Liquid flow in a CPU cooler

[ICIT2LOL]

Now I am about to rehash the cooling on my Sandy Bridge from a huge cumbersome air cooler which prevents me from getting at the RAM sticks properly and fitting the secondary side panel fan. For what I am using I am fitting a Corsair Hydro Series H90 140mm Liquid CPU Cooler.

Now I have watched the vidoes on how to do it and I have fitted liquid before but there is one thing that I cannot find an answer for and that is which direction does the liquid inside the radiator unit flow??

Now in a car the hot liquid flows through the core from one end of the radiator (in tank at the top) to the other end of the radiator (to the lower tank) hence cooling the liquid passing through the core.

However on the vast number of liquid coolers I have looked at including the one I am getting the tubes connecting the pump on the CPU to and from the radiator actually are fitted at the same end of that unit (the same tank) so how does the incoming heated liquid pass through the core of the radiator in ordeer for the liquid to be cooled??

Surely logic would tell one that the liquid will just pass along that end tank from the input connection from the CPU to the output connection and thence back to the CPU. Again logic tells me that the only cooling that will take place from the end tank surfaces. Or is there a secondary fitting inside that end tank ie a metal barrier blocking off the outlet connection from the inlet connection??

Now I can picture in my minds eye a barrier set about half way along that tank that would make the liquid for the best part to flow through half of the core heated and then back up the second half of the core to the outlet connection being further cooled before returning back to the CPU pump unit.

I have drawn a rough idea of what I think must have to happen but anyone who knows exactly what does happen please advise.

 

[fireberd]

A warning about the Corsair coolers. The fans are noisy. I've tried two different Corsair's (the last one last year). Corsair support even acknowledged the loud fans and suggested using 3rd party "quiet" fans.

I'm using a Deepcool Captain 120EX liquid cooler on my i7 6700K and it is quiet (needed for my recording studio) and at idle the temps are around 30C.

 

[Ranger4]

John. Coolant flow in a conventional vertical car radiator is as you have said, where hot coolant flows from the top of the radiator to the bottom, being cooled by the fan on the way. On a cross flow radiator, the coolant enters the top of one side tank, flows through the core & exits through the bottom of the other side tank. On a dual core radiator the flow is usually the same as the cross flow radiator, but the flow is from the top of one side tank to a common side tank on the other side & then back to same side as the inlet, but in a separate tank & then out at the bottom of that side tank.

Radiators usually conform to thermo dynamics, where cooled liquids descend & hot liquids rise. In your screen shot, which seems to be a dual core radiator, it would seem logical to me that that radiator should be sideways located so that the hot coolant enters the top of one tank, flows through the core to the so called bottom tank, which should be called a side tank, & then back through the second part of the core to other tank & out the bottom of that tank.

Looking at the screen shot. If you lay the tank on it's side with the hot inlet at the top, the outlet is at the bottom, which to my way of thinking conforms to the laws of thremo dynamics.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok Jack thanks for the headsup I did notice it was rated at 35dB and I have a couple of options one is just to replace it and the second is to slow it down by introducing a voltage drop in the supply line using small rectifying diodes as an easy fix because if the You tube video in the ad is correct then the fan is installed on a case fan pin (system fan) setup so it would naturally run at full pelt all the time I would rather use the CPU connection for it and the system connection for the pump /impeller which in the Intel in my Ivy Bridge runs at full tilt all the time because I cannot see the reason why it should be governed by the CPU temp.

Now Ranger I know what you mean but there seems to be no info from anywhere on how the coolant runs through that core and my diagram was just a hypothetical set up hoping that the incoming coolant would be forced down the right had side of the core and the cooled liquid being carried back to the CPU via the other side of that core remembering that the coolant is being pumped in a manner of speaking.
So in essence the whole core is used but serviced by the inlet and outlet connections. What I was thinking was that there is a baffle inside the top tank that stopped the flow of coolant traveling across the top tank to the outlet connection.
That would direct the flow of coolant down the right hand side of the main core instead of allowing the coolant to run straight across the top tank to the outlet connection and then down the tube returning to the impeller.
In that scenario the core it would have no function in that case because he fluid would not run through that core.

Now if you invert that rad (both connections at the bottom) then your thermo dynamics would also come into play because the incoming warmed build would rise in addition to the force being applied by/from the impeller and on reaching the tank with no baffle pass across the tank to where the fluid would then descend being further cooled to the outlet connection and thence back to the impeller.

It was the lack of info on how the thing works that made me ask and as all of the retail radiators in these systems (single rads) seem to have the same in and out connection set up.
The ideal way is as you say the hot liquid flowing in through a top connection and the cooled liquid out and back to the impeller via the lower connection and ideally those connections would be diametrically opposed (diagonally) on the radiator.

John

 

[Ranger4]

This website should help you with the coolant flow. Scroll down on the first page & it shows the actual coolant flow through the dual core, which is very much as I described above.

Thermaltake Pacific RL140 140mm Radiator - CL-W015-AL00BL-A | Mwave.com.au

 

[ICIT2LOL]

This website should help you with the coolant flow. Scroll down on the first page & it shows the actual coolant flow through the dual core, which is very much as I described above.

Thermaltake Pacific RL140 140mm Radiator - CL-W015-AL00BL-A | Mwave.com.au

Thanks mate just as I thought and really what I was trying to say in my diagram

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I went looking Ranger mate and found this too

I also found videos for liquid cooled GPU's and PSU's!!

That was mind blowing if you watch the vidoebe prepared for the grating voice of the presenter - he juts cannot help himself LOL!!

 

[Ranger4]

Yes, the first one just describes what we have been saying, but gives more detail of the pump system etc.. The last one does get on your nerves with the voice & it seems that the water cooler PSU he evaluated was a waste of money. Anyway I would be not be keen on any liquid anywhere near the 240v supply voltage.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes mate I cannot see the point in liquid with the PSU a) it is potentially very dangerous as you know the volatges in parts of the PSU are akin to a heart defibrillator and b) that components that get hot would be reasonably difficult to run liquid to them close enough to have any cooling.

Besides I have never had a PSU run hot enough for me to worry about as any that have run hot ie smelling hot have been ditched straight away.