• 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.

Should I go Acrylic?

K

Karder

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 9, 2012
Messages
377
Been watercooling for a few years now, and every time I have this amazing picture in my head, but when it's time to put my ideas into practice, it never works out.

Reasons are because of tubing! Flex tubing is always bendy and will not do what you want it to do. I have tried several different brands and several different diameters. Never any luck.

So I've been contemplating whether to switch to acrylic tubing or just accept the fact that I am not a very good "flex bender"?

Been watching thousands of videos and am getting really interested. And I am a handy person (if I may say so myself) so I am very sure that I won't have any issues with bending the acrylic.


What do you guys think? Seen a lot of pics of rigs with acrylic and I must say, they look awesome!

Finally, my total cost from switching to acrylic would be at most $150 (minus whatever I can get my old fittings sold for).


Should I go for it?
 
Well if you are one of those people that has to have the best looking rigs then do what you want, whereas myself, I could care less anymore what the inside looks like after 10 years of watercooling. I used to build flashy rigs, and the only people who ever saw them was friends who came over and forum pictures. Now I just dont care anymore how "good" my rig looks. I just want performance and quiet. That's not to say I wont neatly run the tubing and hide the wiring inside the case, I just wont go threw the extra effort anymore to sleeve all the wiring and and adding a fancy reservoir or something like that just for aesthetic value.
 
sok0 said:
Well if you are one of those people that has to have the best looking rigs then do what you want, whereas myself, I could care less anymore what the inside looks like after 10 years of watercooling. I used to build flashy rigs, and the only people who ever saw them was friends who came over and forum pictures. Now I just dont care anymore how "good" my rig looks. I just want performance and quiet. That's not to say I wont neatly run the tubing and hide the wiring inside the case, I just wont go threw the extra effort anymore to sleeve all the wiring and and adding a fancy reservoir or something like that just for aesthetic value.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say I'm one of those people, per se, but I want to try new things all the time. Even though I haven't mastered the art of flex tubing, I feel like I want to try something new. I'm sure you know what I mean.

I understand your viewpoint as well. In the end, performance always beats aesthetics. But since I am interested in technology, especially building computers, I figured I might try something I haven't done before with tubing.

Would you know if there is any temp difference, water flow rate difference or anything else between the two options?
 
Two questions.

1. Does anyone have any experience with EK rigid tubing?

2. Anyone know where I can buy cheap acrylic tubing (hopefully in a local store) to practice on?
 
Tsumi said:
Forget acrylic, go copper :p
Click to expand...
LOL, hold your horses. Once I am good at watercooling, I might start a side business and sell services where I water cool for people... I hope :D

THEN, I might do copper.
 
iirc in PC water cooling 6.5mm is 1/4", 8mm is 3/8", 10mm is 7/16 and 12mm is 1/2"

I could be wrong though... Never hurts to double check
 
lilfiend said:
iirc in PC water cooling 6.5mm is 1/4", 8mm is 3/8", 10mm is 7/16 and 12mm is 1/2"

I could be wrong though... Never hurts to double check
Click to expand...

Not really.

1/4 is 6.35mm
3/8 is 9.525mm
7/16 is 11.1125mm
1/2 is 12.7mm

Those small differences will either leak or not fit.
Can't rely on American measurements. Must be a page that specifically sells metric

Thanks though :D
 
sok0 said:
Well if you are one of those people that has to have the best looking rigs then do what you want, whereas myself, I could care less anymore what the inside looks like after 10 years of watercooling. I used to build flashy rigs, and the only people who ever saw them was friends who came over and forum pictures. Now I just dont care anymore how "good" my rig looks. I just want performance and quiet. That's not to say I wont neatly run the tubing and hide the wiring inside the case, I just wont go threw the extra effort anymore to sleeve all the wiring and and adding a fancy reservoir or something like that just for aesthetic value.
Click to expand...

Amen, brother.
 
TBH I like the look of a good opaque tube more than acrylic tubes.

The cost of acrylic over regular tubing and barbs is, IMHO, nowhere near worth it.

When I have strange or tight curves, I bend a coathanger into the shape the tube needs to be, thread the tube on so it's shaped around the hanger, and use a heat gun to warm it, allowing it to cool quickly.

Most tubes "reset" their natural bends and curves this way. For tight bends, it can add around 5 degrees to your bend radius without kinking.
 
Bitspower has nice locking fittings for 12mm tubing. Primoschill as well. EK has Bitspower alike fittings (non locking two rubber ring once) for both 12 and 16mm. EK has 16mm tubing as well.

Well I would love to see Bitspower 16mm version of locking fittings. Would love to make all hard tubing 16mm system that will not fall apart if you touch tubing.
 
MD said:
Bitspower has nice locking fittings for 12mm tubing. Primoschill as well. EK has Bitspower alike fittings (non locking two rubber ring once) for both 12 and 16mm. EK has 16mm tubing as well.

Well I would love to see Bitspower 16mm version of locking fittings. Would love to make all hard tubing 16mm system that will not fall apart if you touch tubing.
Click to expand...

I am planning to buy 2 fittings of all 3 brands as well as tubing from all 3.

Planning on testing how they sit in the fittings and they would look aesthetically.

Maybe I'll take some pics and post them somewhere, although don't hold your breath. Because I just finished my other build and I might wait a month or 2 before ordering the "samples" to test

EDIT: Just checked, and it will cost me $120 to order tubes and fittings from the different brands. So expect an update maybe end of Jan
 
Last edited:
Karder said:
I am planning to buy 2 fittings of all 3 brands as well as tubing from all 3.

Planning on testing how they sit in the fittings and they would look aesthetically.

Maybe I'll take some pics and post them somewhere, although don't hold your breath. Because I just finished my other build and I might wait a month or 2 before ordering the "samples" to test

EDIT: Just checked, and it will cost me $120 to order tubes and fittings from the different brands. So expect an update maybe end of Jan
Click to expand...


Looking forward to see it :)
 
Since almost nothing in my FS thread has been sold, I have been unable to purchase samples of Acrylic stuff and test.

However, I just ordered some EK 12mm OD/10mm ID rigid tubing as well as fittings for my personal build.

Will likely post some of my opinions on that, because all I find anywhere is primochill.
 
regular tubing is easier, especially if you ever have to remove a part to re-seat it etc. but it's up to you.
 
Justintoxicated said:
regular tubing is easier, especially if you ever have to remove a part to re-seat it etc. but it's up to you.
Click to expand...

I have done regular tubing for several years now, but it never turns out as good as I want it. Tubes are very stubborn.

So I decided to give acrylic/rigid tubing a chance and see how it'll look
 
Karder said:
I have done regular tubing for several years now, but it never turns out as good as I want it. Tubes are very stubborn.

So I decided to give acrylic/rigid tubing a chance and see how it'll look
Click to expand...

Post pics when you get it finished I love the look :)

How well does rigid tubing seal though? I haven't looked into that aspect.
 
Justintoxicated said:
Post pics when you get it finished I love the look :)

How well does rigid tubing seal though? I haven't looked into that aspect.
Click to expand...

Based on the research I've done, leaking does not seem to be an issue. Given that you make sure that the tubes are inserted properly.

Primochill offer compression fittings with one O-ring.
EK offer non-compression fittings, but with 2 O-rings inside.

So hopefully the second O-ring will provide that extra peace of mind :)

We will see soon. I'll try documenting my install, but I am a little camera shy :p
 
Primochill Rigid works awesome
54ty.jpg

2nzc.jpg
 
DarthBeavis said:
Primochill Rigid works awesome
54ty.jpg

2nzc.jpg
Click to expand...

This is my point exactly! With the growing community of watercoolers, one would hope there would be more user reviews, overviews and experiences to be found on different manufacturer's products. But all I find is primochill.

Primochill is great, I'm not trying to talk smack or anything, but I just want to have options :D

While primochill have one O-ring, they offer compression, which is an added feature of safety against leaks.

I am hoping that the two O-ring feature of EK fittings will be a substitute for primochill's compression.

btw, those are some really nice builds. I'm hoping mine will look as good, but I have to wait until 12/27/2013 until my products arrive...
 
I just got both versions of the bitspower crystalink fittings and some EK tubing from PPCs. Both have 2 o-rings, but the enhanced version the fitting actually splits into 2 where the original does not. I need to find where to get the inside o-rings, these are different than the usual WC o-rings and can get damaged easily if you don't round the edge off the tubing before installing. Nothing tested yet.
 
Spazturtle said:
Eww coolant, that shit destroys watercooling loops, just use distilled water.
Click to expand...

No it dosent, I used to use coolant mixed about 25 to 1 for years, its safer than straight distilled but it does stain your lines after some time.. Just pulled a block using this after 6 years and it looks brand new inside, not all tarnished like some people see when they use straight distilled. Lines are all trash and stained though. I'll tryt o get some pictures this weekend and post them in a new thread.
 
FYI, Monsoon is coming out with a range of tubing and matching fittings, and they're even putting together a DIY tool kit for those starting from scratch.
 
Croak said:
FYI, Monsoon is coming out with a range of tubing and matching fittings, and they're even putting together a DIY tool kit for those starting from scratch.
Click to expand...

Yea, I've been reading up on them, but they are doing the worst thing possible!
They just show as "coming soon".

Excuse my French, but I ****ing hate that! Show the consumers the decency of at least a date. I can bet my life on that they have a date set among themselves, so why not share it?

Anyways, since they aren't out yet, I cant really have an opinion about their product. Maybe I'll have a second look when they do release their stuff, whenever that'll be.
 
Karder said:
Yea, I've been reading up on them, but they are doing the worst thing possible!
They just show as "coming soon".

Excuse my French, but I ****ing hate that! Show the consumers the decency of at least a date. I can bet my life on that they have a date set among themselves, so why not share it?

Anyways, since they aren't out yet, I cant really have an opinion about their product. Maybe I'll have a second look when they do release their stuff, whenever that'll be.
Click to expand...

Because if something goes wrong and they miss the date people get even more upset?
 
Erasmus354 said:
Because if something goes wrong and they miss the date people get even more upset?
Click to expand...

I would appreciate it more if they gave a date, and then if they can't make the deadline, they just notify and postpone the release date.

That is however, just my opinion, and I don't know how other people react.

I believe they lose customers like their current way. Imagine if someone really likes them, but decides to go with another company since they have no clue when they will be releasing their product.

And then they release their product a mere week later. My guess is that the majority of those people are not going to spend yet another few hundred $$$s to buy their product. Whereas, if they had known a date, they may have waited. Even if they missed their release date, they still made a better effort in keeping that customer.

Once again, my opinion only.
 
Any one know of a good way to go from ridged tubing to regualer flex. I ask because I want ridged in the case and regualer out to my external rad. Thanks
 
Makeroflostsouls said:
Any one know of a good way to go from ridged tubing to regualer flex. I ask because I want ridged in the case and regualer out to my external rad. Thanks
Click to expand...

Just use a different fitting for the parts that you want to have flexible tubing. So you might have rigid going into the GPU block and Normal coming out of the GPU block. 1 Rigid fitting and 1 Regular fitting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top