Another water cooling question...

[blackwrx]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the swiftech system for my next computer, but as I look at pictures of different systems, I can't tell what order to put things in. From the pump, does the liquid go to the radiator, then to the cpu, then the northbridge, then the video card, and back to the pump? Or what is the usual order of liquid flow? Thanks.

 

[slvrstang]

I have really no idea but i would switch the northbridge and video card because the vid card is the hottest part in the computer and more important to keep cool than the northbridge

 

[LV38_Eagle]

There are several schools of thought on this, but the most effective order I have found after quite a bit of testing is

Pump -> CPU -> VGA -> Chipset -> Radiator -> Reservoir -> Pump.

This gives a good flow rate to CPU and VGA waterblocks, with the lowest velocity through the radiator. Some people will say the rad should be immediately before the CPU, but most rads will give enough of a pressure drop to hinder the effectiveness of the CPU block. There is another school of thought that says blocks in parallel are better than blocks in series, I have to say that with a good pump/installation, the heat build-up in the coolant in a series installation is not enough to justify the massive pressure/flow drops given by splitting the line after the pump.