after the cpu and another after the various chipset cards? Or just run all the blocks in a row, then run both rads together? The same issue with additional external tubing will apply here.
3. Should I consider moving one or more of the chipset/mosfet blocks off the cpu loop and into the gpu loop instead? Or will it be fine this way?
If my explanation doesn't make sense, I'll try to post some pics up soon, as I am getting closer to finishing up the external box in the next day or two.
Basically, what I did was design an external "cooling box" which, at this time, will only be cooling my one computer (2 loops), but I designed it with the idea that I could potentially cool two computers from the one box some day if I wanted to.
The box is about 18" x 24" and about 12" high. On each side are two Swiftech 320 radiators (4 total) which vent directly to the outside. They are boxed in with homemade shrouds, about 3/4" thick, and have a total 12 x 38mm ultra kaze fans working in a push configuration. The fans will be hooked to a sunbeam fan controller with each set of 3 fans on a different channel. The box has two intake fans: 120mm on the front and a 250mm on the back. It will also house two water pumps (Laing D5's) and two reservoirs (Swiftech Micros). I am using 7/16(ID) 11/16(OD) tygon tubing throughout.
One loop: has a D5 pump, swiftech res, 2 of the rads and will be cooling two ATI 4870's in crossfire. Currently, I am using the stock heatsink with as 120mm fan blowing on them (until D-tek makes a unisink). The GPUs are cooled by D-tek Fuzion GFX2's.
Second loop: D5 pump, swiftech res, 2 rads, CPU on Danger Den MCTDX block, northbridge, southbridge, mosfet all cooled by EK blocks.
While using 2 big radiators per loop is probably unnecessary, I already have them installed in the box, and I figure I might as well use them. With that in mind, I have three questions:
1. For the GPU loop, should I simply loop one radiator directly into the one next to it, or should I consider running a radiator after EACH gpu in the loop. If I seperate the gpus and seperate the rads, I will be adding as much as 8-10 additional feet of tubing into the loop because of the placement. However, will it be useless to run hotwater through two radiators in a row?
2. Similarly, for the cpu loop, should I consider looping one radiator after the cpu and another after the various chipset cards? Or just run all the blocks in a row, then run both rads together? The same issue with additional external tubing will apply here.
3. Should I consider moving one or more of the chipset/mosfet blocks off the cpu loop and into the gpu loop instead? Or will it be fine this way?
If my explanation doesn't make sense, I'll try to post some pics up soon, as I am getting closer to finishing up the external box in the next day or two.