Dual Loop versus Single, the facts

[gabe]

Outstanding! Thanks gabe!

Just a thought:

I was pretty much able to predict how it was going to turn out before reading past your list of parts. When you have that much radiator power, there wont be much difference between a dual and a single loop.

Can you run this test agian, but with a single 120 and a 240 to see the other extreme? While we will all know whats going to happen if we run two 470's on a 120, Im interested to see how the CPU does in a dedicated 120 loop vs a shared loop.

All in all, this just goes to show that its more beneficial to spend the extra money on a bigger/extra rad instead of a second pump, res, more tubing, etc...

One needs to understand that the fundamental law being illustrated in this article is load ratios. With less cooling capacity, temperatures will substantially scale up, but as outlined earlier given the asymetric nature of the load, the outcome will remain the same (serial wins).

In normal usage, your CPU-dedicated 120mm radiator will see ~120 Watts at full CPU load, whereas in a serial loop composed of a 120 + a 220, this load will be shared by the ~equivalent of a triple rad, or ~40 Watts per 120mm fan if you will. As far as your triple SLI is concerned, at full load your dual rad currently "sees" ~360W, that's 180W per 120mm fan. If you serialize, this value will drop to 120W!