Does tubing size matter, and what's the best

[WunderWuffle]

I currently have 1/2 3/4 inch tubing, and I might have some tight bends... So I was reading this article on MAXIMUM PC, and they were watercooling. They used 3/8 by 1/2 inch at first, but then changed to 1/2 ID. They noticed a 7 degree drop when they were using the half inch. Is that something I have to think about? Should I get a smaller tubing that can bend more easily, or have thicker tubing with better temperature?

[Ghost]

Tubing makes almost no difference. People just use ID 3/8 OD 1/2 because its most popular and so there is a bigger choice of fittings for it and the fittings are cheaper.

[WunderWuffle]

Okay, and what is the average length of tubing needed?

[Ghost]

Just the the standard 3.3m boxes. Its more than enough for almost every loop.

[XiaoPigs]

Just the the standard 3.3m boxes. Its more than enough for almost every loop.

Slick and the Mod team should just give you the title Water cooling expert :p

 

Or maybe even make you a Mod

[Ghost]

Slick and the Mod team should just give you the title Water cooling expert :P

 

Or maybe even make you a Mod

I can make my own title anyways :P

 

And they made it clear that they do not want section specific mods. :P

[リチャード]

According to the guy who runs the SingularityComputers channel @ Youtube : ID 1/4" OD 3/4" (ID 10mm OD 19mm) is the "best" for flowrate, aesthetics and easiest to manage. He seems to be pretty good at what he does, which is building watercooled computers... so...

[Ghost]

According to the guy who runs the SingularityComputers channel @ Youtube : ID 1/4" OD 3/4" (ID 10mm OD 19mm) is the "best" for flowrate, aesthetics and easiest to manage. He seems to be pretty good at what he does, which is building watercooled computers... so...

That is also a popular size of tubing. As long as the tubing is thicker then the narrowest (most restrictive) waterblock the flowrate is unaffected by thicker tubing. You can compare this to "bottlenecks" the most restrictive waterblock you have is the bottleneck. Tubing is very rarely a bottleneck in loops. Anyway bear in mind 1/4 is more resricitve in that respect than 3/8.

 

Aesthetics is also a matter of opinion and I assume be easiest to manage you mean kinking. It does have ticker walls so that has some logic behind it but I have never seen 3/8 1/2 tubing kink anyway.

 

Not saying the 1/4 3/4 better or worse just saying it makes no difference.

[WunderWuffle]

So what's better? PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Red, or the Tygon 2475?

[Ghost]

So what's better? PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Red, or the Tygon 2475?

Haven't had experience with either. I always go with masterkleer never failed me yet.

[WunderWuffle]

Send me a link to the one that you have

[Ghost]

Send me a link to the one that you have

I buy tubing by meter.

 

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Masterkleer-Tubing-PVC-1310mm-38ID-UV-Active-White_12014.html

 

They come in a lot of colours.

[DaftBehemoth]

So what's better? PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Red, or the Tygon 2475?

I'm currently using PrimoChill Advanced LRT and it's great. No printed labels on it, it's perfectly clear, and it doesn't cause discoloration with Mayhem's coolant :)

[リチャード]

That is also a popular size of tubing. As long as the tubing is thicker then the narrowest (most restrictive) waterblock the flowrate is unaffected by thicker tubing. You can compare this to "bottlenecks" the most restrictive waterblock you have is the bottleneck. Tubing is very rarely a bottleneck in loops. Anyway bear in mind 1/4 is more resricitve in that respect than 3/8.

 

Aesthetics is also a matter of opinion and I assume be easiest to manage you mean kinking. It does have ticker walls so that has some logic behind it but I have never seen 3/8 1/2 tubing kink anyway.

 

Not saying the 1/4 3/4 better or worse just saying it makes no difference.

Well, according to him -- and I must say I've learned the same in my Physics class -- a tighter tube does not restrict water-flow. Why? It's the same as increasing the resistance in an electrical current: If the tube is tighter, the water flows faster. And the water flowing faster shouldn't really effect your temperatures in any negative way. The water just gets heated up for a shorter time and cooled down for a shorter time so it levels out.

 

What does restrict water flow is a long loop and a lot of sharp turns. So really, (To OP) think about that when you build your loop. Don't make it unnecessarily long, especially, and then you'll have to decide for yourself if you want it to look 200% as good or perform like 1 - 10% better (Theoretical numbers).

[Ghost]

Well, according to him -- and I must say I've learned the same in my Physics class -- a tighter tube does not restrict water-flow. Why? It's the same as increasing the resistance in an electrical current: If the tube is tighter, the water flows faster. And the water flowing faster shouldn't really effect your temperatures in any negative way. The water just gets heated up for a shorter time and cooled down for a shorter time so it levels out.

You need more force to push the same amount of water in the same time through a smaller hole. By your logic if the tubing was the diameter of a needle then it wouldn't matter because it would flow faster through the needle and yet you know this isn't the case.

[tabuburn]

I personally like 3/8" ID by 5/8" OD. It's wide enough for the flow not to be impeded and the outer wall is thick enough to prevent kinks on some tight bends.

[リチャード]

You need more force to push the same amount of water in the same time through a smaller hole. By your logic if the tubing was the diameter of a needle then it wouldn't matter because it would flow faster through the needle and yet you know this isn't the case.

Rules change when we go to extremes, that's no surprise, and the difference between i.e. 1/4" and 3/8" is so small that it's neglected, while the difference between 1/4" and 0,01/4" is huge in comparison.

 

At an ID of 1/4" though, you're not going to have any bottleneck problems, just get dual pumps if you're going to make a longer loop. I'm just a little biased because I love the guy running that channel and everything he says sinks in really well with me. I'll say this, personally, if I had the choice I'd take his advice and just go with the 1/4"|3/4". It doesn't matter much in the end though.

[Ghost]

Rules change when we go to extremes, that's no surprise, and the difference between i.e. 1/4" and 3/8" is so small that it's neglected, while the difference between 1/4" and 0,01/4" is huge in comparison.

At an ID of 1/4" though, you're not going to have any bottleneck problems, just get dual pumps if you're going to make a longer loop. I'm just a little biased because I love the guy running that channel and everything he says sinks in really well with me. I'll say this, personally, if I had the choice I'd take his advice and just go with the 1/4"|3/4". It doesn't matter much in the end though.

That is not an extreme example. That is a comparison where the effect is noticeable. How do you think hourglasses work?

The reason why it doesn't matter is because water blocks are more restrictive than tubing anyways.

[tabuburn]

I think martinliquidlabs did a test on tubing sizes and found temps to be within margin of error. And like Ghost said, blocks will always be more restrictive than even the smallest ID tubing.

[リチャード]

That is not an extreme example. That is a comparison where the effect is noticeable. How do you think hourglasses work?

If 1/1000 the width is not extreme, what is? Take any object you can think of in your everyday life and reduce it to a thousandth size of what it is and see if it isn't a bit small... that's kind of the definition of extreme. Hourglasses uses gravity, and not an electric motor like a pump, that the water in your loop does. If you make the diameter of the tube smaller, then the pump would have to work harder, while gravity only works "at one speed" here on earth (as far as this argument is concerned)

 

The reason why it doesn't matter is because water blocks are more restrictive than tubing anyways.

Well.. that makes this entire argument pointless.

 

But still, I had fun ^_^

 

ja ne

[Ghost]

If you make the diameter of the tube smaller, then the pump would have to work harder.

My point exactly, a pump pushes with a constant force, it can't just "work harder". ;)

[JordanMac]

Don't buy clear XSPC tubing with xspc pre-mixed coolant, I bought some and used XSPC uv blue coolant thinking that xspc would have done some testing between their own coolant and their own tubing. however 3 months down the line my tubing is well... green.

[tabuburn]

Don't buy clear XSPC tubing with xspc pre-mixed coolant, I bought some and used XSPC uv blue coolant thinking that xspc would have done some testing between their own coolant and their own tubing. however 3 months down the line my tubing is well... green.

Discoloring of tubing is very common when using UV coolants since they stain everything. Even Mayhems themselves said that no matter what tubing or coolant brand/type you use, UV will stain. Hard acrylic tubing does not count though.

[DaftBehemoth]

Discoloring of tubing is very common when using UV coolants since they stain everything. Even Mayhems themselves said that no matter what tubing or coolant brand/type you use, UV will stain. Hard acrylic tubing does not count though.

I didn't know that about UV coolant... That makes me even more glad that I went with Mayhem's pastel blue berry coolant :)

[WunderWuffle]

So I'm safe is I use the PrimoChill PrimoFlex red with the XSPC Blood red, right?