Size matter?

[Phantom_Ghost]

OK, I'm finally getting the courage up to start asking questions and feel that I'll get better help from you here. I've asked at other sites only to get blasted because of my questions. I feel that I'd get more of a professional and friendly response here. I've been reading lots here and love that people generally here love to help out here instead of bashing the noobie.

So my question is this, I want to start my water cooled computer. I've been doing a lot of reading and have looked at all sorts of water cooling companies looking for the look I want. Now I don't want to overclock anything, but want to quiet down my pc and have the (no pun intended) 'cool' look to it. I was wondering, since I'm not going to overclock anything, does the size of the tubing matter? Some of the blocks that I like only use 1/4 fittings. Is that good enough to actually cool the cpu or gpus? I love the look of the Koolance, but I am leaning more to Aquacomputer stuff.

One last question, how many blocks can you have in a series? I was going to just cool everything with 2 seperate cooling systems. I know it's a little overbored, but like I said it'll be more for looks then overclocking anything. I figure that yes I have to mod, cut, and build out my system, so I figured that I'd get more help here.

Thanks for the advise in advance. Hopefully soon I'll start a log.

[Luke122]

We love to help out nubs.. err.. beginners. :D I think people here realize that we were all beginners at one time, and that it's nice to be able to ask a question without catching hell for it. You should never feel dumb for asking a question.. the seeking of knowledge shows intelligence on its own!

Back to the question at hand.. having only built one watercooled system so far, I'm not a great resource for this question, so I'll answer what I can. If you arent going to overclock (you will in the future, trust me), then I dont think 2 seperate cooling loops are necessary.

I think that even if you only cooled the CPU/GPU with the system, that 1 would be sufficient for now. If you decide later on that you want to add cooling to the chipset, hdd's, and whatever else, expanding the system would be far easier than adding a second loop.

2 seperate loops = 2 pumps, 2 rads, and loads of tubing to route. It's not impossible, but I think it's definitely more difficult than 1 system cooling everything.

The system I did was a Zalman Reserator.. external pump/res/radiator.. totally silent, as there are no fans. The res/radiator is one big unit; ultra quiet, but definitely not portable. If you are looking to go to LAN parties or whatever, it's not a good system.

[jdbnsn]

I was just asking CrimsonSky about tube diameters myself. It seems that there is no major advantage to using larger diameter tubing, and in some cases it can be more difficult (getting the tubes to bend without kinking). The smaller sizes will work fine. I also agree that dual loops is not needed especially if you are not cooling a high performance system, however if it's more for aesthetics then it doesn't matter.

[Spawn-Inc]

well i watched a video here one time (sorry i can't remember which) and it said with today's water cooling technology 1/4" is just as good as 1/2".

[Phantom_Ghost]

Thanks for the fast replies.

Here's what I would be cooling:

AMD 6000+
ASUS Crosshair MB (north, south, and V regs)
Corsair ram
2 nVidia 7950 gt
Asus Physix card
possible 3 raptors hds

I was thinking running a loop for the cpu, gpus, and physix as one

then the other for the mb, ram, and hds.

Thanks again for the help.

[Silenced_Coyote]

OMG, someone actually made a waterblock for that Asus PhysX card?

Anyways, I can see why you might want to water loops because you are cooling so many things. Each waterblock drops the pressure. And since your major reason for going water is for silence, then one big and loud pump not fit your needs. Maybe somone can recommend you some good pumps. I'm not sure if a single Swiftech MCP655 pump can handle that many blocks.