I’m planning on getting water cooling but all these different pipe sizes are confusing me. Im going to be using 1/2” barbs and I want big thick pipes, Like this, http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/leefang/casemod/qx8812.jpg Would this work? http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=3417&cat=570&page=1 Also Someone recomended this. http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ty7id5odlatu.html But that only has an Outer Diameter of (15.875 mm) When u can get ones upto 19mm! or is 15.875 mm quite big anyway? lol im confused Or do you have any better recommendations, Thanks
Tygon tubing (and various brands of higher quality PVC tubing like Clearflex) comes in two flavours, loosely referred to by water cooling geeks as "thick-walled" and "thin-walled". Thin-walled tubing has a wall thickness of 1.5 mm. So the outer diameter (OD) is 3 mm larger than the inner diameter (ID). Thick-walled tubing has a wall thickness of 3 mm, which makes the outer diameter 6 mm larger than the inner diameter. In terms of 1/2" (12.7 mm) ID tubing, thick-walled tubing would be about 18.7 mm OD, whereas thin-walled tubing would be about 15.7 mm OD. What you see on the picture you posted is thick-walled 1/2" tubing. You want thick-walled anyway, as this is sturdier and also less likely to kink or collapse when you bend it in relatively tight angles. I always avoid thin-walled tubing. So you want thick-walled Tygon tubing with 1/2" (1.27 mm) ID and 0.74" (18.7 mm) OD. Keep in mind that such beefy tubing takes up quite a bit of space in your case. If your loop becomes a bit unwieldy, you may go for 3/8" (9.5 mm) ID, 0.62" (15.5 mm) OD tubing which will still slip over 1/2" barbs and make a nice tight, secure fit, if you dip the tube ends in hot water for ten sconds first. 3/8" tubing has no appreciable loss of cooling performance compared to 1/2" tubing. Tygon is the best tubing, by the way.
I can't say without knowing your loop/case. Basically measure the route between the components (not in a straight line, but as the tubing would follow), and add a few feet for good measure. When cutting to size, do the longest bits first. Measure twice, cut once.
