Do you need a reservoir for computer liquid cooling?

[glaedeur]

I'm a complete noob, but is it possible to just have a loop with just a t connector an a stub of a tube instead of a reservoir?

 

[Pyroflea]

You don't need a reservoir, but they may help reduce temps. Depending on how many components you're cooling will depend on whether or not it'd be a good idea. If you're just doing your CPU, I wouldn't bother. If you're doing anything more, I'd just purchase a small reservoir.

If you want your system to hold more fluid, just make the tubing a bit longer then it needs to be. That should work just fine. T-Connectors in the configuration you speak of are generally used as fill ports, but will hold some fluid as well.

 

[i4yue]

get a res...if you have an extra $30 then get a res unless you want to spend hours bleeding your system of air. the cheapest res will bleed the air out of your system in a few mins.

 

[mikbetk]

As i4yue said reservoirs are really useful for bleeding air out of your system but their real purpose is to act as a kind of capacitor to damp heat spikes by adding more mass to absorb heat.

However, having a huge reservoir won't lower overall temperatures. Once your system gets to its operating temperature it doesn't matter how much mass you have in the system it will be at that temperature. The extra mass just means the system responds slower to temperature changes (that's good).

 

[4Ryan6]

Reservoirs are for filling the loop, removing air from the loop, and monitoring fluid level.

 

[delluser1]

geesh, another 2 year old thread revival

 

[mikbetk]

geesh, another 2 year old thread revival

Welcome to the Internet where in two years someone might have the exact same question.