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Effective multiple block setup - which one?

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Orka

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2003
There three general ways to assemble multiple water block setup:
1) All blocks serial.
2) All blocks paralell.
3) Mix of 1 and 2.
------------------------------------------------------
1) In serial connection 1st WB will probably get the highest performance as it will recieve coldest water and at highest velocity.
2) In paralel conection WB with smallest resistance will get the highest flow and thus highest priority.
3) "It depends" on specific setup.
[correct me if i'm wrong]

If the target is maximum possible cooling with same components:
Questions:
I) Correct me if i'm wrong. Add advantages and disadvantages of each one of the setups.
II) What will be the most efficient setup (WC system will disipate maximum amount of heat. overall performance)?
III) What of setups demands most powerfull pump for WC to operate effeciently?

I understand that questions are very general and in practice answers will probably very from one specific system to another. General answers and real comparisson of different setups you've made are both welcome.
 
Orka said:
There three general ways to assemble multiple water block setup:
1) All blocks serial.
2) All blocks paralell.
3) Mix of 1 and 2.
------------------------------------------------------
1) In serial connection 1st WB will probably get the highest performance as it will recieve coldest water and at highest velocity.
2) In paralel conection WB with smallest resistance will get the highest flow and thus highest priority.
3) "It depends" on specific setup.
[correct me if i'm wrong]

If the target is maximum possible cooling with same components:
Questions:
I) Correct me if i'm wrong. Add advantages and disadvantages of each one of the setups.
II) What will be the most efficient setup (WC system will disipate maximum amount of heat. overall performance)?
III) What of setups demands most powerfull pump for WC to operate effeciently?

I understand that questions are very general and in practice answers will probably very from one specific system to another. General answers and real comparisson of different setups you've made are both welcome.
Generally, it is better to run blocks in serial. The temp diff is VERY minimal between the water before the CPU and the water after the CPU, at most 1/2 C. Velocity will be constant throughout the loop, not faster in one area than another. Parallel is bad for blocks because like you said, water takes the path of least resistance. The best setup for multiple blocks is going to be serial, that is for sure.
 
if there are differences in the barb sizes, like ur cpu uses 1/2 but ur gpu uses 1/4, AND you have a powerful pump, then definitley parallel
 
I run mine in parallel because the nb and gpu blocks are restrictive little dogs. Series dropped my waterflow too much, and raised my cpu temps by 8C (using my unscientific methods).

And water will follow any darned path it wants too, not just the path of least resistence. Ever have a pin hole in a hose? Water will spray out of that just as easily as it would pass on down the hose.
 
Diggrr
Connecting your GPU and NB more restrictive to flow blocks in parallel gave higher priority to CPU, but on behalf of GPU and NB. Flow in them should be dramaticly low, as they have high resustance and flow splits between them. Latest GPU produce even more heat than CPU.
Overall amount af dissipated heat by a system droped, isn't it?
 
i'm having the same problem.
here's i litle sketch of my setup: http://users.pandora.be/pandoriaantje/images/sketch/sketch.jpg
as you can see, the rad is on the lower front of the case, keeping the distances @ a minimum.

now, the easiest (shortest) way would be: res => pump => rad => cpu => gpu => res

but would this be the most effective way?

won't the heat that comes from the cpu be heating the gpu (i guess the gpu produces less heat so it would preferably come first, before the cpu, no?)
 
pandoriaantje
won't the heat that comes from the cpu be heating the gpu (i guess the gpu produces less heat so it would preferably come first, before the cpu, no?)

sure it will. But reading reviews i got an impression that water does not heat that much in the WB, so difference will be minor (i guess). If you connect WB in parallel resistance will drop, but the flow will split between the branches. I don't know what has stronger influence on performnce. Heated water in serial or splitted flow in parallel. Do you?

and for gpu prodicing less heat than cpu. i think my 9700pro produces more than my p4 1.3GHz (upgrade is close :) ). At least it consumes about 200W when loaded and it heats up like a boiler.
(http://www.computerbase.de/article.php?id=227&page=4&sid=39761479daa10b1981187578777e25f9).
 
pandoriaantje said:
i'm having the same problem.
here's i litle sketch of my setup: http://users.pandora.be/pandoriaantje/images/sketch/sketch.jpg
as you can see, the rad is on the lower front of the case, keeping the distances @ a minimum.

now, the easiest (shortest) way would be: res => pump => rad => cpu => gpu => res

but would this be the most effective way?

won't the heat that comes from the cpu be heating the gpu (i guess the gpu produces less heat so it would preferably come first, before the cpu, no?)
First realize that the water coming OUT OF THE CPU BLOCK is only at most .5C hotter than the water before it enters the CPU block. So worrying that the CPU will heat the water too much is a non-issue. I would NEVER split flow between the CPU block and anything else, you want to keep the CPU the coolest. I believe that most newer high end vid cards produce about 30-40W of heat, about 1/2 of a cranked up CPU. I never recommend running blocks in parallel, but as Diggrr said, it was better in HIS setup. As always, test both ways to see, but in my experience, serial is the way to go with blocks.
 
9800pro's use I think like 70watts of poer, so they have to be putting out a decent amount of heat. Not as much as a cpu still, but a decent amount.

That said, I would put them all in one big series.
 
i was going for series, but what i was stuck with this: cpu => gpu or gpu => cpu

so, considering what i've read here so far it's ok to go cpu => gpu....
 
pandoriaantje said:
i was going for series, but what i was stuck with this: cpu => gpu or gpu => cpu

so, considering what i've read here so far it's ok to go cpu => gpu....
I would NEVER go GPU>CPU. Always cool the most important component first.
 
Summary from the posts.
In general:
1) All serial connection will give highest overall perfromance, and all parallel the lowest.
2) WB with high cooling priority should be connected serially.
3) WB with low priority may be connected in parallel one to another to make flow faster, so high priority WB will benefit from it.
----------------------------------------------
Is the summary correct?
Do you have any objections/suggestions?
 
What would you do if you had 2 cpu's? This is my dilemma right now, they both are a priority. I would think running them in parallel would be best but I definatly dont want to slow the flow to 2 cpu's so I was thinking to add maybe a bigger pump or a secound pump to the system.
 
Parrallel will be better than serial.

Heat transfer is a function of temperature difference. If you seperate the CPU from the GPU & NB. then the coldest water hits the CPU & GPU & you get max heat transfer.
Also the resistance in parrallel is less so the velocity/volume is greater.

What you have to understand is that Heat transfer & Temperatures are not the same thing (though they are related).

You can remove 150W of heat from a system running at 50 degrees or 150W at 40 degrees.

In serial your going to get higher temperatures as the water gets heated up in stages via one loop of slow water.

In Parrallel you get two loops with a higher volume of water flow which can carry more "energy" at a lower temperature.
 
mindfields & Juiblex79
It depends.
I didn't check it yet but from other posts i get an impression that water heats up to +1C degree when it gets through WB. So it does not seriously effects cooling in second WB if they are connected serially. Constalation with higher flow rate through the WBs will give higher performance.

example 1) There is high resitive RAD in the loop. -> in this case serial connection will probably give higher flow rate, thus higher performnce.
example 2) WB and pump are the components (besides tubing and fittings of course). Water is taken from huge reservoir and returned to it. -> In this case parallel connection will be better, because flow will be higher than in serial connection (if the pump is strong enough).

Am i right?
 
mindfields said:
Parrallel will be better than serial.

Heat transfer is a function of temperature difference. If you seperate the CPU from the GPU & NB. then the coldest water hits the CPU & GPU & you get max heat transfer.
Also the resistance in parrallel is less so the velocity/volume is greater.

What you have to understand is that Heat transfer & Temperatures are not the same thing (though they are related).

You can remove 150W of heat from a system running at 50 degrees or 150W at 40 degrees.

In serial your going to get higher temperatures as the water gets heated up in stages via one loop of slow water.

In Parrallel you get two loops with a higher volume of water flow which can carry more "energy" at a lower temperature.
This is totally incorrect. If you know that water out of the cpu block is at most .5C (1/2C) warmer than water leaving the rad, it is a non issue. When you run anything in parallel, you DO NOT INCREASE VELOCITY!! Where did you come up with this stuff? In a serial setup the water will move MUCH faster through the loop than parallel!
 
Juiblex79 said:
What would you do if you had 2 cpu's? This is my dilemma right now, they both are a priority. I would think running them in parallel would be best but I definatly dont want to slow the flow to 2 cpu's so I was thinking to add maybe a bigger pump or a secound pump to the system.
You wont find ANYONE who knows what they are doing running dual CPU's in parallel ever! You run serial, end of story.
 
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