Less Tubing = Better temps?

[NoobCake]

Hey all,

as my title says, is it true that less tubing = better temps for the CPU? because wouldn't that mean the pump has less pumping to do through the tubing?

also whats the difference between the MCR220 and the MCR320 temps wise? its a extra $20 for a MCR320.. also it will take much longer to clean + more money on fans...

thanks guys

[Tw1st3d]

Less tubing = More flow

More flow = Better temp's

But less tubing only gives a little more flow.. But i dunno if its 1 meter vs 3 meter or 1 meter vs 1.2 meter tubing ? :)

I would definitely say that a MCR320 is better that MCR220 even your will be a little less. So go for the triple.

[welshtom]

Less tubing means a higher % of the total water is being cooled at any one time as well.

Eg if you have 20 feet of tubing going around your room, the water in the tubing isnt being cooled at all, probably warmed if anything.


And above = more flow doesnt always mean better temps -only if the blocks in question really hamper the flow will that ring true.

[aspire.comptech]

Two words, Less Resistance.

[IanY]

A few less inches/cm of tubing does nothing that you can actually perceive in daily usage. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

[nonlnear]

Less tubing means a higher % of the total water is being cooled at any one time as well.

But the "% of the total water being cooled at any one time" doesn't have anything to do with how much heat is being dissipated. This idea sounds vaguely similar in nature to the old lark that having water go slow through the radiator actually helps the cooling. It all depends what variables you are holding constant... As for the coolant "probably heating up inside the tubing", that's very unlikely unless the case temps are unusually high. It's much more likely that the case air is slightly cooler than the water temp, and in that case the tubing adds (insignificantly) to the cooling of the water.

Noobcake:
The amount of tubing does affect the flowrate, but not by nearly as much as a bad block choice. The reason tube routing is important is that it's the only variable that's easy to change after you've committed your money to the high dollar items in a loop. The gains to be had are marginal at best, but there are gains that can be had - so you might as well take them if you can. That's all. There is also the aesthetic question: do you want your expensive, exotic cooling system to look like a rat's nest? Most people want as clean a look as possible.

The difference that the tubing will make is probably orders of magnitude less than the difference that a larger radiator will make - unless you are VERY far below the [smaller] radiator's saturation point. Run the numbers thorugh the flowrate estimator to see how your flowrates will be affected. It won't be that much, and the effect on your temps will be even smaller than that (assuming a reasonably normal setup).

[NoobCake]

ok thanks for the replies guys.. i rkn less tubing looks heaps neater also so yeah.

also are the Nexus Real silent fans good for RAD? MCR220

[chiguy]

More tubing would also mean more total water increasing the amount of time for the steady state temp to be reached. Again, not enough gain to lose sleep over.

[welshtom]

This idea sounds vaguely similar in nature to the old lark that having water go slow through the radiator actually helps the cooling.


No it doesnt, at all.
We all (should) know this is the fact :-
"In a closed loop, a given water molecule actually spends the same amount of time in the radiator, no matter how fast it is moving, as long as the water is indeed moving."

[nonlnear]

No it doesnt, at all.
We all (should) know this is the fact :-
"In a closed loop, a given water molecule actually spends the same amount of time in the radiator, no matter how fast it is moving, as long as the water is indeed moving."

I didn't mean that it's the same idea (it obviously isn't); rather that it's something that sounds like it might be "obviously true", but in reality the effect that tubing length has on temps is only due to its marginal effect on flowrates - not at all due to the proportion of time the water spends in the radiator. When the variable in question is something other than tube length, then the proportion of time in the rad may be significant (although it's still not a very good variable to use as an investigative tool to begin with when there are other variables that have a more direct relationship to the actual thermal performance of a loop.)

On second thought, I'm not sure I know what you thought I meant. Did you think I was promoting the idea of slowing down the flow in the radiator? Sorry about the slightly British wording, but by lark I meant that the speed in the radiator line of reasoning is not the way to look at things. I do know the fact that you stated. If that's not how you read my post, please disregard this paragraph.