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One loop or Two

Discussion in 'Watercooling' started by Kehoe, 17 Aug 2015.

  1. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    Hi guys, i am about to build a water cooled unit, i'll be honestly its allot of old kit i have that i purchased several years ago, but due to unforeseen things going off its all been in storage for the last 3/4 years, it was equipment me and my old man got prior to me loosing him. so id really want to do something with it.

    I no that it all works as i've tested it, but i have enough equipment for two loops, i've some how gotten 3 DCC pumps, 2 ek reservoirs, two of the pumps have XSPC reservoirs on but i plan to get rid of these and just fit normal tops on as i don't like the tops, i've then got the water blocks for my board, ram and cpu/gpu, also there is coolant for orange and white loops.

    Question i have am i better for cooling and clean looks going for one loop and just picking a colour to use.. Or going for two loops where i can use both colours of dye and keep the GPU and CPU loops apart.

    i dont mind if i don't use all the bits but ideally since i don't want allot of it just sitting in the box's any longer, want i don't use i guess i could try and sell on to a good home.

    so guys i just want to no am i better of going for 1 loop or 2 loops.

    thanks again.
     
  2. phuzz

    phuzz This is a title

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    You seem to have most of the pros and cons right there.
    A single loop will be a bit simpler and take up less space, but as you've got several pumps you could use two in parallel for redundancy.
    I do like your idea of two loops with different colours though, it could look pretty cool.
    Personally I'd go for the dual loops, just for the coolness factor (although it might be slightly warmer).
     
  3. Big Elf

    Big Elf Oh no! Not another f----ing elf!

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    Unless you have both the CPU and GPU(s) under heavy load at the same time it's better to have a single loop as that makes full use of Rad area.

    After saying that a dual loop with different colours can look more impressive. What rads do you have?
     
  4. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    i have 1* Black Ice® Stealth GTS360 1* Black Ice® Stealth GTS120 1* XSPC RS120 Black 120mm 1* black ice gtr360... over the years ive had several builds so no sortages of rads, ideally only want to use the 360's the 120's are somewhere in storage lol, my current pc was all water cooled but i switched to a H100i since its a mini case.

    i also forgot to mention my case it a LDcooling PC-V8 so space isnt an issue, i just want it to look as neat as i can,

    did have 1 idea of the Mobo and GPU one one loop and then the Ram and CPU on a 2nd this way i can get some over lapping on the tubes and i can hide them allot better to make a neater system
     
  5. Chris_Waddle

    Chris_Waddle Loving my new digital pinball machine

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    Personally I love having 2 loops. I also use 2 different colours (black & white) and it does look better (to me anyway).
    As asked above, it depends on what rads you have. If you have enough rad area then it allows you to change the fan speed on the two loops as well.

    My CPU is fairly heavily overclocked on a 24/7 setup and so I keep the fans on that loop fairly high to keep it nice and cool. When I'm not gaming I can turn the fans on the GPU loop right down and reduce the overall sound levels quite a bit.

    I am also far more likely to change the graphics card than the CPU. I love being able to drain down the GPU loop, slot in the new graphics card (as I always buy air cooled) and test it before I take it apart, add the water block and re-fit the watercooling system.

    A single loop is easier to setup, takes up less room and works better with less rad area, but if you have the kit a double loop does have that extra flexibility and kudos.
     
  6. stealth80

    stealth80 Minimodder

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    I had a single red loop in an Antec 902. That was my first step into watercooling. I have now made a dual loop system and I love it. Cooling is awesome, proc and gpu never get over 45C:

    [​IMG]

    Just be aware you will need a pretty large case to fit it all (not to the extreme of the X9 which I picked)
     
  7. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    my case is now fully stripped down, giving it a good clean, plan to have it painted but as you can see in above post i've got allot of rads lol

    part of me thinks two colours for the idea i have in mind might not fully work :( the original colours i've kinda gone away from
     
  8. cobalt6700

    cobalt6700 Minimodder

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    Running dual loops is cool. It's more expensive, but if you already have the stuff go for it. Two colours looks good too :thumb:

    If you decide to go single loop with redundancy, make sure you go for series pumps rather than parallel. Parallel pumps don't work without check valves and that only adds restriction.

    While we talk restriction, are you planning on adding sinks to the pumps? DDC's with modded tops and low restrictive loops get pretty toasty ;)
     
  9. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    never thought about sinks, i need to get new tops for the pumps, as i've only got 1 old xspc, and rather get a matching set, Not sure how id get the two pumps set up in series, any more information on that would be helpful

    the old parts i may sell on, and just go for 1 clean loop rather than two colours, looking at a white case with blue dye.. colours that would fit my theme.. and idea i've got floating.

    Thanks again bud for the advise
     
  10. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I had not considered this before, but it does make sense if a broken pump offers low restrictions.
     
  11. phuzz

    phuzz This is a title

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    To put pumps in series just have the outlet of one pump going into the inlet of the next, eg:
    Res > pup1 > pump2 > rest of system

    Or you could plumb one in halfway round the loop if that works better in terms of space/looks for you.
     
  12. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    okie that makes sense, so from the out of one to the in of the other... would i need two pumps, or do you think it be worth just selling two of the 3 pumps along with the other bits i have and just using one of the pumps ?

    or would two be a better performance, same with my radiators am i better to have it go res > pump pump > rad > rad then rest of the loop ? then back round again as i think going from rad to parts then back to rad would look messy since id no doubt mount both rads in the bottom of the case i could mount one in the top but not sure at this moment, keep googling how other people have water cooled this case!

    thanks again
     
  13. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Two will give you more performance. Pumps in parallel will give you a higher flow rate and pumps in series gives better head.
    lol

    A higher flow rate, I think, will allow for faster dissipation of heat. But greater head pressure will be better suited to overcoming high restriction waterblocks. RAM cooling blocks are the go to example of a high restriction water cooling component.

    Edit: just had a closer look at your original post. Since the gear has somewhat of a sentimental value, I reckon it would be worth while to go with something that looks awesome. Dual loop and dual cooler plus some nice sleeving as well. That would leave your with a spare pump, which is no harm to have lying around anyway, just in case of a failure.
     
    Last edited: 19 Aug 2015
  14. cobalt6700

    cobalt6700 Minimodder

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    There used to be a myth that stopped pumps offered a high restriction, but its not so. If one pump dies your loop is effectively reduced to re-circulating round the stopped pump.

    Spot bollock on :thumb:

    I would say that 1 pump would be ok. Think the DDC's push about 5psi of head anyway. There used to be a nifty little excel calculator for working out loop restrictions, can't find it for the life of me :sigh:.

    I don't think flow gained from parallel pumps is worth shouting about, where as series pumps pretty much doubles the head. Also, if you loose one pump you still get a good enough flow rate to keep things cool :lol:

    +1
     
  15. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    Thanks so much for the help guys, i've decided on my theme, me and my old man where massive fans of the homeworld series we put hours and i mean hours into the game, almost every evening for about 5 years we would play a game, so with the collectors edition coming out a few months ago what better way to remember him that building a theme around this. Decided to get my case done white, Paint what i can white with the existing blocks using the plastic spray paint i've seen.. get the case hopefully powdered coated, but then the loop all blue!, but begs the big question what other colour do i introduce into the loop

    [​IMG]

    it be trying to design a nice neat loop, im not brave enough to attempt acrylic tubing and i've got about 5m of hose and all the connections so will use them... its how i do a loop, i've got plans for a mid plate but i dont want any pipes if i can help it going though this, i was hoping to take advantage of the back of the case's space to hide and divert pipes.

    may be back when it comes down to the loop design lol
     
  16. Kehoe

    Kehoe Minimodder

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    I cannot make my mind up i buy two bottles of Mayhem Blueberry pastel, Or two bottles of White then Two bottles of dye to change the colour to make it more of a royal blue like the one from the Box i guess i could buy the blueberry and make that more blue :-/ Shame the Aurora isnt for use in day to day as id love to go blue with that as an accent colour!

    any thoughts ? i got my pump tops ordered so will get them set up soon ^_^
     

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