What kind of problems will I have with 1/4" ID tubing?

[Vanderburg]

Okay, I see a lot of builds with 1/2" tubing and while I'm sure this works fine for them and I'm sure they love it and all... but to me it looks fat and out of place. 1/4"ID (Maybe even 3/8) looks so much more clean and proportional, but I'm afraid of restricting the flow. I'm willing to get a beefy pump (Suggestions?), or two and I intend on having plenty of radiator surface area, but I'm not sure what the right balance of form vs fashion may be.

Cooling the CPU, mosfets, SB, single VGA, but maybe a second in the future (More blocks = more restriction, yeah?). It'll have a 480 (bottom), 2x240s (Bottom and front) in a TJ07. I might throw a 240 in the top, too, but I've heard clearance can be an issue in the TJ07. These are intended to be used with NoiseBlocker Pro PL-2s on a quietish setting.

[Dragon_Cannon]

Like you said the problem with having 1/4" ID tubing is that you will restrict the flow rate. The more blocks and rad you add to the system will also further restrict the flow. The other problem with 1/4" tubing is that because the walls of the tubing are so thin they bend easier and if that happens and the tubes bend at 90 degrees that will further increase the restriction in your loop.

That is more surface area than is required to cool everything. I would personally leave the 480mm and put a 240mm in the front and that would easily keep the system cool. You might be pushing it for space if you add that second rad to the bottom as you may have forgotten, the rads need fans which adds 25mm of thickness if you do push or pull and 50mm if you do push/pull.

The problem with getting beefy pumps is that you may put to much pressure through the system and the walls of 1/4" tubing aren't that thick so it would increase the chance that it bursts and if that happens then you will most likely fry all of the components inside your system.

There is nothing wrong with those fans they push a decent amount of air and appear to be reasonably quiet. They also look like pressure optimized fans so they should have no problems on the radiators.

[Vanderburg]

It would definitely be pull only, (positive pressure), so only fans on one side. Any 90s would be at the fittings themselves on the blocks (No joints in the middle of the run). My original thinking was that if the airflow is restricted, there might be a higher heat build up in the loop and the extra radiators would compensate, I'm inferring from your reply that it's not the case. Is that because each additional G1/4 will choke the flow doing more harm to the loop than the radiator does good?

I would like to go with thinner tubing for aesthetics, but find a decent balance for some mild overclocking, so I'd like to keep the ΔT tolerable, without going too gawdy... :\

[Dragon_Cannon]

As long as you do the tubing runs properly they shouldn't interfere with air flow in the case.

Pull setups don't cause positive air pressure what causes positive air pressure is having more intake fans than exhaust fans.

The easiest way to get around tubes restricting airflow would be to have long tubes that are anchored to the side of the case so that they don't restrict airflow where possible.

Radiators will only dissipate so much heat, if the temp inside your case is higher then everything else will be warmer.

G1/4" is the thread that is on the radiators and blocks for where the fittings mount. It is the predominant standard for water cooling fittings but there are some G3/8" things around they are just a lot less common.

Another solution would be to use bigger tubing and have shorter tubing runs so that there is less of it in the case for the asthetic reasons that you want to use the 1/4" ID tubing.

[Whaler_99]

You also need to be careful planning your build. Using 1/4x3/8 may limit what fittings you use. Using compression fittings or barbs? You will be limited on choice by using that size tubing.

[Dragon_Cannon]

Compression fittings don't look as clean to some people as barbs when installed inside of a system. But with compression fittings you are a lot less likely to have the tube slowly come of the barb on the fitting and spray water around your system killing effectively everything.

[Kawaii]

After using 7/16" tubing over 1/2" barbs I couldn't recommend it for long term use. At first it felt like it would never come off but eventually it gets to the point where it comes pretty loose and if you knocked it could fairly easily slip off. Damaging hardware certainly isn't worth it for aesthetics. You could always use clips or zip ties to make sure that it's secure.

[Vanderburg]

Compression fittings don't look as clean to some people as barbs when installed inside of a system. But with compression fittings you are a lot less likely to have the tube slowly come of the barb on the fitting and spray water around your system killing effectively everything.

I don't know, I think compression fittings look much cleaner than barbs, but it's all personal preference.