First Time Hardlinin

[maxfly]

im going to rerun the tubing in my back up rig with hardline. ive never used it before so im looking for your advice. i have lots of questions for you pros out there!
i know from reading through others posts that its best to stick with the same manny for tubing and fittings. so ill stick with xspx gear if possible. is it a good idea to go with xspc gear? their stuff is cheap in comparison to other gear so i hope so lol.

1. is this xspx kit any good? is there something better i should go with? ive heard that having a really good tool to round off the ends of your tubing is a must if you dont want to ruin your gaskets. is the one that comes with this kit any good?
http://www.performance-pcs.com/xspc-petg-easy-cut-easy-bend-toolkit.html

2. is xspc petg tubing good stuff? is it easy to work with? is there a better brand for a first timer to use? is there a specific size i want to look for rather than 14-10? friggin hate that there isnt a standard unit of measurement. trying to make sure everything matches up is a pita!
http://www.performance-pcs.com/xspc-petg-tubing-14-10mm-2-x-50cm-pack-clear.html

3. are xspc hardline fittings good? if not please advise. will likely go with the black ones rather than black chrome(black/white theme) but i dont see any 45 or 90s in black grrrr.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/xspc-g1-4-to-14-10mm-petg-triple-seal-black-chrome-8-pack.html

4. should i go with this heatgun?
http://www.performance-pcs.com/monsoon-hardline-pro-heatgun-kit.html

5. is there anything else im overlooking? i dont want to have to make any catch up orders if at all possible.
thats all i can think of right now.
thanks in advance!

edit- another thing. im replacing the ddc pump connectors and wires with a 4pin pwm connection(no more molex) should i leave the molex? is it ok to replace it? meaning will it have enough juice to start up and run with the 4pin pwm only? is 18awg wire what im looking for? and should i go with 1/8in sleeving or 1/4in sleeving for that?

 

[corpsejockey]

1. That kit is fine. I will say the ek drill bit for ream the pipe leaves a cleaner edge and can be used to fine tune or shave down length... Makes life a little easier. Also note, I only used mandrils once to assist with bends. Found I could get better results by hand bending slightly past desired angle as the tube has a tendency to rebound back a degree or 2 at the bend when cooled. Nothing wrong with it, just my preference.

2. Nothing wrong with xspc petg. I prefer 16mm just cause I like the way it looks. Functionally, I saw no difference between 16mm and 13mm ie didn't appear to affect my temps.

3. Those fittings are good. I like triple o rings. Peace of mind. I have been using TT fittings mostly because I can pick them up at my local frys. Pure convenience, but have had no issues with them through 4 or 5 builds.

4. Heat gun never mattered to me. I just used distance from cone to tube to control heat. Bought the cheapest on I could find at the hardware store. Buy a nicer one I guess if you plan on doing this often or have other uses for it. Elements can be a little shody in the cheap ones and you don't typically get any speed control.

5. Plan the loop best you can in advance. Snag a few male to female extenders if you think you might have any clearance issues. I always end up making a second order for something dumb like a male to male adapter or extender lol.

As long as the board rev supports pwm, its as easy as soldering the cable. I did it but ended up just running my pump full speed. I had issues trying to run it from the high amp output header on my board. Ran fine at full speed but if I try to drop the speed at all RPMs became erratic

 

[GTXJackBauer]

XSPC is fine but I've seen other's use EK, Bitspower and Monsoon when it comes to hardline and fittings. Have a look at those as well.

As far as the pump is concerned, I'd keep the molex so it gets power straight from the PSU and have the PWM wire get its signal from any PWN header OR make sure if you do go all one header, that the PWM header supports the power demand from the pump.

 

[Blaylock]

Subbing just for Glorious Pron Pics.

 

[maxfly]

alright thx for the input guys! ive ordered everything but the heatgun. taking CJs advice and going to go with a cheapie at harbor freight haha. figure ill only use it once or twice. i couldnt find the ek drill bit but i did find a primochill one but it was $30 so i figured id hold off until i do my main rig for that. hopefully the xspc kit will do the job for now. the primochill drill bit looks like the cats meow tho.
@ Jack i think you and Corpsejockey made it an easy choice on the ddcs. im going to rewire them with the standard molex and 2pin pwm. thats how they are both wired now so ill just leave it as is. i got the pcbs here
http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/ddc-pump/41-laing-ddc-pump-18w-repair-pcb-wled-smd-soldered-mcp355.html
i was REALLY leery about buying from them until i did a little more research and found that they have been around for a longtime selling these pcbs. the cat that started it sent some pcbs to martin back in the day. so that put my mind at ease. shipping is going to take a couple of weeks so that puts things on hold for a while. sadly they only offered one shipping option to the states.
im going to pull the gpu out of the loop . i forgot that i cant use the apogee block thats on it with anything but barbs it has recessed holes that dont allow me to tighten down compression fittings. i may just run a short piece of tubing into an extender, into a 90 deg compression fitting and run the petg into that. ill figure that out when i get everything here i guess. its either that or buy another universal gpu block for it and right now the budget is blown lol.
Thanks Blaylock, i hope it lives up to expectations!

 

[corpsejockey]

What's model of apogee gpu block or can you post pic?

 

[Thick8]

I had the same issue with their micro res reservoir. I used a Dremel stone to enlarge the recess to allow the use of a compression fitting.

 

[maxfly]

What's model of apogee gpu block or can you post pic?

its actually a cpu block that i modded to fit the gpu(gtx580), its a apogee extreme but im not sure what variation or specific model. heres a link to what it looks like. i couldnt find any US sites.
http://www.effizienzgurus.de/review...kuehler-test/kuehler-swiftech-apogee-gtx.html

sorry its a swiftech apogee gtx!

- - - Updated - - -

I had the same issue with their micro res reservoir. I used a Dremel stone to enlarge the recess to allow the use of a compression fitting.

thats a good idea, i may give that a try. hell it cant hurt, im pretty sure i could do that without cutting to deep into the housing.

 

[corpsejockey]

Maybe you could use larger o ring off of the barb fitting?... Or I can send you another freebee... Old DD gpu block, but I believe it has same recessed ports. Its acetel top though... Way easier to mod.

 

[Thick8]

My reservoir was plastic so it was fairly easy to grind. Have you considered using a fatter o-ring to fill the space? The auto parts and hardware stores usually have a wide selection of o-rings.
EDIT: Ah you beat me to it corpsejockey
Molly Hachet rocks!

 

[maxfly]

i think ill start with grinding the plastic/metal down first. not sure what the top is made of... actually i need to find out what IT IS made of before i start doing any work on it. if its aluminum ill just go with a different block. ive done the mixed metal thing in the past. even with regular break downs it made my copper go black.
so far everything is here but the pcbs! its killing me to have to wait for them lol. one of the ddc heatsinks was back ordered but it showed up today. im hoping to get started this weekend with getting the tubing runs done and finish painting the res plate. 14/10 tubing is alot smaller than i thought but itll look fine. im used to 1/2in x 3/4in so it looks tiny in comparison!
thanks for the offer CJ but im going to do my best to make that apogee work

edit- well the gtx is a no go. its nickel plated aluminum. oh well ill have to pick up a cheap universal block after all. even with petras in the loop i cant trust it.
edit #2- just picked up a swiftech mcw82 -white, at sidewinders for $30 shipped! i wasnt sure they were even in business anymore. the order went through so apparently they are...i hope.

 

[corpsejockey]

Got the sink btw... Thanks a ton! Now... Where the heck are the pics?!!!

 

[maxfly]

good to hear, yvw! haha its just a pile o gear right now.

 

[maxfly]

well i got the ddc pcbs yesterday! they came in a simple little box with some bubble wrap. 11 days all told from hong kong for $5 shipping isnt all that bad. the pcbs are almost identical but they arent as wide and the pwm/power wiring points are printed out. that will make rewiring them easy peasy.
just waiting on the gpu block now, woohoo. it should be here this week(fingers crossed).
pcb pics if your wondering what they look like.


hopefully ill get some time to start desoldering the ddcs tonight. the pads to solder/desolder the copper wires are tiny. the copper wires are to for that matter. hopefully i wont break any of them off. thats my biggest worry. being that my soldering skills consist of repairing some leds on a keyboard ONCE and practicing desoldering on an old mb rrrright before i did the keyboard. this will be a challenge. you tube to the rescue!

edit- i forgot to mention that the new pcbs have the soldering pads both inside and outside of the pcb. it really doesnt matter being that you can pretty much solder the wires to either. but one of my pumps is a ddc 1 with the wires connected on the outside pads. so ill resolder them to the outside just to be safe. i dont want to chance breaking a wire!

 

[corpsejockey]

Sweet dude. Really want to see the results!

 

[maxfly]

update. im having a bigtime issue trying to run the tubing behind the pump. there is roughly 1 1/2in of space. running tubing back there seems impossible for rookie me. so im punking out and getting some dual 45 rotaries and some 90s to eliminate the need for the bends around the pump. ill just use the fittings to make the connections easier off to the side and top. im also having a hard time linking up the crossover in back so it runs as a single res rather than two. gah ive wasted so much friggin tubing so far! i did watch a video yesterday that showed me what i was doing wrong. i have to take my time with the bends and continue to heat the tubing as i make the bend. i was trying to make the bend all at once as soon as i got the tubing hot. which didnt work well at all. it kept leaving folds on the back side.
im also going to add another rad on the back of the case. the single ek pe240 just isnt enough. plus i wanna new rad to play with hehe. probably going to go with a ek xe360. i may or may not paint it. i have found that i could fit a 360x40-45mm up top if i cut the top of the 5.25 bay off but that will be for another day. i dont have the energy to pull everything out of the case right now haha.
still havent gotten the pumps done but will try tonight if i can get away for a bit. so yeah slowly but surely.

 

[maxfly]

i really really hate soldering. the wire i got is just way to thick to solder to the pcbs. turns out that 18awg is not a good fit for a ddc pcb at all. being stubborn on top of that equals blisters all over my fingertips (its not a pen!) and a 12v pad burned off of a BRAND NEW PCB. ruined it. lesson learned thanks to the blisters all over my fingers and realizing the wire was the problem. have to order another pcb on friday. may just order another pump and say fuggettaboutit. good news is i took some old fan wires and finished the other ddc(i hope it works). sigh, im afraid to test it. sooo much easier to solder those fan wires on(24awg i think). took like 5 seconds and was perfect.

 

[Blaylock]

If you have an old IDE ribbon you can strip one wire out at a time and use them. They are very thin and perfect for this type of work. Did I mention they are free as we all have a few extra laying around. Also, hit up a Radio Shack or Harbor Freight and grab a pen type iron. I think mine was $12.

 

[maxfly]

sadly i have one of the pen type! my fingers kept slipping and when i readjusted i would inevitably grab the very top of the metal.
thats a good idea but i threw all of my old ide cables away to make space. thanks for the suggestion! the old fan wires worked great. i ran out of sleeving so one more thing to add to the list. so i have one ddc that looks sweet and one that i have to completely desolder and replace the pcb on. this is taking alot longer than i anticipated.

 

[maxfly]

i hate to say it but i have to give up on the ddc dualbay res. i just cant get the tubing to bend right with such small tight bends and being so close together. there just isnt enough room behind the res for me to get anything in there effectively. much less hook anything up once i get one line kinda halfassed connected. im really bummed but ive been banging my head against the wall long enough. im throwin in the towel. sadly i picked up one of the swiftech mcp35x2 black tops. i got it cheap on ebay so well see how THIS works. ideally i wanted to get a white one but i didnt have another $60 in the budget this will be muuuuch easier to connect in that it has two ways of using the outlets. either the recommended top outlet or the front outlet which is less efficient. either one will be 100% easier to connect to lol.
i dont know how yet but i will find a way to use that xspc ddc dual bay res. maybe externally...hmmm.