will this water block work?

[klingelton]

so here's the thing. i'm looking at replacing my crappy zalman reserator 1v2 with something a little more... well working really.

i've compiled a list of items that i will buy and most i'm pretty sure will work. 2 questions though

1. will this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=391732 work with my asus ati radeon x1950xtx effectively?

2. what's the best course for water cooling (i.e. res => rad => pump etc)

i'm planning on cooling:
cpu, northbridge, gpu

using:
cpu block http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=458857
gpu block http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=391732
northbridge block http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=391725

2 rads :
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=442391 and http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=442390

and a reservoir: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=392173

since i've never done this kinda thing before, am i gonna need a fill port or will the reservoir act as one of those?

help me before i waste more money!

[Silenced_Coyote]

For some reason, it seems like I can't view the page on that site ever. Oh well...

I would say radiator->reservior->pump
Temperature wise, I don't think it really matters because the temperature of the water should be consistent (or very little variation) throughout the water loop.

The reservoir is sufficient. A fill port might make it easier to fill. You can connect a line from the top of your reservoir to the fill port. So your reservoir kind of becomes like part of one big T-line.

[klingelton]

would it be better to get a 3 port res and add a fill port to the 3rd input?

[Silenced_Coyote]

I don't know about better. I would say that it is more of a user preference. Just figure out how you are going to set this up in your case and ask yourself if it is useful or not.

[Spawn-Inc]

from what i have read thusfar about water cooling those rads aren't good beucase it has round tubes so heat will not dissipate fast enough. flat tubes are susposes to be the best.

[klingelton]

but i didn't think it was the tubes that dissipated the heat, i thought that job was left to the cooling fins...

also i thought that surface area was the big factor in cooling stuff, the larger the surface area, the better the cooling. a square pipe will have loosely the same surface area as a cylindrical pipe. I am interested where you got this information though, could you post a link please so i can ponder and postulate further!

[Zephik]

pre-1. The Zalman Reserator 1 V2 isn't crappy. ;)

1. Take a look at THIS (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=134&cat=47&page=1)! Now that would be EFFECTIVE to the Nth degree. I know that THIS (<--ok, wtf, for some reason ALL OF THE SUDDEN I can't access the DangerDen website. I apologize, um, I think its called the Tyee or something like that. Google it, I'm pretty sure they have only like one X1900 Series waterblock.) one will work for you card, but I'll have to do a little research on the one you are looking at. **I would have to say no. Even though on Scan is says 1900, it doesn't anywhere else, including on the product description ON Scan.com. Try to find THIS (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=217&cat=47&page=1) one. (I think this is the one I was talking about earlier... but who knows? Sometimes you know? ZIP!, ZAM!, ZOW!, BIFF! STRAIGHT TO THE MOON! lol)

2. Res>Pump>CPU>RAD>GPU>RAD>Res. I left out the North Bridge because I don't think you should cool your north bridge. But if you really want it... I guess I would put it inbetween the CPU and the first RAD. Maybe even before... oh heck, I don't know. I would have to know the temps of everything to say where to put the NB at. The way I like to run things is to cool the coolant after every major "warm up". You'll have to do some research online for this one. Which you should do anyways, don't take any one persons word. Take the collective of many people.

North Bridges can be kind of tricky, as there are many different kinds. Mine use a type of spring, meaning no screws. If I bought a block that required screws, I would be... well, screwed. Find a motherboard compatibility list on the web somewhere. I've seen a few of them, but I would say the quickest and easiest way is to see if the Manufactures website has a list for that product.

For your radiators... Try to get Alphacool BlackIce ones instead. Those things are supposed to be great. Oh and about the most recent post. I think the way they work is that the fins are connected to the tubes, which sort of creates a heatsink type deal. The fins absorb the heat from the tubes, then you pass air over the fins to cool your coolant. As for square vs round tubes? never heard of that actually, it might be true, it might not. I don't really care because I know the BlackIce Series work great. :)

On your reservoir, there is a little gizmo on top? That is your fillport. You simply unscrew it, usually with the supplied tool, and fill it up. I would use a funnel, keeps it nice and clean. By the way, that is one of my favorite reservoirs. Let me know how you like it. :)

Hmmm, I don't think I missed anything did I? See, this is why I took so long to respond. I KNEW it was going to be one of these giganto posts. :p

[Silenced_Coyote]

but i didn't think it was the tubes that dissipated the heat, i thought that job was left to the cooling fins...

also i thought that surface area was the big factor in cooling stuff, the larger the surface area, the better the cooling. a square pipe will have loosely the same surface area as a cylindrical pipe. I am interested where you got this information though, could you post a link please so i can ponder and postulate further!

I think you are applying surface area on the wrong part. For radiators, you want the large surface area to be on the fins. That is why more fins per square inch is better at cooling. But concerning the tubes, that is not what you want because the heat in the water needs to transfer to the side of the tubes. If the tube is round, then the hotter "part" of the water (the center) isn't dispersing much heat. But if the tubes where flatter, the distance from the middle is reduced. Which should be more effective in transferring heat from the water to the tubes, and then to the fins.

EDIT:
I just realized something. Are you going to water cool the system in your sig? If so, and you want to water cool the north bridge, you will have to add a water block to the south bridge also because of how the motherboard heatsink design is. I say skip the north bridge water cooling.

[Spawn-Inc]

well here is a awesome guide for water cooling that i found. i can't find the link that i saw that showed a picture of the heat dissipation but this one "shows" it in words.

here is my understanding of heat in tubes and this is pretty much what the diagram looked like that i saw. accept there was only a comparison on the flat and round tubes not the square or my finned tube. the finned tube would probably cause to much drag though, also expensive to make.

Note: blue = cold, red = warm (though you probably figured that one out yourself.)
http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/95/2870733900100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://www.futuremark.com/forum/showthread.php?t=466

should help.

[Zephik]

That link was awesome, I just finished reading it. It pretty much covered... everything. :added to my big book of WC guides: ...:oh believe me, its huge:

Is that a drawing of just any of the tubes in a WC kit or are they the PVC tubes or the tubes in a radiator or?? It took me awhile to "get" why that flat one was the most efficient, but it makes sense to me now.

It would be pretty interesting to test some of those out throughout an entire WC kit.

[Spawn-Inc]

the crude drawing is of copper tubes, a cross cut view. they're tubes from a rad, well the first 2. i've never seen square tubes or round tubes with fins inside the tube. i was just trying to show how the flat tube will transfer out the heat faster that any of the other tubes.

[Zephik]

Do you know if any radiators actually use that kind of tube? Or do they? I always thought that they were just round.

[Spawn-Inc]

i'm not sure which one you are talking about but i will list all that i know of.

round tube rad's are used only in hvac and refrigeration, some computer rads and thats all that i can think of right now.

flat tubes are used alot in cars, heater cores for cars, and computer rads

square don't know that i've ever seen one

round with fins inside again never seen one

[Zephik]

Well hey, you learn something new everyday. I always thought that they used round tubes, I didn't know that the majority of them used flat ones. Pretty cool.