Compression Fittings, Bitspower or Monsoon

J

Justintoxicated

[H]F Junkie
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I was thinking about picking up some used Bitspower 1/2 , 3/4 compression fittings. I always liked bitspower connectors and rotaries but have some concerns with their fittings.

The barb isn't really much of a barb on them aparently, and looks like there is not much area that the tubing can attach to. I have heard complaints from Martin that they may not be adequate for larger diameter tubing.

I like the monsoon / modmytoys fittings i have used in my other build. There is a lot of area for the tubing to bite over the barb, although I think I over-torqued 2 of them and the carbon fiber middle separated on me :(

I'm leaning towards the one piece regular monsoons for this build or maybe the modmytoys so I can stick with one type time but the used bitspower fittings certainly are a lot cheaper.

Should I be worried about using bitspower compressions for this larger size tubing? Primochill Advanced LRT?

Suggestions?
 
I;ve had bitspower compression/rotarys for at least 4 years with 0 problems, reused on multiple builds.

The OD of the compression has to match the OD of the tubing or it wont work. So if you use Primochill LRT 1/2" 3/4"OD you would have to buy bitpower 1/2" compression with the 3/4" OD as well. They also have a 1/2" compression with 5/8" OD which wont work.
 
I have all 1/4" ID 3/8" OD bitspower compression fittings and I've had zero issues with them. I'd say they are very good quality, especially for their price.
 
I have a shit-ton of BitsPower compressions, have reused them over and over.
Never had a single leak, ever.
I use 3/8 x 1/2.

There is plenty of nozzle to place on the tube, you just have to make sure the compression ring is snugly hand-tightened.

I would not use any other compressions except BitsPower.:D
 
Another vote here for Bitspower :D Using them for years. I'm using the newer Primochill Advance LRT tubing myself. Bitspower fittings along with Koolance QD3s work just fine with the tubing, though it can be tough to tighten them occasionally. You can "cheat" though for tightening w/ some Robogrips and the plastic protectors so you don't damage the fittings ;)
 
Bitspower or xspc compression fittings, if you're trying to save a few bucks. I haven't had any issues with both (love the xspc black chrome look btw).
 
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tonyftw said:
Bitspower or xspc compression fittings, if you're trying to save a few bucks. I haven't had any issues with both (love the xspc black chrome look btw).
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How about the Switftech fittings?
 
After looking at the bitspower fitting I decided to go with monsoon. The complaints made sense about their not being enough barb to hold on the larger diameter tubing. I'm sure they would have worked fine but the monsoons have a longer barb that actually has a barb on it.

Actually I went with the modmytoys variant.
 
o.o What's the modmytoysvariant?

I just got a set of 8 Monsoons from a guy. Unfortunatley they're 7/16 x 5/8 while my rig is 1/2 x 3/4 :|
 
Ive been using BP fittings for around 3 years now and have never faced any issues with them. They have gone through three builds and still look great.
 
Where are all these complaints you are seeing about BP compressions? Ive been watercooling a long time and I've seen zero other than ones where the person used the wrong tubing or the company sent the wrong size.
 
I'm using primarily XSPC compressions in my build and I'm pretty happy with them. If money wasn't an object I'd buy all bitspower purely on aesthetics, but its hard to justify the cost when the XSPC ones are perfectly fine. I also like the little slot milled into the barb on the XSPC ones, makes it easy to tighten the fitting before putting the tube and ring back on, and easier to remove when necessary.
 
x509 said:
How about the Switftech fittings?
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I tried a couple of the new Swiftech fittings a month or so ago, just for kicks.
These are the new ones with the squared off base so you can place a wrench or pliers to tighten the fitting.

They're....well.....you get what you pay for.
The paint peeled off way too easily.
One leaked.....do the same things I always do....been watercooling for 8 years now.....
I wouldn't recommend them.

And I love the swiftech pumps....would never use anything else.....so I have a lot of experience with swiftech gear.....the fittings are just not my cup of tea.
 
Activate: AMD said:
I'm using primarily XSPC compressions in my build and I'm pretty happy with them. If money wasn't an object I'd buy all bitspower purely on aesthetics, but its hard to justify the cost when the XSPC ones are perfectly fine. I also like the little slot milled into the barb on the XSPC ones, makes it easy to tighten the fitting before putting the tube and ring back on, and easier to remove when necessary.
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Agree. I was surprised how much I ended up liking xspc's fittings (especially my wallet :D).
 
magoo said:
I tried a couple of the new Swiftech fittings a month or so ago, just for kicks.
These are the new ones with the squared off base so you can place a wrench or pliers to tighten the fitting.

They're....well.....you get what you pay for.
The paint peeled off way too easily.
One leaked.....do the same things I always do....been watercooling for 8 years now.....
I wouldn't recommend them.

And I love the swiftech pumps....would never use anything else.....so I have a lot of experience with swiftech gear.....the fittings are just not my cup of tea.
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Thanks for this info. I posted a question about Swiftech a few days ago, got no immediate response. Knowing other products from them, I would have been favorably inclined to their fittings, but not after reading this post.:eek:
 
While it's well-made stuff, not fan of the etrxeme logo over-use on Bitspower fittings, that alone turned me off them (especially since I tend to go overboard with rotaries, restriction be damned!). There is a Chinese knock-off (not actually a knock-off, it's from the same factory that makes BP fittings) sans the logo and with a lower price.

Monsoon is a snap to use and my favourite compressions on the market for that reason, but the anodizing can be hit or miss on anything but the matte black (flaking, etc), especially on the rotaries. I love the angular design, nice change from the rounded look everyone else is using, and they're hard to beat when it comes to bling selection, with the ability to mix and match compression fitting colours with rotary colours with colour rings and stop fittings and temp sensors and so-on, and the ability to use the "light port" version for more bling, or that port as a place to mount a temp sensor or Silver Bullet kill coil.

Behold extreme Monsoon over-use: 14 Monsoon 16mm rotaries, 12 Monsoon 16/11 compression fittings, 8 Monsoon bling dots, 7 Monsoon G1/4 stop fittings and Silver Bullet on my SLI bridge, and one Monsoon temp sensor in the reservoir. And not a single bit of visible Monsoon branding. If I'd done something similar with Bitspower, there'd be 14 BP logos staring at you (which look like a bad tattoo IMHO).

900x900px-LL-9bf87e2a_2014-01-1622.35.08.jpeg


XSPC fittings are serious quality for the price, and they come in any colour you like, as long as it's chrome or slightly darker chrome. I tend to use them in non-visible sections of my build, and they are low-profile allowing you to fit them in places Monsoon rotaries won't work (especially the Monsoon 45 degree with the overhang). While the compression fittings are built well, I'm tired of "compression burns" from that style and after being introduced to Monsoon compression fittings, it's hard to go back.
 
To avoid confusion: BP are made in Taiwan, that's part of the reason they're more expensive then the plethora of mainland Chinese re-brands on the market.
 
SlvrDragon50 said:
o.o What's the modmytoysvariant?

I just got a set of 8 Monsoons from a guy. Unfortunatley they're 7/16 x 5/8 while my rig is 1/2 x 3/4 :|
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http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._Matte_Black_MMT-CFF-MB-BK-71658-6.html#blank


sok0 said:
Where are all these complaints you are seeing about BP compressions? Ive been watercooling a long time and I've seen zero other than ones where the person used the wrong tubing or the company sent the wrong size.
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Not a ton of them but you can see some feedback from martin here.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1187561/difference-between-xspc-and-bitspower-compression-fittings/10

He is saying he specifically does not like them on 1/2 3/4 size, compared to others. Most people are happy with them even in that size.

I used bitspower for everything else myself, couple extensions and 45 rotaries (without the compressions) I'm would have gone bitspower anyways but decided to stick with the same fittings I used in my other rig, that way the tubing barbs and fittings are all interchangeable and matching.

Of course frozen CPU finally gets the nice bitspower drain valve in matt black back in stock right as I receive my order! Looks like its time to place another order soon to finish the build
 
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magoo said:
I tried a couple of the new Swiftech fittings a month or so ago, just for kicks.
These are the new ones with the squared off base so you can place a wrench or pliers to tighten the fitting.

They're....well.....you get what you pay for.
The paint peeled off way too easily.
One leaked.....do the same things I always do....been watercooling for 8 years now.....
I wouldn't recommend them.

And I love the swiftech pumps....would never use anything else.....so I have a lot of experience with swiftech gear.....the fittings are just not my cup of tea.
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I have the same paint scratching issue on both the internal threading and when I tried to use a wrench on one, but finger tightening has been far more than sufficient. If I tighten it all the way then it actually becomes a little difficult for me to unscrew. I got them for my first wc build because they seemed highly unliklely to over-tighten and because of the minimalist branding.

I have had no leak issues with any of my Swiftech fittings, pumps, or komodo blocks.
 
Monsoon are garbage, paint will chip off and the compression collar fits way too tight on the tubing making it very difficult to get the fittings off

Bitspower and XSPC make great fittings
 
If you are going to try and make it so you can sale and trade in the forum. Put some effort in your post. They are all basically like this.
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Not sure what you mean, not worried about selling or trading anything here

I have a few bitspower fittings, they are by far the best you can get. I just hate how much they cost. XSPC makes really good compression fittings for those on a budget as these damn fittings can add up fast.
 
Reality said:
Monsoon are garbage, paint will chip off and the compression collar fits way too tight on the tubing making it very difficult to get the fittings off

Bitspower and XSPC make great fittings
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There sure are a lot of opinions. I haven't had any real paint chipping issues, but perhaps it depends on what color you get, or maybe the mod my toys version are slightly different? I decided a tighter compression collar > complaints about bitspower being too loose on 1/2, 3/4th tubing. I love my other bitspower fittings, but the monsoon compressions should grab better with a barb that is much longer and that actually has barbs on it. XSPC seem to do that well too.

From what I can tell the matt black finish on my modmytoys fittings are very comparable to the finish on my bitspower, granted bitspower is less likely to chip since they do not use a metal tool to tighten.

Here's a pic from Frozen CPU illustrating what I am talking about.
ex-tub-2194_3.jpg


ex-tub-788_2.jpg


ex-tub-1714_6.jpg


You can see, there is no barb on the Bitspower connector and it has much less area to seat the tubing. I'm sure it works fine for many people. It would be less of an issue with smaller tubing sizes as well.

The XSPC is also fairly short but it does have a nice barb.

The Monsoon is both longer and has a nice barb on it.
 
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It's not needed unless you're doing stupid bends and not doing the post-build checks the first few heat cycles.
 
DarkStryke said:
It's not needed unless you're doing stupid bends and not doing the post-build checks the first few heat cycles.
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What do you consider a stupid bend? Sure if everything is straight and you want to buy more fittings than necessary you don't need to do any bends. I always side with safety, but like you said it's not required, but I certainly think it is nice to have. I don't think I would go changing out my fittings for new ones, but it was something I took into consideration when making my purchase of new fittings.
 
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Just some food for thought.

I ran some Bitspower, XSPC, and Phobya nickel compresion fittings and rotaries in my cooling loop for almost 2yrs with distilled water and a silver coil. After that time, guess which fittings showed significant corrosion? Bitspower. The XSPC and Phobya fittings were almost untouched.

Now the corrosion issue to begin with was my fault for running nickel plated fittings and a silver coil in the loop with only distilled water. But still, the Bitspower fittings took a beating compared to the XSPC and phobya fittings. I had changed the water several times over that two year span.

External appearance wise the Bitspower are by far the best "looking".

On my new build I went with black fittings from Bitspower, Alphacool, Monsoon, and EK. The Bitspower Rotaries are far too tight, rendering them useless as rotary fittings because they do not rotate. he third collar on my 3 way Bitspower 90 degree rotaries DO NOT ROTATE. The Phobya and EK rotaries I have are much easier to rotate. I've been using the Phobya Rotaries for 2 years and they never leaked, and are easy to rotate into position.

The monsoon compression fittings are cheap. Big mistake there.

If I had it to do over again, I'd stick with Alphacool, Phobya, and XSPC.
 
Bad ConNecTioN said:
Just some food for thought.

I ran some Bitspower, XSPC, and Phobya nickel compresion fittings and rotaries in my cooling loop for almost 2yrs with distilled water and a silver coil. After that time, guess which fittings showed significant corrosion? Bitspower. The XSPC and Phobya fittings were almost untouched.

Now the corrosion issue to begin with was my fault for running nickel plated fittings and a silver coil in the loop with only distilled water. But still, the Bitspower fittings took a beating compared to the XSPC and phobya fittings. I had changed the water several times over that two year span.

External appearance wise the Bitspower are by far the best "looking".

On my new build I went with black fittings from Bitspower, Alphacool, Monsoon, and EK. The Bitspower Rotaries are far too tight, rendering them useless as rotary fittings because they do not rotate. he third collar on my 3 way Bitspower 90 degree rotaries DO NOT ROTATE. The Phobya and EK rotaries I have are much easier to rotate. I've been using the Phobya Rotaries for 2 years and they never leaked, and are easy to rotate into position.

The monsoon compression fittings are cheap. Big mistake there.

If I had it to do over again, I'd stick with Alphacool, Phobya, and XSPC.
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You need to work the bitspower rotaries around a bit before you install them. That's one way to tell if they are new for sure. What do you mean the monsoon compression fittings are cheap? how do they compare to the mod my toys variant (Carbon fiber)? The matt black finish on mine is pretty much identical to bitspowers and they seem to seal well, just not sure what you mean by they are cheap. The finish on Phobya stuff seems cheap to me.
 
Justintoxicated said:
You need to work the bitspower rotaries around a bit before you install them. That's one way to tell if they are new for sure. What do you mean the monsoon compression fittings are cheap? how do they compare to the mod my toys variant (Carbon fiber)? The matt black finish on mine is pretty much identical to bitspowers and they seem to seal well, just not sure what you mean by they are cheap. The finish on Phobya stuff seems cheap to me.
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Phobya fittings and rotaries are cheap. But function over form in that case. The monsoon fittings seem to have issues with thread quality. I bought a pack of 6, and each one is different with regards to how the compression collar and the barb screw together, with some being more loose then others. I installed all 6 and they seem to be working with no leaks, but they just felt cheap when using them. The finish (mine are black), seems to be as good or better then my other black fittings which include Bitspower and Alphacool. For the price I payed for them, I'm satisfied with what I got.

I have no experience with the Mod My Toys fittings.

If you are after looks, you get what you pay for. I have a whole range of fittings, from the cheapest (phobya) to arguably the best (Bitspower), and the cost of the fittings and rotaries seems proportional to the quality of their appearance. I will say that I will NOT be buying anymore bitspower items. They just aren't worth the price when I can get something that functions better and looks 90% as good. There is tight, then there is non-functional for what I intended to use them for.
 
Bad ConNecTioN said:
Phobya fittings and rotaries are cheap. But function over form in that case. The monsoon fittings seem to have issues with thread quality. I bought a pack of 6, and each one is different with regards to how the compression collar and the barb screw together, with some being more loose then others. I installed all 6 and they seem to be working with no leaks, but they just felt cheap when using them. The finish (mine are black), seems to be as good or better then my other black fittings which include Bitspower and Alphacool. For the price I payed for them, I'm satisfied with what I got.

I have no experience with the Mod My Toys fittings.

If you are after looks, you get what you pay for. I have a whole range of fittings, from the cheapest (phobya) to arguably the best (Bitspower), and the cost of the fittings and rotaries seems proportional to the quality of their appearance. I will say that I will NOT be buying anymore bitspower items. They just aren't worth the price when I can get something that functions better and looks 90% as good. There is tight, then there is non-functional for what I intended to use them for.
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Threading is certainly not a place any company should cheap out on. I wonder if they are all like that or if you got a batch that was finished right before the tooling was changed out on the mill.
 
Justintoxicated said:
Threading is certainly not a place any company should cheap out on. I wonder if they are all like that or if you got a batch that was finished right before the tooling was changed out on the mill.
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I don't know, but some of them were so loose in the threads that I could wobble the collar side to side and almost (it felt like it at least), pull the collar off the barb. Once under tension with a hose installed things tightened up a bit, but none of my other fittings felt like the monsoon ones did. They ended up working fine however, so at this time I consider it just a cosmetic issue. But my XSPC and Bitspower compression fittings have MUCH nicer threads, and more of them! I've been talking crap about Bitspower products lately, but their classic compression fitting is built like a tank and the machining is top notch.
 
Don't mean to dig up an old thread here, but I just noticed that Bitspower compressions have a V2 version. What's the difference? I just bought one CC6 compression (11-16mm) to see what it is like and that's the V1.
 
There are actually v1, v2, and v3 now for compression fittings. The differences are mainly in the design of the barb, and the finish on the fitting and logo has been improved steadily over the years. Functionality is essentially the same over all of them though
 
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