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splitting main loop into two loops then back into one

G

Grimmwor

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
69
OK so here's a question for you water cooling gods out there...

Currently my WC setup is an MP655 pump, 1/2" id tygon tubing, a Vortek XP Water Block, a BFG 8800GTX watercooled edition, a 2x120mm radiator and a t-line between the radiator outlet and the pump inlet. works great.

However, I have an ASUS Maximus Extreme Motherboard which has a built-in waterblock on the Northbridge. Said waterblock also connects to heatsinks on the southbridge, crosslink and moffsets. Unfortunately it has fittings for 3/8" id tubing and they can't be changed. It also comes with a squirrel wheel fan that can be used in lieu of the watercooling, which is what I've been using.

Now I am considering this new setup: MP655 pump, 1/2" Y fitting that will continue on to 1/2" tubing to the water block on one branch and reduce to 3/8" on the other branch and go to the Northbridge waterblock...after the video card and Northbridge waterblock, there would be another y fitting to join the two separate lines back into one 1/2" line and head to the radiator. I am also considering adding a reservoir between the radiator outlet and the pump inlet instead of the t-line setup.

What potential problems can any of you think of this this new setup? Am I going to get good flow through both tubes once I split them into the y? Does anyone know where to get a 1/2" id by 1/2"id by 3/8" id y insert fitting? I've looked everywhere I can think of online and in my local hardware and plumbing stores and haven't been able to find one.
 
There are fittings like you speak of, but the biggest problem is running parallel most likely considering your 1/2" line has more resistance, flow will be heavily reduced. I'd just put them in series with adapters.
 
The problem with running in parallel is two fold. First the flow could be split unevenly. If the two sides aren't equal restriction one will get the majority of the flow. Second you are lowering the flow period for both sides of the loop. Even if you had the restrictions exactly the same the flow would be halved for each side. This reduces the effectiveness of your waterblocks. What you gain from parallel loops is the water doesn't get heated up between components. This doesn't normally make much of a difference at all, with typical watercooling system flowrates the water will increase by usually no more than half a degree centigrade from a CPU.

Generally serial loops are the way to go. They come out cleaner with less tubing, have less complications, and usually work just as well or better than a parallel configuration. Keep in mind that when we are talking about differences we are talking very small differences. In terms of cooling your components adequately either way should work fine, you just might gain or lose a degree or two in cooling one way or the other.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I've actually switched over to an XFX 790i Ultra motherboard, which does not have an onboard waterblock, so the whole question has become moot...
 
OK...here's another questions...what about going from 1/2" to 3/8" and then back to 1/2". Is that problematic? Will it significantly restrict flow? Any other possible problems to worry about?
 
The biggest problem with that is just the fact that you are adding more points of failure (4 more points with the two couplings). The restriction will be more, but negligible.
 
Its generally better to stay with the same pipe throughout. There is no point putting a short section of thin pipe into your loop as it will restrict the flow through that pipe. Splitting your loop with a 1/2" feed to the CPU and 3/8" to the NB would work but it will unbalance the system and make for a complicated setup. Personally just use total 1/2" and put the order as CPU > NB > GPU or CPU > GPU > NB as both the GPU and NB can handle higher heat than the CPU can without problems.

Myself, I converted my Swiftec H2O ultra+ kit with a replacement 8800GTS full face block to 8/10mm pipeing for ease of installation and have not noticed much difference in the temps, perhaps 3 or 4C higher than they used to be under full load but that also goes along with about a 3 or 4C increase in ambiant temps.
 
My problem is the ASUS Maximus Extreme motherboard has a built in northbridge waterblock with 3/8" fittings on it. Neither the waterblock nor the fittings can be removed easily (I suppose it's possible, but would require some major modding). The rest of my watercooling setup is all 1/2".

The Maximus Extreme does come with a fan to cool the chipset and northbridge and the manual says you do not HAVE to watercool it. I have actually been running this motherboard for about 6 months using only the fan and excluding the northbridge/chipset waterblock from my loop and that has been working fine. I just hate to see it there unused...

However, I certainly would not want to include it at the expense of cooling performance on my cpu and gpu.
 
Think about the size of the tubing in your rad. couple of feet of 1/16 or so (I dont really know the effective dia of the flattened tubes, but you get the idea) . A 1/2 to 3/8 and then back again adapter(s) are not going to matter all that much. My entire system is 3/8 id and it works fine.
 
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