Overkill Water Cooling

[slashed_wings]

I have a 120 mm radiator for my CPU, And I just had a thought how many radiators would it take to have the return water arriving at the reservoir be back to ambient temperature? I am thinking maybe 1 triple rad for idle and maybe 3 under load but I am very unsure as I have only started water cooling recently.

[W-L]

17 minutes ago, slashed_wings said:

I have a 120 mm radiator for my CPU, And I just had a thought how many radiators would it take to have the return water arriving at the reservoir be back to ambient temperature? I am thinking maybe 1 triple rad for idle and maybe 3 under load but I am very unsure as I have only started water cooling recently.

It would be much much more than that for ambient fluid which is not practical, and for a watercooling loop since the fluid moves so fast around the loop it reaches an equilibrium where cooling and heating balance each other out. For a single CPU loop a 360mm is more than adequate with heavy overclocking, and with that you still have the ability to add in a GPU later on, if you want however absolute dead silent cooling having more rads is not a bad idea. 

 

-Moved to Liquid and Exotic Cooling-

[Legolessed]

22 minutes ago, slashed_wings said:

I have a 120 mm radiator for my CPU, And I just had a thought how many radiators would it take to have the return water arriving at the reservoir be back to ambient temperature? I am thinking maybe 1 triple rad for idle and maybe 3 under load but I am very unsure as I have only started water cooling recently.

i can see linus doing a video with a case that is only radiators and seeing how low the cpu temp would get  

[slashed_wings]

I was thinking the same when i thought this up but with one of the side panels replaced with radiator.

[Naeaes]

What you're asking in the OP is impossible. You can't use 23C air to cool water down to 23C if you're actively heating the water up. No amount of radiators and fans can get you over that fact. Once you stop heating the water, it'll eventually reach an equilibrium with the ambient air though. But that means turning the computer off. Also cooling the ambient air down to below 23C can get your liquid down to 23C but that's not what you asked. 

Thermodynamics - It's not just a great idea. It's the law!

[slashed_wings]

I was thinking that putting the water through enough radiators would eventually allow the water to bleed off the energy gained from the CPU.

[spamy666]

2 hours ago, Legolessed said:

i can see linus doing a video with a case that is only radiators and seeing how low the cpu temp would get  

That would make a cool video I think!

[Mick Naughty]

What would be the point of trying to get it that cool?

[slashed_wings]

i think if you have the parts its because you can!

[Mick Naughty]

Doesn't seem worth it and in don't see people doing that even when they have the parts. Gonna have a gigantic case or just line rads up on a table. 

[slashed_wings]

well they may still have the rad from the whole room water cooling setup.

[Mick Naughty]

A 1080 rad? Still isn't enough to bring a CPU down that much under load.