Flow Rate Testing – Continued

The next two system flow tests use ½’ ID tubing (as opposed to the 3/8′ ID Asetek tubing) for all interconnects.  To facilitate connecting the ½’ ID tubing to the push-on fittings I used plastic adapters.  Considering the relatively low flow rates, switching to ½’ tubing probably will not make much difference — let’s see.

 

WaterChill CPU/VGA/Chipset Water-Cooling System - Cases and Cooling 39

 

6) Series System Flow with Stock Hydor L30 II Pump and ½’ ID Tubing:

Stock Pump > Radiator > CPU Waterblock >> ½’ Y-connector > Chipset Waterblock > VGA Waterblock > into bottle (using ½’ ID Silicone tubing)

 

7) Parallel System Flow with Stock Hydor L30 II Pump and ½’ ID Tubing

Stock Pump > Radiator > CPU Waterblock >> Chipset Waterblock AND VGA Waterblock >> ½’ Y-connector > into bottle (using ½’ ID Silicone tubing)

 

WaterChill CPU/VGA/Chipset Water-Cooling System - Cases and Cooling 40

(click to enlarge)

 

½’ Silicone tubing with Chipset and VGA waterblocks in parallel

 

The final three flow tests were performed with the Antarctica waterblock only to see how much difference eliminating the Chipset and VGA waterblocks) would make.

 

8) Asetek Pump and Reservoir with CPU block only:

Reservoir > Pump > Radiator > CPU Waterblock > into bottle

 

9) Asetek Pump, no Reservoir, and CPU block only:

Pump > Radiator > CPU Waterblock > into bottle

 

10) Stock Hydor Pump, no Reservoir, CPU block only:

Stock Pump > Radiator > CPU Waterblock > into bottle

System Flow Test Summary

 

Extensive flow testing of a dozen different component and flow path configurations shows us that even though the overall system flow rate is relatively low (by some standards), Asetek has done a very good job of matching components to produce a well balanced system. 

 

Hydor L30 II/WaterChill System Flow Rates

Asetek Hydor L30 II (with push-on fittings) Free Flow

  75.0 GPH

Stock Hydor L30 II (with ½’ hose barbs) Free Flow

236.9 GPH

 

 

Asetek Series System Flow

  47.6 GPH

Asetek Parallel System Flow

 53.9 GPH

Asetek Series System Flow (without Reservoir)

 50.0 GPH

 

 

Series System Flow — Stock Hydor L30 II

 59.7 GPH

Parallel System Flow — Stock Hydor L30 II

 79.8 GPH

 

 

Series System Flow, Stock Hydor L30 II, ½’ ID Tubing

 63.4 GPH

Parallel System Flow, Stock Hydor L30 II, ½’ ID Tubing

 88.7 GPH

 

 

Asetek Pump and Reservoir with CPU block only

53.9 GPH

Asetek Pump, no Reservoir, and CPU block only

58.3 GPH

Stock Hydor Pump, no Reservoir, CPU block only

83.1 GPH

 

None of the changes made to individual components or flow path configurations resulted in a major increase or decrease in flow.  Combining multiple changes (different pump, parallel flow path, ½’ ID tubing) did result in almost doubling the overall system flow rate (from 47.6 GPH to 88.7 GPH).  Here are a few observations:

 

  • Incorporating push-on fittings into the Hydor pump made a huge difference in the pump’s free flow capacity but had much less of an affect when placed into the WaterChill system with a universally lower flow rate.
  • The Asetek reservoir has minimal affect on the overall flow rate (less than 3 GPH).
  • Replacing the Asetek modified pump (push-on fittings) with a stock Hydor L30 II with ½’ hose barbs only increased flow by approximately 12 GPH.  This is a good indication that the modified pump is not the limiting factor in overall system flow.
  • Using a stock Hydor L30 II pump with the Chipset and VGA waterblocks connected in parallel picked up a little over 20 GPH as compared to the straight series flow path (that’s worth taking note of).
  • Using larger ½’ ID tubing in this particular system had little affect.
  • When we switched to ½’ ID tubing, connecting the Chipset and VGA waterblocks in parallel produced an increase in flow (~9 GPH) but still nothing too significant.  We did observe that as the flow rate increases the tubing size has a greater affect.

 

I still think it would still be interesting to see how much of an impact replacing ALL of the push-on fittings with less restrictive barb fittings would have on the overall system flow… 🙂

 

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