Plastic or metal Barbs

Well, since dd is having a sale, i decided to go with watercooling cause i was able to pick up a bix 2 for about 60. I was wondering, what barbs are ideal, metal or plastic. I was browsing and saw a ton of metal, and some plastic, but wanted to know if it really mattered.

the "metal" ones would be better.

also, i would recommend a heater core, i got a dual 120mm heater core from www.freshcooling.com with "metal" barbs and painted black for i believe if i remember correctly 40$

and it didnt let my 3.4 p4 socket 775 and with my nvidia 6800 PCI-express in the loop, it didnt let my CPU go over 41C under load.

Good deal going on at DD, I would get plastic barbs, if you accidently overtighten or cross the threads your are only gonna mess up the barb, not the rad.

ls7corvete said:

Good deal going on at DD,

Click to expand...

ive been hearing and seeing that lately, i wonder why such a big sale, too bad none of the stuff i need/want to get to water cool again is onsale.... meaning a new acetal top and fillport.

dangerden is now primary distributer here's the email from DD:

Major Price Reduction on all Black Ice Series Radiators

All of the Black Ice series radiators have price reductions of almost 50% across the board. Danger Den is now the primary distributor for North America and that means bigger shipments and lower prices.

Check them out in the shopping cart (http://www.dangerdenstore.com/home.php?cat=13).

I personally perfer the metal barbs. I have had a few plastic ones break on me when trying to install the tubing.

mgoode said:

dangerden is now primary distributer here's the email from DD:

Major Price Reduction on all Black Ice Series Radiators

All of the Black Ice series radiators have price reductions of almost 50% across the board. Danger Den is now the primary distributor for North America and that means bigger shipments and lower prices.

Check them out in the shopping cart (http://www.dangerdenstore.com/home.php?cat=13).

Click to expand...

Sounds good, so I guess these prices could possibly be around for a while?

I think alot more people are going to be buying DD now!! Its a good thing they are a quality company with a quality product.

I like the DD polypropylene (translucent plastic) barbs.
They're tough, impervious to corrosion, and as an added bonus have a larger inside diameter than either metal or nylon ones.
I broke one once, when removing one with a wrench that I'd glued in with Marine Goop. A pair of needle nose pliers removed the remainder and spared the metal threads of my core.

Mine were from DD.

Seal them with Silicone sealant, never thread tape.

huey said:

Well, since dd is having a sale, i decided to go with watercooling cause i was able to pick up a bix 2 for about 60. I was wondering, what barbs are ideal, metal or plastic. I was browsing and saw a ton of metal, and some plastic, but wanted to know if it really mattered.

Click to expand...

I've always tried to use plastic because they're much less likely to damage whatever they're screwed into--this is very important if working with acrylic block tops or reservoirs. McMaster-Carr has a large selection made from quite a few different types of plastic.

I prefer plastic because it seems the tubing grips more tightly around it and thus creating no leaks.

metal barbs all the way

it seems to me that the metal/plastic debate is more of a personal preference, or a specialised application preference for each. they both have worked, they both have failed. each has its ups and downs for a given application.

for use on blocks with lucite tops, plastic is def better. but for a tightly fitted high pressure application, metal may be better.

$0.02

High pressure would be how many gph?

huey said:

High pressure would be how many gph?

Click to expand...

GPH is measuring flow, not pressure. To get an idea of how much pressure a pump exerts take a look at how many feet of head it has. For an easy example, compare the Iwaki MD-20R and MD-20RZ here: http://www.iwakiwalchem.com/default.aspx. They are the same pump (motor, housing, etc.) but with different impellers so the final specs for flow and pressure are very different. The "high pressure" MD-20RZ is much better for water cooling than is the high flow MD-20R.

As for "high pressure" with respect to fittings, nothing I've seen used for water cooling is actually high pressure. We say "high pressure" when speaking of some pumps, but that's only in comparison to the even lower pressure pumps. And, even the cheapest plastic fittings are good for 65-70 PSI and there is no way you'll see that with water cooling. Even the "high pressure" Iwaki MD-20RZ is only creating a little over 14 PSI and that's one of the most powerful pumps you'll see used in water cooling. Now, if you went phase change, that's a different story