1/2 ID Tubing = Garden Hose?

Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
763
Hi Guys,

Buying some stuff at Home Depot I decided to go by the plumbing area and kind of wanted to have an idea of how a 1/2 ID tubing will look and to my surprise the clear tubing I saw was almost as big as a freaking garden hose .. It could not go into my mind how in the world you guys make loops inside the case with that tubing..

Keep in mind I'm nOOb on the WC world so just want some opinions... are those tubing that big? when I saw the 3/8 ID made more sense to me since it was still big but easier to curve it for a loop. I understand the bigger the better.. but since I haven't seen a WC rig in person just pictures man it really blew my mind when I saw that...

Can someone make comments regarding this.. perhaps take a shot of a garden hose next to the 1/2 tubing? I have the feeling something was wrong.

Sorry for the nOOb observation I made.
 
Most 1/2" ID tubing has 1/8" walls, resulting in an OD of 3/4". It seems that most garden hoses actually have a larger ID, with much thinner walls, and ending up at about .7" OD. So, the tubing we tend to use is actually slightly larger.

The difference is in construction. Because we're not using much of it, most of us can afford to go with high-dollar tubing designed for laboratory use. Some of these formulations are extremely resistant to kinking, being able to achieve a ~1.5" bend radius without kinking while still being quite soft and workable. Garden hose is typically metal reinforced and made from very rigid formulations (but you've likely noticed that it still kinks without much effort). If you were to use some of the best laboratory tubing on the market for your garden hose, you'd end up blowing about $150.

It's still a bitch to work with in a smaller case, but it can be done. 3/8" ID is a breeze, especially with really nice tubing like Tygon R3400, R3603 or R1000, but you'll lose a smidge of performance, which you can make up for by using better components.
 
phide said:
Because we're not using much of it, most of us can afford to go with high-dollar tubing designed for laboratory use.
Only if you waste your money on Tygon, those that have some sense buy MasterKleer.
phide said:
3/8" ID is a breeze, especially with really nice tubing like Tygon R3400, R3603 or R1000, but you'll lose a smidge of performance, which you can make up for by using better components.
Too bad the highest performing components are 1/2" though.
 
Like what? Laing DDCs, AlphaCool DDC tops, Black Ice and ThermoChill radiators, CoolingWorks CoolRad radiators, all Swiftech CPU and GPU blocks, all D-Tek blocks? Yeah. Those all being 1/2" ID only is really a drag.

It should be obvious to anyone at this point that you're about as well informed as a rock. You also have something against me, in particular, I just have no idea what it could be.
 
The highest performing parts are not necisarily 1/2". Not only that, but most of those parts come in 3/8 too.

OP: Try looking for some thin-wall 1/2" ID tubing, or some 7/16" Masterkleer.
 
phide said:
You also have something against me, in particular, I just have no idea what it could be.
Don't flatter yourself. 99% of the time when I respond to a post on any forum I don't know who I'm responding to.
 
Thanks for the inputs guys.. I just could not compute how big the tubing was and tried to imaging those things hooked up on CPU or GPU block... man they really look scary big... honestly in pictures don't look that big of diameter.

Actually the 3/8 ones looked more like the ones in pictures and made more sense in my mind. Oh well I'm just the water boy...

:)
 
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