Question about proper tubing...

With my water blocks being 1/2" ID, is it recommended to have 1/2" ID tubing for the best fit and for the best leak-resistence set up.

And finally, what is all of your recommendations for tubing between these two?

Tygon vs. Masterkleer

yeah, you need 1/2" ID tubing. and get 3/4" OD

I have masterkleer, works great IMO. cant imagine paying the premium price for tygon since the cheap stuff doesnt fail me.

now if you really want the tygon silver or whatever that deal is, guess you get what you need.

What do you mean by 3/4" OD? (is that the barb on a water block or something?)

tubes can be thin walled or thick walled...

so the ID is still the same 1/2" but the OD can be different.

Yes tygon is superior to other tubes... you will pay the price for it tho...

just stick whith 1/2" ID tubes

ID is Inner diameter.

OD is outer diameter.

in the case of the barbs, they state 1/2" ID to indicate what tube fits them, they are not describing the barb itself really; just what tube fits on it.

difference between ID and OD is the thickness, as myco said.

You want 1/2"ID-3/4"OD or 7/16"ID-5/8"OD. Anything with thinner walls will tend to collapse. Performance should be about the same in with these two sizes in most systems because, although the smaller tubing is slightly more restrictive, it matches the ID of 1/2" barbs more closely, and hence you have less turbulence.

Masterkleer is good stuff. Tygon is better, but much more expensive.

Im currently using tygon R6303 i/s"id 3/4"od and no kinks in the tube. I also have a tight 2"radius on the outlet of the 8800gtx block and the bottom of the case. The thicker wall tube is still flexable enough to get those tight bends with no kinking. I mean the thin wall tube works great, but you have to line it with either smartcoils or coolsleeves to make sure it does not kink, even then you might get some slight kinks. I had both thin and thick wall tubing in the same rig in my sig and the thicker wall was the better of the two. Cost a tad more but worth it.

Well I won't be going to any coils (as I find them to be kind of ugly), so I think I will go with the 1/2" ID and 3/4" OD of either Masterkleep or Tygon...

Where is the best place to purchase these? Locally? (i.e. Home Depot)?

I doubt you'll find either Masterkleer or Tygon at a hardware store or building supply. There's really no telling what the properties of the tubing these places sell will be, hence it makes sense to order brand name tubing even if it costs you a few bucks more and you have to wait for it.

McMaster.com probably has the lowest prices, but if you're not buying anything else from them, it might be less expensive to buy your tubing where you get your other parts and save on shipping.