Does it matter were I put the reservoir ?

jolie77

jolie77

jolie77

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26 Jan 2009
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Is there a prefered place to put this and should it all ways be at a certain height ? ie at the top of the case for better water flow ?

Thanks so much !!;)
 
Loop order makes no difference at all, you could put the cpu or GPU in either order and both would recieve roughly the same temp water as it equalises throughout the loop, strange but true. I had trouble grasping this concept too. Try it yourself, put the radiator AFTER the CPU, the temps will still be the same. Perhaps the best bit of advice regarding loop order is to position your components which require the least amount of tight bends and the least amount of tubing.;)

Having the res before the pump is the best positioning. Having the res at the highest point will, as suggested previously aid bleeding of the loop and initial priming of the pump.

Adding extra radiators will only really benefit a watercooling loop if the current radiator is overloaded. You may see a very slight drop but the increase in efficiency may well be counteracted by the additional restriction you are adding to the loop, which may actually hurts temps. You need to find a good balance. In my experience it is better to invest in one good quality radiator rather than get two separate cheaper radiators.
 
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Guys is a T splitter used for when you want to make other runs off your tubing to other hardware. ie running loops to CPU and GPU on the same loop ?

Thanks ! some excellent info W3bbo!
 
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No, using a splitter for that is a bad idea. Run your components in serial rather than parallel. If you find you are cooling too much in one loop then you need to either upgrade your parts or create a totally separate loop (extra pump, res, rad etc), splitting the heatload between them.

i.e

Res -> pump -> rad -> CPU -> GPU->

or

Loop one:
Res -> pump -> rad -> CPU ->

Loop two

Res-> Pump -> Rad -> GPU ->

T and Y splitters are generally used for either a 'T' line (substitute for a res) or for a run off for drainage purposes.
 
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I used to think of the pump being fed water from the res but of course that's BS, the pump pulls so it really can be right before the res if you want although it would make filling a PITA. The pump would simply pull the water through all the components and out of the res before putting it back.

It really makes no difference other than ease of filling.
 
The only thing wrong with putting the pump before the res would be when you are first bleeding the loop, all the air being pushed out of the rads etc will have to go through the pump at least once before it reaches the res and becomes trapped. The traditional position of pump after res means the vast majority of air being pushed out of the rads will get trapped in the res before it has chance to go through the pump. Its always a good idea to minimise the chances of running the pump dry, which if you are forcing allot of air out of the rad will be more likely with the pump after the res. If you can somehow bleed the majority of air in the loop without having to start the pump, by filling with the rad bleed screws out for example, then yes it won't matter as much where you put the res.
 
Another reason to have the res above the pump is to prime it when you're first running the loop. Most pumps are self-priming, but you still have to feed it water somehow - easiest with the res above and before it :)
 
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