Single Loop v Dual Loop Cooling for CPU

[Knight77]

I have a single custom loop for my CPU on a 360mm RAD. 

 

Would it be better to go Dual Loop and add another Res and Rad?

 

Or would it not help?

[Tristerin]

2 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

I have a single custom loop for my CPU on a 360mm RAD. 

 

Would it be better to go Dual Loop and add another Res and Rad?

 

Or would it not help?

Dual loops are mostly for looks.  By adding another radiator its still a single closed loop.  My Ryzen Rig 2 has 3 radiators in a single loop for the CPU.  I plan on adding the GPU into the same loop (still single loop) - dual loop would be if I had a custom loop for my CPU, and another custom loop for the GPU

[Blai5e]

2 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

I have a single custom loop for my CPU on a 360mm RAD. 

 

Would it be better to go Dual Loop and add another Res and Rad?

 

Or would it not help?

What? Just for the CPU? A single 360mm is more than sufficient for cooling a CPU. Adding more (and how would you have a dual loop cooling a single component is a mystery) is just wasting money.

[Knight77]

5 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Dual loops are mostly for looks.  By adding another radiator its still a single closed loop.  My Ryzen Rig 2 has 3 radiators in a single loop for the CPU.  I plan on adding the GPU into the same loop (still single loop) - dual loop would be if I had a custom loop for my CPU, and another custom loop for the GPU

 

3 minutes ago, Blai5e said:

What? Just for the CPU? A single 360mm is more than sufficient for cooling a CPU. Adding more (and how would you have a dual loop cooling a single component is a mystery) is just wasting money.

Yes,

 

I have a 9900K at 5GHz - I wanted to see if there was any point doubling up?

 

or would it be ok with a single one?

[Tristerin]

2 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

 

Yes,

 

I have a 9900K at 5GHz - I wanted to see if there was any point doubling up?

 

or would it be ok with a single one?

I am running 2x240 and 1x120mm radiators (1x240 and 1x120 in push pull config, 1x240mm in push config) to keep my R7 1700 @ 1.4vCore under control.

 

Yes adding more radiators adds more cooling.  Jayz has a video where he keeps stuff at near ambient under load with box fan and ridiculous amount of rads

 

EDIT If you already have it at 5ghz and you've tamed the temps its now about chasing numbers - yes add more rads

[Knight77]

5 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I am running 2x240 and 1x120mm radiators (1x240 and 1x120 in push pull config, 1x240mm in push config) to keep my R7 1700 @ 1.4vCore under control.

 

Yes adding more radiators adds more cooling.  Jayz has a video where he keeps stuff at near ambient under load with box fan and ridiculous amount of rads

 

EDIT If you already have it at 5ghz and you've tamed the temps its now about chasing numbers - yes add more rads

Ok thanks,

 

so:

 

2x Res Chambers

2x 360mm Rads 

 

Will give benefits over single? 

[Blai5e]

4 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

 

Yes,

 

I have a 9900K at 5GHz - I wanted to see if there was any point doubling up?

 

or would it be ok with a single one?

What are your current temps? Adding more radiator area can only get you so far. You may get away with lower fan speeds with greater radiator surface area if you are chasing lower noise though. I have a 420mm PE & 240mm XE radiators to cool a 9900k & 2 x 1080TI's and it works admirably (o/c'ed to 5.2GHz 1.42V in TimeSpy Extreme I do hit 87°C on the CPU).

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Knight77 said:

Ok thanks,

 

so:

 

2x Res Chambers

2x 360mm Rads 

 

Will give benefits over single? 

more res isn't nearly as effective as more rad.  There are Res' with actual heat sinks on them to displace the heat but the pump is moving the water to quickly for the res. to actually impact temps.  If you could...why not (is my question, I have a second res on the way for my loop).  It would be a MARGINAL difference but who cares imho lol.  As for the rads, yes that would be a big impact doubling the surface area for cooling.

[Blai5e]

8 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

more res isn't nearly as effective as more rad.  There are Res' with actual heat sinks on them to displace the heat but the pump is moving the water to quickly for the res. to actually impact temps.  If you could...why not (is my question, I have a second res on the way for my loop).  It would be a MARGINAL difference but who cares imho lol.  As for the rads, yes that would be a big impact doubling the surface area for cooling.

I going to add a Phanteks D140 distribution plate when it releases (this month?) which essentially act like a second reservoir and will (slightly) bolster the capacity of my loop but I'm mainly doing it for ease of plumbing (and to an extent, looks).

[For Science!]

Am i the only one who is confused about having a dual loop for a CPU only loop?

[Knight77]

24 minutes ago, Blai5e said:

What are your current temps? Adding more radiator area can only get you so far. You may get away with lower fan speeds with greater radiator surface area if you are chasing lower noise though. I have a 420mm PE & 240mm XE radiators to cool a 9900k & 2 x 1080TI's and it works admirably (o/c'ed to 5.2GHz 1.42V in TimeSpy Extreme I do hit 87°C on the CPU).

Mine is 1.32v at 65 degrees under load. 

[Knight77]

7 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Am i the only one who is confused about having a dual loop for a CPU only loop?

Why?

 

is it not possible?

 

im sure it is. 

[Tristerin]

Just now, Knight77 said:

Mine is 1.32v at 65 degrees under load. 

You are fine, especially if you are happy with your rig.  Adding more rad or res will only be for looks or future GPU+OC etc (or chasing numbers which is fine too!)

[For Science!]

22 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

 

I thought about it, this is the only way I can imagine an actual CPU-only double loop (which is technically still a single parallel loop) I can think of many reasons why this is not a good idea, and none that are better than a serial loop.

[Knight77]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

I thought about it, this is the only way I can imagine an actual CPU-only double loop (which is technically still a single parallel loop) I can think of many reasons why this is not a good idea, and none that are better than a serial loop.

But I would benefit though?

 

I only want to do it if I’ll see a tangible difference. 

[Knight77]

1 hour ago, Tristerin said:

You are fine, especially if you are happy with your rig.  Adding more rad or res will only be for looks or future GPU+OC etc (or chasing numbers which is fine too!)

I don’t want GPU as I have a ASUS Matrix. 

[For Science!]

41 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

 

-

Maybe we're not on the same page. having two radiators, or two pumps does not make the loop into a dual loop. A dual loop specifically refers to having two separate enclosed loops in a system and therefore typically refers to one loop for the CPU and another for the GPU (i suppose you can have a dual CPU loop on a dual socket motherboard). 

 

All others are simple a single loop with one or more pumps and one or more radiators. Therefore I thought you had misunderstood a dual loop to be a parallel loop where the flow splits into two and on the surface, looks like you have two loops (as depicted previously).

 

Anything in a loop can be plumbed in either series (A) or parallel (B).  It is almost always better to have a series loop for reasons of head pressure and redundancy. If one of your pumps were to fail in a series loop, the working pump would continue to pump through the dead pump, effectively giving you redundancy. However if a pump were to die in a parallel loop, a path of least resistance is created through the pump (since they are not intrinsically directional), and therefore you will produce a futile loop (C). This is because waterblocks (CPU and GPU blocks) are much more restrictive than say for example, a static pump or a radiator. And so unless you go out of your way to install one way valves, a parallel loop setup only brings bad things.

 

Doing A is fine, it gives you redundancy for pump failure, and probably will drop the liquid temps somewhat so that you can lower your fan speeds for better acoustic properties.

 

PS. A second reservoir is not necessary for either system.

[BigBlackRat]

Measure your water temp at load when stabilized, if your water temp is 4c above ambient air temp or higher, adding more rad space may bring your temps down by a degree or 2. Extra pump will not do anything for your simple loop.

[Knight77]

15 hours ago, For Science! said:

Maybe we're not on the same page. having two radiators, or two pumps does not make the loop into a dual loop. A dual loop specifically refers to having two separate enclosed loops in a system and therefore typically refers to one loop for the CPU and another for the GPU (i suppose you can have a dual CPU loop on a dual socket motherboard). 

 

All others are simple a single loop with one or more pumps and one or more radiators. Therefore I thought you had misunderstood a dual loop to be a parallel loop where the flow splits into two and on the surface, looks like you have two loops (as depicted previously).

 

Anything in a loop can be plumbed in either series (A) or parallel (B).  It is almost always better to have a series loop for reasons of head pressure and redundancy. If one of your pumps were to fail in a series loop, the working pump would continue to pump through the dead pump, effectively giving you redundancy. However if a pump were to die in a parallel loop, a path of least resistance is created through the pump (since they are not intrinsically directional), and therefore you will produce a futile loop (C). This is because waterblocks (CPU and GPU blocks) are much more restrictive than say for example, a static pump or a radiator. And so unless you go out of your way to install one way valves, a parallel loop setup only brings bad things.

 

Doing A is fine, it gives you redundancy for pump failure, and probably will drop the liquid temps somewhat so that you can lower your fan speeds for better acoustic properties.

 

PS. A second reservoir is not necessary for either system.

Ok,

 

so I don’t need 2 Res Chambers. 

But,

If my CPU is maxing out at like 55c - with one 360mm Rad - would adding another Rad help?

 

I mean, would it be worth a 1-5c reduction?

 

Or is that negligible?

 

[For Science!]

26 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

 

-

Depends on what is worth it for you, but since you're asking the question, I suppose the answer for you is going to be no. Your CPU is not anywhere near throttle territory, you don't seem to care about noise (since it hasn't been mentioned). You seem to be happy at 5 GHz, and so not interested in pushing the chip anymore.

 

Just save your money.