• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

7/16" or 3/8'?

G

Ghent915

Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
974
Now I know this is akin to bringing up a religion question at a family dinner, or talking politics with the g/f's dad...but...

I'm still in the pondering/planning stages of water cooling. Since I heard the scuttlebut that there might be a Retail G4 block, I've been wondering on what tubing I should use.

My original plan was to use 3/8", as it would be a good compromise between flow, and ease of routing. However, since then, I've seen several people recommend 7/16" tubing with 1/2" barbs. Seeing as how all I've purchased is a rad, and one with removable fittings at that...changing my mind now isn't going to be a HUGE deal.

So, assuming that I go with a block, hypothetically like a retail G4, or other high performance retail block...Would y'all recommend 3/8", or going ahead and stepping it up to slightly larger bore tubing?

Thanks, as always.
-Ghent
 
cathar, who makes the G4, and shoiuld really know best about what works with that block, even if you don't except that he is a demi-god of watercooling, seems to be of the opinion that 7/16" ID tubing, with 1/16" walls and 1/2" barbs represents no comprimise to coolng performance or longevity, with reduced weight and expense, within the scope of users using real-world watercooling pumps/rads/waterblocks.

then again, i'm using 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD tygon tubing (R3603) and 5/8" barbs due to local supply issues, and the fact that clearflex, although quite good, is not as soft and nice to work with as tygon.
 
There will be a retail G4 block. Figure on Wednesday-Friday this coming week (3-5 days from now).

3/8" ID tubing with 1/16" walls (1/2" OD) can have some issues with kinking if turning even moderate turns. Really need to have at least 3/32" walls on 3/8" ID tubing to do its job well, which means that it'll have a 9/16" OD.

7/16" ID tubing should be bought with 3/32" walls, which means that its OD will be 5/8", or not too much different from 3/8" ID tubing with 3/32" walls.

Both will turn about the same, but the 7/16" ID tubing will be better for the sorts of flow rates that the Storm/G4 achieves its best performance at, especially when coupled with a pump like a Laing D5 (sold as a Swiftech MCP655, or as a DangerDen D5).

So my personal recommendation is to go with 7/16" ID tubing with 3/32" walls, and stretch that over 1/2" OD barbs, which is really easy to do and doesn't even require heating the tubing up in hot water or anything. It will grip very tight and you can get away without using hose-clamps, although they are strongly recommended from a pure safety view-point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top