I read a post by BillA on another forum that seemed to succinctly state his principles of designing a complete cooling system:
"overspecing works with some things, not with others
ignoring cost, size, noise, . . .
hey, that won't work
do understand where one's system is 'at' (say: low/quiet, moderate, balls to the wall)
develop a 'design tree' (or 'laundry list')
rank all WCing systems parameters
then rank WCing system component parameters
then work your way through the system, piece by piece
then do it again so that all the pieces are reasonably 'matched'
I really do not want to compose a 3 page post on component interrelationships
too much rad will not hurt, but it must have low flow resistance
use a shroud with standoff
the lower the fan speed, the less noise (BUT the less output/pressure capability)
an oversize pump only adds heat (do NOT throttle the output)
lines over 1/2 in. accomplish nothing
1/2 in. lines may be difficult to clear of air with low flow pumps
NO 90^ fittings
look for a wb that is reported to do well with the pump you intend to use
fan selection is problematical, lots of choices - lots of compromises
(my personal choice would be a large 172mm low speed mains axial fan external to the case blowing through the rad into the case, but there is STILL that psu fan to listen to)"
From here (lots of bickering before that point):
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...threadid=60136