Dual Loop Question

[Theophany]

Hey guys

I'm reading up a load on custom loops mainly out of curiosity at this point and possibly for application at some point. I've been fascinated by water cooling since I first got into PC customisation and hoping to one day take the plunge.

If I were to go balls to the wall and try a dual loop (let's say the EK Dual Loop res as a starting point) and say cool the CPU on one loop and GPU on the other, would I be correct in assuming each loop would need its own pump?

I was thinking of putting a 240/360 rad on the CPU loop and 240mm rad on the GPU loop (single GFX setup). In theory, I'd imagine this would mean I wouldn't have to drain the entire setup to install a second and possibly third GPU in the future if I wanted to - I'd just have to drain the loop that the GPU is on, right?

Any suggestions to optimise it would be much appreciated!

 

[twist3d0n3]

if it's just cpu and gpu, single loop with a 120.3 will be fine.

if you're going to add more gpu's in the future, then yes dual can be a good idea. i run a dual-gpu graphics card with a single gpu card, which is on it's own loop with motherboard mosfets, the other loop is cpu + nb/sb, and temps are awesome. both loops have a 120.3 each.

oh, and yes if you had 2 loops you'd need a pump on each

 

[Theophany]

Sweet! I'd like to keep my options open with regards to a second card really. When the HD6000s come out I've every intention of swooping in to pick up one or two of my beloved 5850s for slashed prices!

What case do you use to fit in 2x 120.3 rads? That must be freaking huuge... (that's what she said!)

 

[JonJ678]

If you get to the point where a second pump in series with the first looks like a good plan, you should probably use two loops instead. Otherwise, thermally isolating the gpu and cpu has merit, since the gpu will tolerate higher temperatures than the cpu before it gets upset, and this lets you use fewer radiators.

£40 quid on a reservoir when you can have two T lines for under a fiver seems like madness to me.

 

[Theophany]

Bear in mind this would be my first attempt at watercooling Jon, so I'm a little underspecced knowledge-wise

T-Lines are run-off hose for filling, draining and bleeding the loop, right? How do you create one? I presume there is some kind of T-shaped barb or compression fitting that junctions the loop?

 

[JonJ678]

Pretty much yeah. At its most basic it's a piece of delrin (most black plastic in watercooling is acetal homopolymer, trademarked as delrin and abbreviated to acetal) with three, threaded holes. Some cleverer T pieces are more like three barbs stuck together. The common theme is water flows straight through it, with another tube coming off at right angles. The length coming off at right angles works well for draining the loop of water, especially if you put a ball valve on the far end of it. Otherwise it works in the same way as a reservoir if the tubing is pointing upwards. You put it before the pump, pour water in until it threatens to spill out the top, run the pump briefly then add more water.

Reservoirs are bigger, make bleeding (getting the air out of) the loop much quicker, and some people think they look nice. Performance should be worse with a reservoir, but not measurably so. Using more water can be useful though, in that it dampens temperature fluctuations allowing fans to run a bit slower. T lines used as a reservoir use up much less space and are cheaper.

 

[twist3d0n3]

Sweet! I'd like to keep my options open with regards to a second card really. When the HD6000s come out I've every intention of swooping in to pick up one or two of my beloved 5850s for slashed prices!

What case do you use to fit in 2x 120.3 rads? That must be freaking huuge... (that's what she said!)

i've got a lian li pc-a70, i've got one rad mounted in the top, and the other on the back (with holes cut in the top for the hoses to go through).

gonna build a radbox soon tho as i'm getting bored