Newbie Hard Line Cooling Question

[Painfullyaware73]

I recently attempted my first PC build and am currently trying to figure out the hard line tubing. I know this will come across as a dumb question but here goes….i was hoping to run the line for the GPU and CPU separately. I believe I can do this with the pump (Alphacool Apex Pump) and reservoir (ICE-DX5) I have but am not sure. The reason I believe I can run them separately is because instead of one hole on both the top and bottom of the reservoir there are two. I know that normally the flow goes from the pump to the GPU then from the GPU to the CPU then from the CPU to the radiator then back into the reservoir. The problem is that even though there are two holes in both the top and bottom of the reservoir instead of the normal one on each, the radiator still has only one inlet and one outlet. I understand I could be completely off but am I in fact correct that the two holes on both the top and bottom of the reservoir mean I can run the tubing to the GPU and CPU separately? One hole on the bottom as an inlet for the GPU and the other hole as a separate inlet for the CPU? I was thinking of combining both the CPU and GPU returns into the same tube to then flow into the one radiator inlet then using one of the holes on top of the reservoir as the radiator outlet. I’m guessing normally when the GPU and CPU are running separately the second hole on top of the reservoir is for a second radiator? How horribly off and misguided am I with any of this? J

Pics below are of the two holes on both the top and bottom of the reservoir and also of the build itself also a pic of the hardline tubing I’m sort of going for.

 

[moocow]

Found the manual on Amazon of all places. While the diagram only showing 2 inputs and 1 out, I don't see why you can't use both inputs at the same time. You can't use the top hole for outlet, never designed that way so you have to use the hole with the downward arrow as the output. The pump is at the bottom and it sucks the water out of the bottom and then out of the hole. You could either use a 3 way valve to split the output from the radiator to both CPU and GPU blocks. Not sure if you also need a check valve to make sure one of the block doesn't push water back the other way.

1. Rad output to 3 way valve
2. 3 way valve to CPU and GPU block input (add a check valve to one of the 2 output just in case
3. CPU to top of ICE-DX5
4. GPU to bottom of ICE-DX5
5. ICE-DX5 bottom out to rad

 

[Izerous]

Parallel loops are not worth the hassle. Your over complicating something not really designed to work that way. Keeping in series ensures equal flow.

In parallel flow kinda works like electricity. More of the flow will go where there is less resistance. Between the GPU and CPU that means the GPU will get better flow rates and the CPU will likely get hotter than had you just done everything the simple way.

If you want the extra tubing for the sake of looks then look into distribution plates. You will get an end result that your happier with.

 

[Painfullyaware73]

Found the manual on Amazon of all places. While the diagram only showing 2 inputs and 1 out, I don't see why you can't use both inputs at the same time. You can't use the top hole for outlet, never designed that way so you have to use the hole with the downward arrow as the output. The pump is at the bottom and it sucks the water out of the bottom and then out of the hole. You could either use a 3 way valve to split the output from the radiator to both CPU and GPU blocks. Not sure if you also need a check valve to make sure one of the block doesn't push water back the other way.

1. Rad output to 3 way valve
2. 3 way valve to CPU and GPU block input (add a check valve to one of the 2 output just in case
3. CPU to top of ICE-DX5
4. GPU to bottom of ICE-DX5
5. ICE-DX5 bottom out to rad

View attachment 39170

MooCow thank you for the help. I do have the same manual and it didn’t make sense to me the only difference between ‘mode A” and ‘’mode B” was on “mode A” the left hand top hoe was marked “in” and on “mode B” it wasn’t marked at all. Also found it strange that it would have 2 holes on top but the second was completely ignored in the manual, if the 2nd hole on top is useless why would it even be there? I’m defiantly going to use a check valve and also had a 3 way valve and flow meter just in case I had to do something like you suggest (pictured below). I was hoping that 2nd useless hole on top could have also been used as a output because I could then just follow the normal flow of reservoir to GPU to CPU to radiator then back to reservoir TWICE with a 3 way valve going into the radiator ( just meet up the GPU and CPU into one going into the radiator. I’m going to try to work it out based on your recommendation and post results in case anyone is interested.


I tried to figure out how the two individual lines flowed in the video I was trying to replicate and even took some screen shots of how it was set up in the back of the case but there’s too much that’s not shown. The tubing install starts at 14:35

 

[Painfullyaware73]

Parallel loops are not worth the hassle. Your over complicating something not really designed to work that way. Keeping in series ensures equal flow.

In parallel flow kinda works like electricity. More of the flow will go where there is less resistance. Between the GPU and CPU that means the GPU will get better flow rates and the CPU will likely get hotter than had you just done everything the simple way.

If you want the extra tubing for the sake of looks then look into distribution plates. You will get an end result that your happier with.

If i find the dual loop is causing heating issues i will definitely look into a distribution plate.

 

[moocow]

Yeah that's the concern I had because I wasn't sure how the water pressure and flow rate work using a 3 way splitter. Since I'm a n00b as well, I have a hard time understanding the point of a distro plate. So it's basically just a block for all the pipes to start and end at? Also, what's the community's view on adding a 120 / 140 rear rad so the CPU block exit to it, drop the temps a bit, and then route the fluid to the GPU?

As for the 2nd hole on the top of the tank, that's mostly for bleeding air (from my n00b knowledge). As you put fluid into the system and turn on the pump, air already in the system gets pushed out but that takes awhile. So you run the pump and fluid with the cap off to allow air to eventually leave the system. If you're doing top in like me, make sure the fluid level reach the pipe as shown. Otherwise, air probably keep getting sucked in as you try to bleed. If you check my other thread here, you will see I have an ITX size tank that doesn't have a drop tube so it end up always having an air gap and it doesn't bleed correctly.

 

[Painfullyaware73]

Yeah that's the concern I had because I wasn't sure how the water pressure and flow rate work using a 3 way splitter. Since I'm a n00b as well, I have a hard time understanding the point of a distro plate. So it's basically just a block for all the pipes to start and end at? Also, what's the community's view on adding a 120 / 140 rear rad so the CPU block exit to it, drop the temps a bit, and then route the fluid to the GPU?

As for the 2nd hole on the top of the tank, that's mostly for bleeding air (from my n00b knowledge). As you put fluid into the system and turn on the pump, air already in the system gets pushed out but that takes awhile. So you run the pump and fluid with the cap off to allow air to eventually leave the system. If you're doing top in like me, make sure the fluid level reach the pipe as shown. Otherwise, air probably keep getting sucked in as you try to bleed. If you check my other thread here, you will see I have an ITX size tank that doesn't have a drop tube so it end up always having an air gap and it doesn't bleed correctly.

 

[Izerous]

Yeah that's the concern I had because I wasn't sure how the water pressure and flow rate work using a 3 way splitter. Since I'm a n00b as well, I have a hard time understanding the point of a distro plate. So it's basically just a block for all the pipes to start and end at? Also, what's the community's view on adding a 120 / 140 rear rad so the CPU block exit to it, drop the temps a bit, and then route the fluid to the GPU?

As for the 2nd hole on the top of the tank, that's mostly for bleeding air (from my n00b knowledge). As you put fluid into the system and turn on the pump, air already in the system gets pushed out but that takes awhile. So you run the pump and fluid with the cap off to allow air to eventually leave the system. If you're doing top in like me, make sure the fluid level reach the pipe as shown. Otherwise, air probably keep getting sucked in as you try to bleed. If you check my other thread here, you will see I have an ITX size tank that doesn't have a drop tube so it end up always having an air gap and it doesn't bleed correctly.

Distro plate works basically as a place to terminate things and make things look pretty. Especially with hardline since you can usually rig them to all be really straight and consistant runs. Also works as a res.

For adding a 120/140 rad... surface area always wins so more rads is almost always better. But multiple small rads between each component vs a single larger equivalent surface area radiator is basically a wash. Once the loop is up to temp is doesn't really make a difference.

 

[Painfullyaware73]

Distro plate works basically as a place to terminate things and make things look pretty. Especially with hardline since you can usually rig them to all be really straight and consistant runs. Also works as a res.

For adding a 120/140 rad... surface area always wins so more rads is almost always better. But multiple small rads between each component vs a single larger equivalent surface area radiator is basically a wash. Once the loop is up to temp is doesn't really make a difference.

Decided to just run the one line and instead of going directly from the GPU to the CPU I ran it the long way around so it would appear to be two separate lines....

 

[Jokester]

pretty good for the first time around, hard line is fun to work with