First setup - sanity check?
 

Just ordered my stuff for my first watercooling setup (well, had a Koolance before, but that doesn't count: )
- Innovacool for CPU
- InnovaGPU for GF4
- Innovatek Plexiglas res
- Eheim 1048
- Black Ice Extreme 2
- Flow meter
- Tygon 3/8 tubing (1/8 wall)


Any glaring omissions, problems, suggestions? I plan to use water wetter, and am now searching the forums for any other mixture suggestions.

Thx...

I feel you could have done much better on the block but lets see what kind of temps you get first.

I thik youll be happy with it, i havent heard anything bad about the innovatek.


I just finished my first ghetto setup and the results are incredible.


I wish I hadnt been so paranoid al that time.

I would have tried to purchase a system with 1/2" tubing. To give you more flow/volume. But I assume the invotek blocks are 3/8" tubing, so that's probably why you went with it.

That's what I have, and am very happy with it's performance.

Yep, went for 3/8 because of the Innovatek stuff. We'll see. Someday another awesome block comes along with 1/2 ID, I'll switch to that :-)

One thing I am still not sure of here...when browsing the forum I get conflicting statement about the order of the flow...would you guys say:
1. pump > block > rad > res
2. pump > rad > block > res

With the second setup the block gets the cold water straight from the rad. With the first...is there any difference in flow (slower through rad, faster through block)?

Judging by strict thermodynamics, you'd want pump>block>rad>res. You want to flush the hot water from the block as fast as possible (high flow) and you want it to cool in the rad as long as possible(slow flow). The only wildcard is the pump. If you have a pump that creates a TON of heat, you may want to swap the pump and rad in order. If you're using a smaller pump, though, you definitely want it before the block.

edit: to answer your last question, with every turn in the system flow, your pressure will be reduced. That's why you want the pump before the block and not the rad, otherwise the rad will kill your flow before it gets to the block.

Must... remain... calm... he's... only ... a ... noob... it's... not ...his...fault...

1-All pumps add heat to the water. Some pumps add an insignificant amount, some not. Regardless, the coolest part of a rig is the water exiting the rad, and you want your block connected to that.

2-The flow rate is exactly the same in all parts of a rig. The SPEED of the water however, will change according to the tubing size. i.e. 100 gallons per minute, for a 1 foot pipe, versus a 24 foot pipe: is still 100 gallons per minute, but the water speed would be much higher in the small pipe. All that to say that no matter what the block is connected to, the flow rate will be the same in the block, so it doesn't make any difference.

Right (bigben2k)...that seems logical.

My tubing is 3/8" ID, but my BIX is 1/2". I figured that would slow down the speed in the rad (more to fill), but when exiting the rad it has to squeeze back into 3/8" (and thus increase speed), and when entering the block it will be 1/4" (more speed). It should not matter WHERE I put the block to get a higher speed through the block...all that matters is the restriction of the pathway through the block relative to the rest of the loop. Right?

So given that, I would have guessed putting the block after the rad makes most sense.

Thanks for the repeat to this n00b... :-)

Correct, noob!

The flow rate does not change anywhere in the rig. The speed (and pressure) does change. Since the flow is created by the pump, it is affected by the total resistance of all the components, but the flow remains exactly the same at any one point in the rig.

So the waterblock gets flow X, and as a result of its restriction, the coolant flows at speed Y, creating pressure Z within it.

ITs as easy as A, B, C when you just look at the big picture,, thank you again Bigben2k :-) Once again you're faster on the keyboard than i am.. lol