Tubing question

I'm looking at testing the water and have been doing a lot of reading over the past week.

I plan on trying water on 1 rig (cpu only loop), and if all goes well do the same to my other 2. These rigs are DC crunchers thus 24/7.

I think I've got a pretty decent grasp of what's needed so far, but I have a tubing question. I've got a 20' length of 1/2" id air hose (unused) that I bought for another project. Could this be used for a loop or would the rubber lining deteriorate?

Just trying to use up what I already have laying around

It'll work for a while, but as you speculated it will eventually deteriorate. Tubing is cheap, I wouldn't skimp on it. You want something that is plastic, not rubber.

Just wondering, thanks.
Though I did spot some 1/2" stainless tube in the barn...where's my bender.

No problemo. I'm all for recycling and saving a buck when it makes sense, but in this case I can't advise it.

Going with hard lines would be the ultimate. I wonder if anyone has sweated an all copper loop

donuts said:

Just wondering, thanks.
Though I did spot some 1/2" stainless tube in the barn...where's my bender.

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Stainless works with brass IF it's the right grade (and I can't remember what that is - 306? maybe?). If you decide to go that route might be wise to check. Otherwise you'll have to treat it like a mixed metals loop.

doublejack said:

I wonder if anyone has sweated an all copper loop

Click to expand...

Voigts got close! But there were vibration issues - pump noise transmission IIRC. He used vinyl tubing between the hard lines and the blocks/pump to break up the noise and provide a hair of flexibility. It didn't take much, just a 1/4" space between the barbs and copper pipes IIRC. And it looked damn sexy with the copper pipes all polished up ...

Thanks QuietIce, I'll double check when decide to get adventurous, IIRC it's either 308 or 316 SS, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll start with regular tubing, then if I get bored...

which ones are you looking to watercool? might want to check out a swiffy kit, these two are lga775 only it seems
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=202&products_id=22149
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=202&products_id=22815
here is one that you change sockets with
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=202&products_id=3828
or if you want to make sure there are no leaks
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=202&products_id=25081
ALC compared to some air coolers(high end) isnt so good but for the noise vs stock cooling its decent.

donuts said:

Thanks QuietIce, I'll double check when decide to get adventurous, IIRC it's either 308 or 316 SS, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll start with regular tubing, then if I get bored...

Click to expand...

! Ding, ding, ding! Pretty sure it's 316 now that I see it in print ...

That's all the paper mills would let us use for instrumentation lines. That's why I believe it's 316.


@ Evilsizer, I thought about a kit, but I want to be able to move to i7 without to much trouble. I don't need "cutting edge" or retail for that matter. This setup is going on 1 or both of my Rosie crunchers (q9550's @ 3.8) Temps are decent now, but what's going to happen when warm weather hits? They already have lapped TRUEs in a push/pull.

Besides, 1 of them has been up to 4.0, but temps were less than 30c to TJmax, and that was a cool day.