CUSTOM WATER LOOPING

[Paras2304]

I was trying to find knowledge about custom water looping. But i don't seem to find much. I have some questions and would appreciate someone informed anwsering these:-

1) Do you need to buy all your custom water cooling components from one company or you can mix and match. If you can, what are the ones i need to be careful about mixing.

2) What are basic things you need for a custom water loop? How to know how much you need for your particular build without going to a configurator?

3) What are the pros cons of hard vs soft tubing?

I dont know much about this and would appreciate extra knowledge besides this.

[For Science!]

2 minutes ago, Paras2304 said:

I was trying to find knowledge about custom water looping. But i don't seem to find much. I have some questions and would appreciate someone informed anwsering these:-

1) Do you need to buy all your custom water cooling components from one company or you can mix and match. If you can, what are the ones i need to be careful about mixing.

2) What are basic things you need for a custom water loop? How to know how much you need for your particular build without going to a configurator?

3) What are the pros cons of hard vs soft tubing?

I dont know much about this and would appreciate extra knowledge besides this.

1) It is fine to mix and match, just make sure you don't excessively mix metals (e.g. Aluminium parts with copper/nickel parts). Brass, Copper, and Nickel play nice with each other. If you put in Aluminium, all must be aluminium.

2) Knowledge is power, ease of installation scales with knowledge. Parts needed barebones should be: Pump, waterblocks, liquid, radiator, tubing and fittings. Everything else is optional.

3) Hard tubing looks nice if done correctly, and lasts longer than soft tubing. Soft tubing can be replaced easily, and the installation is easier. Chemical resistance and therefore coolant longevity is better on hard tubing.

[fonzz1e]

just to add on, tubing inner diameter size don't matter for pc watercooling 

 

make sure u get the same size for compression fittings & yer tubing size 

 

for hard tubing 

• to bend it you need heat gun, silicone inserts & a lot of patience (also tubing for beginners) 
• petg tubing will starts to soften nearing 50c
• pmma (aka acrylic) has higher temp tolerance but also u need a saw & patience on bending
• glass is sharp, use gloves rated for cut resistance 
• brass or stainless, bending will be challenging without industrial tools
• carbon fibre, very pricey and I have 0 experience in them

for soft tubing

• only need a tube cutter or sharp scissors 
• very easy to move parts around, I switch from Intel to amd without tearing down my loop
• can use quick disconnects (niche case), I use qdc since I test & buy used gpu with waterblocks on
• 2 major types clear plastic, matte modified rubber (ek zmt AKA epdm) 
• clear tubing has a tendency to leak plasticizer over into the loop, they'll get stuck on yer blocks or rads
• some clear tubing do discolor overtime
• for clear tubing I suggest mayhems ultraclear or tygon tubing, almost zero plasticizer afaik
• epdm has high temp tolerance, only downside is it being opaque black
• for epdm u can check, alphacool tpv epdm, watercool epdm, ek zmt or tygon I believe they have some (can try local hardware store, just make sure the size is correct & u clean it thoroughly)