Water cooling a dual rig

[orev]

I'm going for a dual AMD system, and am planning on water cooling it. My current dilemma is how to hook up the tubing to get the best cooling effectiveness for the system. Hooking them up serially will definately affect the flow rate and reduce the amount the 2nd processor gets cooled.

I've been thinking of hooking them up in parallel, but that would also cut the flow rate in half. My current winning idea is to use 1/2" tubing as the main tubing, then run 3/8" tubing to each processor in parallel. The thinking here is to keep the flow rate a little higher in the processor block, but it wouldn't be completely 1/2 of the original flow rate.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

Thanks.

 

[Nelmster]

My reply is only based on what I have read here (no personal experience), but it seems that parallel is definitely the customary response. Now, let me ask this, as I do not know enough about pumps, but wouldn't a pump with a fairly high flow rate help to alleviate this concern? Let me know, cuz' it's a sincere question!

 

[SiiRuHs]

definately parallel. I wouldn't worry about the combined 3/8 x 2 limiting your flow rate too much, the biggest factor I've found is the material the water block is made of assuming everything else is at least decent (radiator/pump).
the performance diffs you get between most water cooled systems is rather small because any decently designed system can easily dissipate the heat generated by any current CPU although with a dual processor like what you've got, I'd invest a little more time/effort/money in a good radiator.
flow rate isn't a very big factor from what I've seen/done so long as the water is moving. You can quite literally go by experience in dealing with water or mess around with a sink to be sure. a lot of cold water rushing over your finger doesn't feel much different from a decent trickle, similar case with the CPU, any decent pump should do (say about 100gph)

if anyone's had different experience and found a pump upgrade helped them significantly, I'd like to hear about it

 

[WarCon]

If your looking for OCing potential you might consider two entirely separate watercoolers. Otherwise the added heat of the second processor will most likely overload the radiator and really diminish its ability to cool the water effectively. Your watercooler will reach a steady state based on amount of heat radiated into the water and the ability of your radiator to radiate it to the air. So with double input, you literally need double the capability on the radiator to keep up.

Cost wise you would probably be better off with heatsinks and killer airflow in your case.

But if you just want to watercool and don't really care about the cost, go with two separate units. Or you could simply inline two radiators for improved cooling and if you do that then definately parallel to your waterblocks.

Good luck and keep us informed of what you do.

P.S. A big server tower can easily hold two radiators............

 

[lastig21]

If you have enough space to mount them, you might consider two radiators and run everything in serial. You would need a serious pump, but it would take up less space then 2 pumps. Pump to cpu to radiator to cpu to radiator to pump . . rinse and repeat.

 

[Jen]

i would run a half inch line and split it in a Y fashion to both blocks. then have two seperate return lines going back to pump or to resevior. and also a good high volumne water pump


Jen