Recommendations for Water Cooling Configuration Using a GPU
Recommendations for Water Cooling Configuration Using a GPU
The diagrams you’re looking at are ranked from 1 to 4, with 1 and 2 being the most preferred. I’m curious about your thoughts and what adjustments you’d like to make. Your feedback would be really helpful!
You're using hot water from your GPU into your CPU and then directly into your CPU again. Doesn't look very efficient.
Could it be the opposite? Hot water from your CPU going straight to the GPU?
It seems like a good idea to have all the water pass through the CPU, then the GPU, and finally to the cooling system, looping back.
That sounds reasonable.
I'm not an expert in water cooling yet, so perhaps someone more knowledgeable can offer better guidance. Lol.
You're using hot water from your GPU into your CPU and then directly into your CPU again. Doesn't look very efficient.
Could it be the other way around? Hot water from your CPU going straight to the GPU?
It seems like a good setup.
All the water flows through the CPU, then goes to the GPU, then straight to the radiator for cooling, back to the pump, and the cycle continues. Sounds reasonable.
This one feels a bit odd.
I'm not an expert in water cooling yet, so perhaps someone more knowledgeable can offer better tips. Lol.
From someone who has been sharing tips for years, I can say that loop order doesn't really matter. You're focusing on a 1°C difference. I'd just loop it in the easiest way possible.
Edit: That said, I usually prioritize Pump over CPU, then GPUs, and finally Rads. Even if you could do it the other way around, the Radiator will still cool the water wherever it's placed in the loop. Once the water reaches a consistent temperature, the order doesn't affect things much, unless you have dual Quad Rads—then the sequence really does matter because it won't warm enough to balance the 4,000 watts it can handle.
the arrangement of components inside the loop doesn't matter much. with a suitable pump (d5 works well), the liquid flows quickly through the loop. this results in a temperature difference between the coldest and hottest areas staying around 1°C. therefore, switching between cpu and gpu without issues is feasible. another method is to connect cpu and gpu in parallel, as shown in the signature image. the recommended approach is to create a circular loop that doesn't go up and down in the middle, which simplifies filling and draining. a logical sequence would be pump/res -> gpu -> cpu -> rad -> pump/res.
I haven't seen any 360 radiator handling 1200 watts of dissipation. Although Hardwarelabs is the top choice, it usually reaches around 600 watts, which is still sufficient for a single 1080ti and CPU. I own a 1080ti plus 3960X with an old Swiftech 360 rated for 400 watts; it maintains the graphics card at about 44-46 degrees Celsius under continuous load, even during heavy gaming sessions. The temperature drops significantly if I play games with it.
I can confirm Hardwarelabs' performance. I have a 480 SR2 cooling unit paired with a 1080Tis and it stays at 43°C even with constant load. That's impressive.
But as I mentioned earlier, the impact is minimal—within 1-2°C regardless of loop configuration. It might look like a big difference until the loop stabilizes, which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours depending on the setup. However, once the radiator warms up, its position in the loop doesn't matter much. I wouldn't place the pump immediately after the GPUs because those D5 chips are rated for 55-65°C (depending on the model), and with three video cards, water is being drained at around 50°C.
Those who claim loop order matters rarely run the system continuously or long enough to notice the warming effect. That's a short-term view; once everything reaches equilibrium in temperature, the radiator's location becomes irrelevant, and temperatures will stay within 1-2°C compared to an ideal setup.