[Skulemate]

I've read a lot of comments lately about pumps adding heat to the water, and that rads should be after the pump and before the waterblock in order to get the coldest water possible through the block. I was curious if anyone has done any tests concerning how much heat the pump actually does dump into the cooling loop (on an inline setup of course). My first instinct is that even though various pumps are rated at 10W, 28W or whatever, very little of that heat makes it to an inline setup. Remember, most of our pumps are made from polypropylene, epoxy and ceramic, two materials which are not the best conductors. Also, our pumps are typically mag-drive, which means that the motor is isolated from the impeller and housing.

If it is the case that the pump does not add very much heat to the water, I think it makes since to have the rad follow the block as closely as possible, to maximize the thermal differential, and have the rad empty into a resevoir. The resevior can only help cool things down, since unless you're using a chiller or a phase-change setup we're not cooling below ambient anyways.

Comments? I am interested in hearing what you all have to say.