watercooling pipe length?

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1. does the length of the pipe work affect performance.

i dont mean 1m compared to 20m because i know it will be bad because the pump cant push that much water.

just for example i had 4m of pipe in the the system and i could get it down to say 2m would it have a great affect on performance.

2. also whats the best cpu block ya can get on the market with 3/8 connectors

3. also if you are testing the system out for an hour and use tap water, would the temp be higher than using the coolant

cheers
 
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turbotoaster said:
3. also if you are testing the system out for an hour and use tap water, would the temp be higher than using the coolant

I hope your local area pipes don't run thru chalk, coz hardwater is BAD for any sort of pumps.
 
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turbotoaster said:
if i havent got any to hand and just want to test the system before it gets pulled apart for final fitting

I would test it with deionized/distilled tbh. To properly test the loop I would leave it running for 24 hours or more to be absolutely certain everything is tickety boo. Using tapwater would no doubt leave deposits and your loop will no longer be pure.

SiriusB
 
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I don't get it...
Why test it, then pull apart?
If you want, you should have set everything as it should be, then test it without plugging in anything electrical.
 
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turbotoaster said:
1. does the length of the pipe work affect performance.

i dont mean 1m compared to 20m because i know it will be bad because the pump cant push that much water.

just for example i had 4m of pipe in the the system and i could get it down to say 2m would it have a great affect on performance.

2. also whats the best cpu block ya can get on the market with 3/8 connectors

3. also if you are testing the system out for an hour and use tap water, would the temp be higher than using the coolant

cheers

most people will say short pipes is better this true but you wont notice any difference unless like you said your comparing a tiny distance to a huge one, best option is to keep as short as you can without kinks in the tubing.

most blocks support both 1/2" and 3/8" barbs i know that DangerDen ones are interchangable and can be bought with which ever one you need.

dont test with tap water its not recommended. you only need to leak test the system once so get some distilled and run it for 24hrs. best way is in you case with all components attached but hotwire you PSU so no electric to hardware should be fine
 
Wise Guy
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You wont see the performance difference between 4m and 2m of tubing, if there is one at all.

I've been using tap water for about two years now, on a 7.5% antifreeze mix (which is a girly pink colour if you're interested, hey whatever floats your boat) and my blocks still crear (white water cascade), my rads still clear and my pipes aren't to bad either (which are DD clearflex, reknowned for clouding up).

Mind you, i live in a soft water part of scotland.
 
Soldato
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Bundles is right. Except for MAJOR pipe lengths, it won't make any difference.

Also, I don't see the harm in testing with tap water - I always do. I do run my actual loop with distilled and Redex though.
 
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go look at your kettle.... see the crud on the bottom... tap water be bad for long term use but i suppose a couple of hours wont hurt, get down to asda or teco, its about 70pence a litre.
 
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you cant just say the lenght doesnt effect it without knowing what kind of loop it is !
a storm, tripple dual pass rad and full face GPU block would cripple the pump, so tubing length would be critical IMO,

on the other hand, an ancient Maze 4 CPU &GPU and a single X flow (single pass) rad would be one heck of a lot less restrictive, therefore tubing wouldnt matter AS MUCH.

^^^two Very different situations there !
but IMO, the length of your loop is critical if your going for performance, but sometimes thats not always suitable
 
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R B CUSTOMS said:
^^^two Very different situations there !
but IMO, the length of your loop is critical if your going for performance, but sometimes thats not always suitable

On a loop where you have high flow rates and components that NEED high flow rates, then length of tubing might make a noticable difference.

But the likes of a storm or a cascade and even a maze4 are a heck of a lot more restrictive than a couple of metres of extra tubing.

Try blowing though a CPU block and try blowing through some hose, which is hardest?
 
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I have to say tubing did make a difference in my case. With this lot:

Swiftech MCW6002
AquaXtreme 50z
Silverprop HL fusion
Dual heatercore
XSPC 120.2 Rad

...my temps were ok but disappointing. Then over Easter I wanted to redo my system which I did with much less tubing (same routing though) and temps dropped 4C. Hey, it's not scientific and unsubstantiated but it's what I found.
 
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smids said:
I have to say tubing did make a difference in my case. With this lot:

Swiftech MCW6002
AquaXtreme 50z
Silverprop HL fusion
Dual heatercore
XSPC 120.2 Rad

...my temps were ok but disappointing. Then over Easter I wanted to redo my system which I did with much less tubing (same routing though) and temps dropped 4C. Hey, it's not scientific and unsubstantiated but it's what I found.

You will probably find most of that temp change was from:

A: Getting a better mount on your block when you remounted it, or when you wiggled it aboout changing the tubing it ended up sitting flatter on your CPU.

B: New TC passing heat between your CPU and your waterblock.

C: The new water having less contaminants in it so carrying the heat away more efficiently.

D: The dust getting cleared out of your rad.

E: The shorter hosing having less tight bends in it.

F: The internals of your block being cleaner if you cleaned them out, and if not, the internals of your block being cleaner due to the clean water diluting and carrying the carp away.

But hey, maybe 0.5°C of it WAS down to having less tubing, but i will be willing to bet it would be mostly down to A: and D: tbh

:)
 
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I didn't clean the rads, the water was reused, the CPU remounting was admittedly different but the same AS5 compound (it was cleaned off and reapplied) was used. It could have all been in the mounting but I had remounted 3 times before this with no improvement.
 
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smids said:
I didn't clean the rads, the water was reused, the CPU remounting was admittedly different but the same AS5 compound (it was cleaned off and reapplied) was used. It could have all been in the mounting but I had remounted 3 times before this with no improvement.

The more you do it the better you get :)

The AS5 could have been applied more evenly and thinner too, again the more you do it the better you get.

How did you manage to remove and refit the hose to/from the rad without shaking any dust off of it?

On another note, WTF are you doing using AS5 more than once? that's just wrong and n00bish too tbh :D
 
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Bundles said:
The more you do it the better you get :)

The AS5 could have been applied more evenly and thinner too, again the more you do it the better you get.

How did you manage to remove and refit the hose to/from the rad without shaking any dust off of it?

On another note, WTF are you doing using AS5 more than once? that's just wrong and n00bish too tbh :D

The rad has a mesh protecting it (not attached, it is on the front of the case - custom made) - very little dust settles on it. I might get better at refitting but I doubt it. I did not reuse the same AS5 - I'm not that much of a n00b. I was merely stating that AS5 from the same tube was used in both cases.
 
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