Newbie question

Dazza2910 · 31 Jan 2022 at 18:02

Hi there,

Have just done my first custom water cooling loop and got everything working (nearly melted graphics card but we'll gloss over that!).

I have seen from searches on here and YouTube videos that flow order doesn't really matter. However I have a feeling I could have done it better!

It's all EKWB components so from the output of the combo pump/reservoir, it goes to the radiator, then CPU, then GPU then back to reservoir.

Is that OK or should I have done pump to CPU, GPU then radiator?

Cheers

Daz

im4gine3 · 31 Jan 2022 at 18:05

Looks fine.

Loop order doesn't matter. I've had mine in different orders multiple times and never seen a significant difference tbh.. .5 degree coolant temp if that

Dazza2910 · 31 Jan 2022 at 18:19

That's what I was hoping. Already had to drain out once to reroute graphics card hoses.

For Flight Sim the GPU was at 50 degrees (RTX2080Ti), which is about 15 lower than it was before. Yet when I played an older game (Sniper Elite 4), the hoses and coolant were getting quite warm.

Forgot to check GPU temp at the time.

Daz

Awahwah · 31 Jan 2022 at 20:09

I’ve had multiple loop orders over the years and never seen much difference.

Currently I’m going pump -> gpu -> ram -> cpu -> rad -> rad -> pump.

Dazza2910 · 31 Jan 2022 at 20:42

Am currently thinking I might leave it for now and see how it goes, but when I next change the coolant, I might change it to Pump > GPU > CPU > Radiator > Pump

therealdippy · 1 Feb 2022 at 13:48

Whilst component order does not matter, flow direction can matter for some blocks - did you check?
I have lots of sensors in my loop, and assuming that they have a decent degree of accuracy the temperature of the water is pretty constant throughout the loop: I generally see less than 1C drop from one side of a rad to the other. It's the same with components: There is no sudden temperature increase from one side of the CPU or GPU to the other. In theory you could rearrange a loop so that the water reaches one component at 1C less than in another arrangement, but to what end? As long as the loop is good, that 1C decrease will have no appreciable effect.
In idle (i.e. we-browsing, e-mail etc.) my CPU varies around 45-50C whilst the GPU is at around 30C. I have my pump and fan control sent for lowest noise and so my water temperature soon reaches around 35C (21C ambient). In a good gaming session I believe my CPU will be around 60-70C and my GPU will be around 50C. I still don't want excessive noise so I have tuned my pump and fan control to allow the water temperature to rise to 39-40C (I could have it lower with faster fan speeds). I have not tried changing loop order but I really don't believe that taking even 1C off the inlet temperature of my CPU or GPU (probably in exchange for a 1C increase for the other component) will have any noticeable effect.

Spiritwolf · 1 Feb 2022 at 19:01

Flow direction matter for blocks with jet plates. Wrong direction will cause dead zones in the plate and can mean up to 3-5c temp difference to the component you are cooling.

order of component doesn’t matter, even with low flow loop, coolant doesn’t have enough time to heat up to create a big temp delta in the loop. If you measure temp difference between in and out of the heat sinks you will notice less than 0.5 degrees c of difference.