Dumb question time

[master_raven]

Ok I've been looking at water cooling for some time now :) yea it's cheep to just look LOL but now I'm thinking about taking the plunge. My question is why the trend of using 1/2" tubing? I have seen a couple of setups by people like IBM and UNISYS that use 1/4" tubing. and I found a pump manufacture that produces a micro pump aimed at CPU cooling and it has 3MM id barbed fittings. So now I'm confused :confused: can some one talk to me about the dynamics of flow and heat transfere. I've read some articles on the topic but aside from the advantages of jetting the water etc. I really see no referance to needing several gal/hr of flow. Can someone help here?

[NeoMoses]

Basically, as the velocity of the water increases in a waterblock, so does the convective heat transfer coefficient. Aquarium pumps are inexpensive and capable of producing a large amount of flow when there is little back pressure. The use of larger ID tubing is to limit the pressure drop in the tubing, thus allowing the highest possible flowrate through the entire system. Highest flowrate in a given system = best cooling in the waterblocks.

Does this clear things up?

[master_raven]

Originally posted by NeoMoses
Basically, as the velocity of the water increases in a waterblock, so does the convective heat transfer coefficient. Aquarium pumps are inexpensive and capable of producing a large amount of flow when there is little back pressure. The use of larger ID tubing is to limit the pressure drop in the tubing, thus allowing the highest possible flowrate through the entire system. Highest flowrate in a given system = best cooling in the waterblocks.

Does this clear things up?

Well yea it does help alot thank you. I guess I was hoping to not have such large tubing in my system along with everything else. :(

Thank you for the info.