ECU - I'm suggesting that he might have
inadvertently altered
more than just the order of his hookup if he really had that kind of delta. From looking at his hookup pictures, I see ways he
could get that kind of delta if
for example he simply swapped the connections at the pump. Bottom line - there is
waaaaay to little information supplied about his setups and methods to be jumping to any conclusions
As far as your conclusions, let me just give you some basic info -
The total
mean mass flow through any component in a serialized, closed, single phase fluid system is the same at
any point in the system.
The total mass flow in a closed system is determined by the system's
overall flow restriction and the pump. It doesn't matter what order the components are in, it is the
sum of the individual component's losses added together without regard to their order. You then take that value and the pump's curve to see what the mass flow will be. (it actually requires a numerical solution involving iteration for turbulent flow regimes, but for discussion purposes we can ignore how the
precise value is arrived at.)
The mean velocity at any point in a closed system is determined by the hydraulic diameter at that point and the mass flow rate.
End result - you want the lowest possible flow restriction in your tubing at ALL locations to get the maximum mass flow rate in the system - which will give you the highest velocity in your block - which will give you the highest heat coefficient - which will give you the coolest CPU. ( In other words - don't use progressively sized tubing in your system
)
Oh, and the only way you are going to affect the mass flow rate in the radiator section (given you are
not modifying the radiator or lowering the flow restriction in some other area of the system) is by using multiple radiators
in parallel.