Thoughts on Hardline Tubing

MainStageNews · November 25, 2020

Hi! I've been rocking an Ivy Bridge 3770k since 2012. I was able to get an order in for an AMD 5800x and, although it won't be here till late January, I'm excited to for the upgrade! I'm sticking with the mATX form factor and am largely going to keep my build the same style but would love some feedback, I attached a couple photos.

Since I'm sticking with mATX again that really limits me to B550 as there's not many choices for x570 mATX . So I think I've decided to go with Gigabyte's B550M Aorus Pro-P. What I'm debating on is sticking with soft tubing. I've got enough of this red tubing left for another build so I could make things look largely the same. However, I also have hard tubing sitting in a closet. Do think it would be an improvement to aesthetics to switch to hardline clear tubing?

The downsides would the costs for new fittings and the loss of color on the tubing. Last time around I went with distilled water rather then colored coolant because of possible waterblock staining issues. Unless newer coolant has addressed this I wouldn't use colored coolant this go around either.

The benefit is I wouldn't have to worry about eventually replacing hard tubing like you have to consider with soft tubing. It could also arguably look better and building it would be fun . So what do you all think?

For Science! · November 25, 2020

Hardline tubing any day of the week for me

LogicalDrm · November 29, 2020

-> Moved to Custom Loop and Exotic Cooling

Mick Naughty · November 30, 2020

I still haven’t went though the trouble to do hardline yet. Would still need a considerable amount of case modding for me to consider it.
If you don’t want to spend the money right now don’t bother.
I used red ek fluid for both of my rigs and never had a stain issue. I was concerned as well but everything is still pretty clear, but the hose does get some.