So i've done loops before and always stuck to one large rad (360 or 480 depending on case), I have only ever had one CPU and most Two GPUs running on a loop but im wondering for a new build, is it better to have simply as much surface area as possible? Im doing this in an 800D so space is no issue and right now im looking at haveing a 360 on the top, a 120 and a 140 for cooling one CPU and one graphics card (690 so two GPUs). Normally I would just stick with a 360 and load it with fans but im thinking maybe just have radiators and as few low RPM fans as possible to keep it super quiet. What strain will putting more rads do on the pump? Any watercooling experts please chip in, im interested in your thought because google is coming up with a mish mash of opinions.
More surface area is better, thicker rads are also better. It also has alot to do with flow rate, so if you have lots of radiators, with a small pump your temps wont be much better then if you just had one nice radiator with the same pump. It can also go the opposite way as well though, if you are pumping to much fluid too fast it doesnt have time to cool in the radiators.
Best possible senerio is a big adjustable pump, with lots of rad space. Then you can play around with pump speed and fan speed until its as quiet and as cool as you want. I dont really like using auto adjusting pumps without decent hardware behind it... but it also depends how the loop is.
The better question is how much do i need. Obviously more is better two rads+ big pump > 1 rad + average pump, but do you need two rad and a big pump? No you don't, it's money burned, most people would say watercooling is a money sink, but really a small loop (gpu+cpu+rad+pump+res) should only run you around 350 and it does the job. Not to mention that you can only go as cold as ambient if you're running on water, which will literally offer no benifit over running at 50C.
All radiators are all 60mm deep, so thick with low desity fins. Im going with an xspc vario, used it in all my loops and really impressed, theres about a 2C difference between the lowest and highes so for the noise I just turn it down, I can spare 2C.
Really for me its also astetic, it looks realy nice and its a bit of a bragging point. Also living in a cold area, liquid fares better for me at with its higher SHC it stays cooler for longer than air, the biggest down point atm is I like using my computers as radiators, I had an old desktop I used to hammer with prime95 so it would keep my legs warm.