Water Cooling Newbie

[Tooterfish]

Hi! This is my first post here although I've stopped by frequently through the years to read some of the threads. I'm confident that this is the place to be for awesome advice. I'm new to water cooling and need to cool a 990X and two GTX590's + Mobo (for looks mostly).

I have everything I need, blocks installed, but I haven't decided on a few essentials, including reservoir. I stumbled across a dual loop res at EK and it got me thinking, maybe a dual loop is a good idea in my case. Problem is I don't have much information about dual looping.

Is this essentially just two separate water cooling systems running on their own independent pumps, res's and rads? If so, does a dual loop res just act as a single unit with two water bays to save space?

Finally, is it necessary or will a single loop with a little extra pressure from two d5 pumps do the trick?

If I'm sounding a little confused it's because I'm still learning about the whole wc thing and would appreciate any general advice as well

Thanks!

 

[Pawz2142]

I have a 980 and crossfire 5970,

You want 2 loops.

Even with a quad radiator you're going to be seeing high temps if you do a single loop and overclock. If you do not overclock you may beable to do one loop. My advice. Do one loop for CPU and chipset see if your satisfied with the sound level, if not do the second loop

 

[aphasia]

you could do 2 loops but you'll loose the cooling efficiency of one of the rad(s) when the CPU is loaded and the GPU(s) are idle and vice versa.

a D5/MCP655 is powerful enough to push water around the loop. just double up on the rads, probably need 6+ 120mm in rad real estate.

 

[magoo]

You might also want to pose this question over at realredraider.com, they have a single mission pretty much there which is watercooling.

Not that the guys here are not knowlegable or capable, but more than one opinion is not a bad thing.

I think either way you go, with cooling that much equipment you are going to need alot of radiator.....maybe even a MoRa

Honestly, a single loop might be fine but I think you'd need double stacked 120x3 rads.
The reservoir, IMO doesn't matter all that much. If space is a problem, I've always used the Swiftech Micro-Res.

 

[Cruiza]

I stumbled across a dual loop res at EK and it got me thinking, maybe a dual loop is a good idea in my case. Problem is I don't have much information about dual looping.

Is this essentially just two separate water cooling systems running on their own independent pumps, res's and rads?

Pretty much, yes.

If so, does a dual loop res just act as a single unit with two water bays to save space?

Correct.

Finally, is it necessary or will a single loop with a little extra pressure from two d5 pumps do the trick?

Up to you, sir. Dual loops aren't that uncommon, but they aren't really necessary, either.

you could do 2 loops but you'll loose the cooling efficiency of one of the rad(s) when the CPU is loaded and the GPU(s) are idle and vice versa.

Excellent point!

a D5/MCP655 is powerful enough to push water around the loop. just double up on the rads, probably need 6+ 120mm in rad real estate.

Seems like a whole lot of restriction for a single D5. OP has a ton of very costly equipment, so I would strongly recommend dual pumps (be it D5s or DDCs) not only for better cooling but for redundancy/safety.

 

[tory]

I would think inorder to tell if you need 2 loops or not we would need to know what parts you have...


Honestly tho i would go with 2 loops as well, 120.3 for the CPU minimum and a 120.4 if you OC.

as for GPU's I wouldnt touch that with less than 2 120.3s but thats just me.

 

[Imitation]

you could do 2 loops but you'll loose the cooling efficiency of one of the rad(s) when the CPU is loaded and the GPU(s) are idle and vice versa.

a D5/MCP655 is powerful enough to push water around the loop. just double up on the rads, probably need 6+ 120mm in rad real estate.

I'm not a fan of dual loops for this reason along with the fact that it makes everything more complex. You need 2 of everything.

The efficiency issues is also a big deal. There's a big thread over at xtremesystems where gabe from swiftech did extensive testing that showed in most cases dual loops aren't as ideal.

Think of it this way, if you have your cards on a 3x120mm rad, and your cpu on a diff loop on another 3x120mm rad, and you decide to do some video encoding. The most cooling you can offer your cpu is 3x120mm. Then you finish that and decide to play a game, the most cooling you can offer your gpu's is 3x120mm rad. If you did a single loop, those scenario's change to offer the cpu or gpu ALL the radiator surface area in 1 loop. Plus if u do single loop with dual pumps, u get redundancy, whereas dual loops you dbl your fail point, IE pump failure.

 

[Tooterfish]

Wow thanks so much for all the tips. Almost looks like there are considerable pro's and con's. Has anybody stumbled across benchmarks comparing the two by any chance (dual loop vs single loop)?

 

[Imitation]

Here's the thread i was referencing earlier.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=254683

Sadly the graphs are broken, but the conclusion is still the same.

 

[Tooterfish]

Here's the thread i was referencing earlier.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=254683

Sadly the graphs are broken, but the conclusion is still the same.

Thanks so much for digging that up for me. I had a dual loop setup in my cart and ready to order but this thread has given me some great clarification. Doesn't appear that dual loop is a bad idea but a single loop certainly sounds like a more responsible approach right now for me. I've decided on going with a redundant d5 config and taking cooling my ram and mobo out of the equation. I figure I'll start here and add to it later when I get more experience, and possibly a second loop if necessary (which it clearly doesn't seem to be at this point which will also save me money). Thanks again!

 

[Tsumi]

Multiple loops are only really necessary if you want to run multiple components at the coolest temperature possible. Basically, you have one loop for each component, or set of components. For example, a 3x120 for the CPU and chipset, and 2 3x120's or more for the GPU's. If you're not going beyond two large radiators, then you don't need dual loops.

 

[Imitation]

Thanks so much for digging that up for me. I had a dual loop setup in my cart and ready to order but this thread has given me some great clarification. Doesn't appear that dual loop is a bad idea but a single loop certainly sounds like a more responsible approach right now for me. I've decided on going with a redundant d5 config and taking cooling my ram and mobo out of the equation. I figure I'll start here and add to it later when I get more experience, and possibly a second loop if necessary (which it clearly doesn't seem to be at this point which will also save me money). Thanks again!

NP man, that's what we're here for. Alot of ppl don't mind or want to go dual loop which is fine, but I struggle investing in all the extra frills that watercooling has available and being the cheapass that I am hate seeing other people go down a path without at least having some facts that i've come across over my years of wc

I really think that you can do good watercooling without breaking the bank most of the time. Its the "nice" items that really put setups in the 600+ range. Like those sweet frozenq res's, lots of the compression fittings, mobo and ram cooling. Those def up the bling factor and make it look more professional but at the same time not absolutely necessary.

I think what it really comes down to here is, what's your goal? It varies wildly from person to person, which is great, that creates a market with tons of great products for everyone to choose from!

Hope you enjoy the setup!

 

[Cruiza]

I think what it really comes down to here is, what's your goal? It varies wildly from person to person, which is great, that creates a market with tons of great products for everyone to choose from!

Well said!

 

[ryuji]

Run two mcp655's in paralell if your worried and really want single loop?