Tubing too big for fittings

[VenomSnake]

I have a few basic questions for my first liquid  cooling build. Not all are liquid cooling related but I rather ask them in one go than make multiple threads. 

 

1. I bought Primochill rigid acrylic 1/2" tubing from Amazon and a bunch of barrow fittings from Ali Express - the fittings were all made for 12mm tubes I believe. The Primochill tubing doesn't fit the fittings, The tubes are too big in diameter. I read somewhere that different companies use different standards (imperial vs. metric standard). I am guessing Barrow is using metric while Primochill is using imperial and they aren't compatible. I am not going to buy another set of fittings as they were much more expensive than the tubing. Buying 12mm tubing is a more practical option . Which brand of acryllic tubing will be compatible with Barrow fittings? 

 

2. I got the EVGA SLI pro bridge v2 and it only goes into half of the SLI connector. Is that how it is supposed to be? Does the other half stay uncovered? See picture for reference. 

 

3. I want to add a mid plate in my case - the case is a Corsair Air 540. I cut out the bottom plate as that was getting in the way of the tubes and mobo wires. I will put a custom mesh grill there to close the bottom area. The question is how does the mid plate stay in place? What kind of support does it need? I have seen and read a lot of tuturials and haven't found any info on it. 

 

4. What's the best order of installing components in a liquid cooled system? Do I install everything first and then add tubes or do I install tubes and components at the same time as more and more room gets taken up by the components . Is there a "best practices" recommendation for setting it up? 

 

Thanks.

[Enderman]

1) always buy fittings and hard tubing from the same manufaturer

if you choose bitspower fittings, get bitspower tubing

do not mix

 

2) please dont buy chinese crap from ali express

if you want fluid all over your PC just use a water bucket

 

if you dont, then buy good quality fittings

[Sentryy]

Addressing question 4, the order of your components in a liquid cooled system doesn't matter that much if at all. So basically whatever uses the least tubing, or what looks best it's up to you.

[airdeano]

1. 1/2" is not close (close to 12.9mm) to 12mm, on hardline, use mm or SAE, not both.
2. yes, the dual finger is for 3/4 way.
3. mid-plate/540? 
4. faux/mock build to get perspective of fitting usage, tubing runs, and other obstructions.

 

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

2) please dont buy chinese crap from ali express

if you dont, then buy good quality fittings

barrow mfg OE fittings for bitspower.

[Enderman]

Just now, airdeano said:

1. barrow mfg OE fittings for bitspower.

oooh ok

til

[GhostHitWall]

2 hours ago, airdeano said:

1. barrow mfg OE fittings for bitspower.

I read this like a few years ago.

hoebslty quite confused now.

I found 3 versions of stories.

1. Barrow is BP's OEM

2. Barrow share the same OEM with BP.

3. Barrow are enthusiasts in China who sourced almost identical material/design to try to make BP-like fittings.

 

i don't seem to be able to find anyone who can show a reputable source or link to back up these statements.

 

any idea???

[VenomSnake]

7 hours ago, Enderman said:

2) please dont buy chinese crap from ali express

if you want fluid all over your PC just use a water bucket

 

if you dont, then buy good quality fittings

I researched plenty before buying them and the consensus on many places was that Barrow fittings were the same quality as bitspower without the logo and the price tag.  I didn't see anyone complain about their quality. I have the fittings and they look solidly built to me.

 

For #3: how does the mid plate stay in place without any support? I was going to build one out of frosted acrylic and so it will be custom made. Does it stay in place because it's a tight fit? What's going to stop it from falling to the floor?

[Benji_w]

On 23/02/2016 at 5:11 AM, Enderman said:

1) always buy fittings and hard tubing from the same manufaturer

if you choose bitspower fittings, get bitspower tubing

do not mix

 

2) please dont buy chinese crap from ali express

if you want fluid all over your PC just use a water bucket

 

if you dont, then buy good quality fittings

Actually... you can mix, the only thing you shouldn't mix is imperial and metric measurements for very obvious reasons, most of the fittings you buy world wide come from a chinese factory of some sort so I find that last comment funny more so that bitspower and EK fittings can leak too.

 

Big brands are not exempt from leaking no matter what their inflated price for said brand. 

[Enderman]

7 minutes ago, Benji_w said:

Actually... you can mix, the only thing you shouldn't mix is imperial and metric measurements for very obvious reasons, most of the fittings you buy world wide come from a chinese factory of some sort so I find that last comment funny more so that bitspower and EK fittings can leak too.

 

Big brands are not exempt from leaking no matter what their inflated price for said brand. 

actually, you shouldnt, because 12mm hard tubing from one brand is not the same as 12mm tubing from another brand

singularitycomputers found that out several years ago when he tried to use bitspower fittings with some ek hard tubing or some other hard tubing brand i cant remember

 

and yes they were both metric

 

as airdeano stated earlier in the thread, since you dont bother scrolling down, barrow fittings are actually bitspower OEM, so there shouldnt be any problem with that

there is a problem with cheap fittings from ebay or other cheap products

I never recommend EK fittings because I have seen them leak in skunkworks

I havent seen a bitspower fitting leak, ever, other than people being dumb and not installing them correctly

 

the reason the EK fitting leaked was because the o-rings in the EK fittings are a lot looser than bitspower

jayztwocents had everything installed correctly, it was just a bad rotary fitting

[Benji_w]

Just now, Enderman said:

actually, you shouldnt, because 12mm hard tubing from one brand is not the same as 12mm tubing from another brand

singularitycomputers found that out several years ago when he tried to use bitspower fittings with some ek hard tubing or some other hard tubing brand i cant remember

 

and yes they were both metric

 

as airdeano stated earlier in the thread, since you dont bother scrolling down, barrow fittings are actually bitspower OEM, so there shouldnt be any problem with that

there is a problem with cheap fittings from ebay or other cheap products

I never recommend EK fittings because I have seen them leak in skunkworks

I havent seen a bitspower fitting leak, ever, other than people being dumb and not installing them correctly

 

the reason the EK fitting leaked was because the o-rings in the EK fittings are a lot looser than bitspower

jayztwocents had everything installed correctly, it was just a bad rotary fitting

I love reading your posts, they're hilarious.

[Enderman]

Just now, Benji_w said:

I love reading your posts, they're hilarious.

and informative

i bet you thought that all 12mm tubing was the same

[Benji_w]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

and informative

i bet you thought that all 12mm tubing was the same

No because that's impossible for many reasons, but being out by 0.2± isn't worthy of you making a big deal out of it. If you could provide me with a list of measurements from each manufacturer then I'll tag your posts as informative, until then they're just comedic rambles. 

 

Make sure you vet your sources this time, we don't want a repeat of you telling me Advanced LRT is utter shit then providing me with posts where A-LRT wasn't involved with the end user's problems.

[Enderman]

6 minutes ago, Benji_w said:

No because that's impossible for many reasons, but being out by 0.2± isn't worthy of you making a big deal out of it. If you could provide me with a list of measurements from each manufacturer then I'll tag your posts as informative, until then they're just comedic rambles. 

 

Make sure you vet your sources this time, we don't want a repeat of you telling me Advanced LRT is utter shit then providing me with posts where A-LRT wasn't involved with the end user's problems.

it was some singularity computers video for a few years ago, im not going to spend hours searching for it lol

i dont think it was +-.2mm though, he showed how the tubing was way too loose in the fitting, the o-ring was clearly not tight enough and there was a risk of leaking

 

you can look up any hard tubing tutorial and a lot of people already know that it is a lot safer to buy fittings+tubing from the same manufacturer

hard tubing of course, soft tubing isnt a problem

https://www.google.ca/#q=pc+acrylic+tubing+compatibility

its not that hard to do some research for yourself once in a while

 

and yes youre right about the ALRT tubing, apparently what I thought was people having plasticizer leeching on A-LRT was because they got sent LRT Pro by mistake

or maybe they bought from a retailer that sold the old Pro LRT as A-LRT

I havent seen any A-LRT plasticizer leeching so far

[Benji_w]

Just now, Enderman said:

it was some singularity computers video for a few years ago, im not going to spend hours searching for it lol

i dont think it was +-.2mm though, he showed how the tubing was way too loose in the fitting, the o-ring was clearly not tight enough and there was a risk of leaking

 

you can look up any hard tubing tutorial and a lot of people already know that it is a lot safer to buy fittings+tubing from the same manufacturer

hard tubing of course, soft tubing isnt a problem

https://www.google.ca/#q=pc+acrylic+tubing+compatibility

its not that hard to do some research for yourself once in a while

 

and yes youre right about the ALRT tubing, apparently what I thought was people having plasticizer leeching on A-LRT was because they got sent LRT Pro by mistake

or maybe they bought from a retailer that sold the old Pro LRT as A-LRT

I havent seen any A-LRT plasticizer leeching so far

Not heard of this once while doing my research for my hardline tubing build coming up so not sure where you're getting your information. I'd also only bother to ask B-Neg and others on OCN rather than here, because as you've already shown as a prime example, here is a crap shoot of decent information or utter bollocks, to the point where you've been corrected several times.

 

If the measurements are fine the manufacturer that produces it is neither here nor there, defects are always a deciding factor too, but I won't get into that with you, we had that conversation over AIO units...

[Enderman]

7 minutes ago, Benji_w said:

Not heard of this once while doing my research for my hardline tubing build coming up so not sure where you're getting your information. I'd also only bother to ask B-Neg and others on OCN rather than here, because as you've already shown as a prime example, here is a crap shoot of decent information or utter bollocks, to the point where you've been corrected several times.

 

If the measurements are fine the manufacturer that produces it is neither here nor there, defects are always a deciding factor too, but I won't get into that with you, we had that conversation over AIO units...

Singularitycomputers knows more about watercooling than pretty much everyone else on this forum combined, so yeah...

maybe it was because he was buying acrylic from hardware stores rather than PC watercooling manufacturers?

he was one of the first guys to ever do hard tubing watercooling so there were very little options at the time

 

would be cool if someone bought tubing and fittings from all the WC manufacturers today and tested them with eachother

it would suck to have a slightly loose o-ring like jayztwocents did and have a leak ruin your expensive PC

(mind you it was an extremely slow leak he had, like a few mL per week)

[Benji_w]

Just now, Enderman said:

Singularitycomputers knows more about watercooling than pretty much everyone else on this forum combined, so yeah...

maybe it was because he was buying acrylic from hardware stores rather than PC watercooling manufacturers?

he was one of the first guys to ever do hard tubing watercooling so there were very little options at the time

 

would be cool if someone bought tubing and fittings from all the WC manufacturers today and tested them with eachother

itb would suck to have a slightly loose o-ring like jayztwocents did and have a leak ruin your expensive PC

See now, you've just changed everything, now you're saying he used hardware store acrylic tubing... so the size could of been off for several reasons. Linus knows a lot of stuff too, didn't stop him cracking his oil cooled pc case, or losing loads of non-backed up data, you know... Techtubers aren't the golden ticket to prove someone wrong.

 

Jay... oh boy where do I even start, drilling holes in his x99 board and killing it, saying ASIC is irrelevant for 9xx cards, and that whole fuck up with mayhems in which both sides looked like utter idiots? 

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Benji_w said:

See now, you've just changed everything, now you're saying he used hardware store acrylic tubing... so the size could of been off for several reasons. Linus knows a lot of stuff too, didn't stop him cracking his oil cooled pc case, or losing loads of non-backed up data, you know... Techtubers aren't the golden ticket to prove someone wrong.

 

Jay... oh boy where do I even start, drilling holes in his x99 board and killing it, saying ASIC is irrelevant for 9xx cards, and that whole fuck up with mayhems in which both sides looked like utter idiots? 

i still dont understand wth he did to make that fluid change colour...
it was the same fluid in both loops, and it was always the same loop that changed

[Benji_w]

Just now, Enderman said:

i still dont understand wth he did to make that fluid change colour...
it was the same fluid in both loops, and it was always the same loop that changed

Do you know who would of known or been able to help find the issue? Mick... who he could of contacted at any time...

My bet is heat at the cards. Anyway off topic.

 

Stop recommending stupid crap, defects are a thing regardless of brand. I've seen many people use EK fittings and random acrylic or PETG with no ill effects, I've seen quite a lot of people praise Barrow fittings also.

[Enderman]

Just now, Benji_w said:

Do you know who would of known or been able to help find the issue? Mick... who he could of contacted at any time...

My bet is heat at the cards. Anyway off topic.

 

Stop recommending stupid crap, defects are a thing regardless of brand. I've seen many people use EK fittings and random acrylic or PETG with no ill effects, I've seen quite a lot of people praise Barrow fittings also.

ok but what's so hard about just buying both from the same place?

[Benji_w]

Just now, Enderman said:

ok but what's so hard about just buying both from the same place?

Tastes? Preference? Budget? Need any more?

[VenomSnake]

1 hour ago, Benji_w said:

Tastes? Preference? Budget? Need any more?

I don't have a problem buying from the same manufacturer; except I can't find Barrow brand acrylic tubes. I did find Bits Power tubes and I wonder if they are compatible as stated in this forum. Just trying to be on the safe side. 

 

I didn't know about all the variations in tube sizes when I bought the PrimoChill tubes. They weren't that expensive so I am not going to complain about it. I will put them on eBay to salvage whatever I can get for them. 

 

Is there no one who can answer my question about midplates having anti-gravity qualities? :)?

[Benji_w]

1 minute ago, VenomSnake said:

I don't have a problem buying from the same manufacturer; except I can't find Barrow brand acrylic tubes. I did find Bits Power tubes and I wonder if they are compatible as stated in this forum. Just trying to be on the safe side. 

 

I didn't know about all the variations in tube sizes when I bought the PrimoChill tubes. They weren't that expensive so I am not going to complain about it. I will put them on eBay to salvage whatever I can get for them. 

 

Is there no one who can answer my question about midplates having anti-gravity qualities? :)?

You will have to make mounts for your mid plate to sit on. Simple answer, as for buying from the same manufacturer, go nuts, personally I cannot comment or advise on whether the bits power tubes will fit the barrow fittings sorry.

[GhostHitWall]

On 2/24/2016 at 1:07 AM, Enderman said:

barrow fittings are actually bitspower OEM

welp this whole thread became a little bit longer, after researching, this statement turns out to be false.

BP is made in TW they dont have oem.

Barrow is made in China, share OEM with EK (not 100% sure since I don't know whether EK source all of their parts from the same OEM.)

 

Barrow seems to finally become legit in quality in the past 1~2 years.  They are now still selling mostly rip offs, but there is some new design too.

 

besides the look, their price is great in retailers in the US($2 cheaper).

$3~4 cheaper if in China. That's like 50% off.....

Minimum R&D + producing cost in China + market in China.  I guess they make their way into the market fairly clear.

If you can't afford BP, this really is a good deal, quality-wise no one has reported anything wrong with it so far.

 

and back to the look of often mocked BP logo.  I heard people saying you can ask BP to take that off.  Will try tonight when BP contacts start working.

 

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, GhostHitWall said:

welp this whole thread became a little bit longer, after researching, this statement turns out to be false.

BP is made in TW they dont have oem.

Barrow is made in China, share OEM with EK (not 100% sure since I don't know whether EK source all of their parts from the same OEM.)

 

Barrow seems to finally become legit in quality in the past 1~2 years.  They are now still selling mostly rip offs, but there is some new design too.

 

besides the look, their price is great in retailers in the US($2 cheaper).

$3~4 cheaper if in China. That's like 50% off.....

Minimum R&D + producing cost in China + market in China.  I guess they make their way into the market fairly clear.

If you can't afford BP, this really is a good deal, quality-wise no one has reported anything wrong with it so far.

 

and back to the look of often mocked BP logo.  I heard people saying you can ask BP to take that off.  Will try tonight when BP contacts start working.

 

very interesting, thanks
apparently i was right in the first place

[GhostHitWall]

Just now, Enderman said:

very interesting, thanks
apparently i was right in the first place

I was excited when I saw this, first thought was that BP turned down some products which did not pass quality check, so OEM started selling them.

OCN actually has a thread here if you are interested.

Youtube comments, OCN, overclocker, LTT, there's too much false information going around back and forth.

Chinese forums give barrow quite good of reputation over all.