Cooling Watercooling System Setup Order

Theres been many threads on this lately so Im going to just make this sticky.

Im sure all of you have wondered what order your setup should go in.

The examples below reflect a setup with just 1 pump, 1 radiator, 1 block, and 1 resivor. These are just examples and are not the only way a watercooling loop could be setup.

Pump -> Radiator -> CPU Block -> Resivor

or

Pump -> CPU Block -> Radiator -> Resivor

*Notice: The resivor should always be the last peice in the loop as you will normaly loose all flow when the water enters the resivor. Having the pump right after the resivor makes sure that you have constant flow through out the system. This is a constant variable when dealin with a resivor system.

Well to be honest there is no one answer to this question. Both ways work differently on different rigs. The best way to find out what you should use is to test both. The only true way to be sure what will work for you is to try different setups on your rig. No one person will have exactly the same equipment nor the same condition variations. *Room temp, spacing between equipment, blocks, pumps, ect...*

 

Haddy what about an airtrap?

http://www.procooling.com/articles/assets/images/ct-team-wc14.gif

for example.

Mat

Picture turned into a link. - Haddy

 

Also what about cooling the GPU? What would that do to the order?

 

Should be looked at like a resivor just have it at the top of the cooling loop.

Yes I know it doesnt have to be at the top of the loop in all cases, but to save people from confusion its best explained to be at the top.

GPU should generally go after the cpu block....It can go before the cpu block but youll just be adding that small bit, and I do mean small bit, of extra heat to the water plus a tad bit less flow...