Misc. questions about 1st build

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    Hey all, I'm about to buy all the necessary parts to get my first self-built PC up on the 1st of the month, link is above but I'm just getting everything required to boot this month and everything else next month (GPUs, extra storage, etc.). Still trying to figure out a few things:

 

1. I want to do a custom loop with the CPU and 2 GPUs. My first question, if I go with 2 radiators, does it matter if I run them RAD-RAD-CPU-GPU or RAD-CPU-RAD-GPU? I was thinking that the latter would result in slightly better temps but I don't know for sure and was just curious, visualizing it I think the loop would look cool in my rig at the least. Although I have non-reference 290x cards on my list I'm actually going with used reference Sapphire 290x(s) then getting Aquacomputer water blocks for them.

    Also with the custom loop, I have my pump, reservoir, CPU water block and radiators picked out and I was wondering about the fittings and other things. I wanted to go with 1/2" tubing or at least 3/8" but I wasn't sure if the pump could handle that amount of flow through 2 radiators. Basically I'm trying to figure out what diameter tubing I should go with and what type of fittings to go with them (compression or not).

 

2. Moving on to software, what are some recommended VPNs? Is just having MS Security Essentials enough? Windows 9 is around the corner, should I copy my boot drive from my crappy laptop and use Windows 7 for now and wait or just go with 8.1? (I dont know a lot in the OS department, pretty much just wondering if anyone has any info on Windows 9 and if it will be worth waiting for). Any help is much appreciated, thanks.

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As for the software we don't even know if Windows 9 will be a real full release or an update on 8.1. It may even be free for all we know and just profit off of add on software. Stick to windows 8.1, if you want the start menu right off the bat you can buy start8 for $10, but know that later an update including a start menu for win8 is coming.

As for the radiator setup the temperature difference in these setups is negligable. The only real way to get a dececent diference is to do a dual loop, one for CPU and one for GPU each with its own pump and radiator. Even then the gains are nominal and not worth the extra cost, hassle, and noise for it to really be worth it.

All in all, take your time. Doing a water cooling loop for the first time particulary on your first build can be a duanting task. Just be sure the components work with their stock coolers before installing the blocks and for dual GPU make sure you look into how to configure this properly, so many people end up with loop termination with two gpus constantly running water through each other rather than one sending it off to the radiator.

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Thanks man, you pretty much answered everything but I'm still wondering about the tubing. Should I get 1/4" or 1/2"? Does it really make much difference in flow rate?