Is it possible to use copper piping AS WELL as tubing for watercooling? Of course the correct seals would have to be applied but would the copper piping be as effective or present any issues?
Yeah, it can be done, in fact a lot of early watercooling rigs had copper in them somewhere, before it was mainstream. The only problem would be the copper tarnishing and maybe gunk forming in the water, but that's almost impossible to avoid anyway. Worst case scenario, you have to clean the water out more than usual. HTH
I was thinking about doing up my kit totally w/copper pipes at one time. Just rigging up all of the components into a real industrial theme. Then I thought about how heavy that would be. And what if I want to add or replace something? True, you could make it more modular by mixing it w/vinyl tubing. imho this might not hold up well or look as cool. But if you have something in mind try it out. Copper is cheap. Sort of presents a problem if you can't see what gunk is in your water.
Sure, it can be (and has been) done. With access to proper bending tools you could create a very clean, unobtrusive install, but... -in effect you'll be doubling the number of connections (unless you plan on somehow going direct from the copper into the blocks, rad, etc. with no soft tube as a bridge) -you'll have to be very careful that the copper tube is placed accurately and does not torque the components it's connected to.
as the guys have said it has been done, if you look in the cool case gallery there is one or two in there, however think about this, install and removal of the equiment used, having bendy pipes makes life nice and easy! the best place to use solid tubing is on the out side of ur case where things cant get punchered by evil little things that come from the dark! presonally i would steer well clear of it, but its nice to see new innorvations on current ideas.
Ok I have done it more than once. http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1814&highlight=chrome+dragon If you mix your water well nothing will stick to the walls of the copper pipe. This is my current project witch will be almsot completly hard lined. I plan on hard lining all the way to the cpu and gpu blocks. http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2311&highlight=voyager Hope it helps.
Copper wont tarnish if submerged in regular water. In fact in here in NY they use copper pipes for water supply and it lasts for decades and does not tarnish on the insides unless it has been submerged for a ong time then drained. As long as its inside water iit will stay as is for longer than your pc. I have seen 15 year old lines that I have cut to mend with newer ones and looked inside and the copper was very clean but a bit darker than normal but nothing to worry about as far as gunk is concerned. And we are talking tap water here not treated water for pc's.
I dunno that hardlineing would drop your temps at all. I suppose in theory it should but in practice i have no clue.I would try to hardline everything except the blocks. That way upgradeing is still easy and you'll have less leaks. On a completely hardlined system you should have only 1 leak area at the fill spot/ res cap and the rest should be one pipe with the exception of the fittings which are almost foolproof if done correctly. If you left the blocks then you should hav only 5 leak areas with 2 being connected back at the hardlines. I havent done this in a pc because i like UV tubeing and it takes a noteable amount of work to do (not too much though) but i have plumbed my dads last two houses and if you take your time it is a very leak free solution.
I suppose if you put little passive heatsinks on your copper pipes it might lower the tmperature a little bit... Emphasis on little.
I am doing it because I like the way it looks and also its fairly unrestrictive. You see 90degree elbows but I assure you they are not restrictive at all. Should be a good turn out I hope. A for performance I guess its possible to gain a degree or two. But who knows. All I know is it looks good if the pipes are painted and if you want to go overboard you could chrome them and make the inside of your pc look like an engine bay off a showcar.
I was meaning on the outside, every time you're working on it you'll be touching the pipes, after a while they'll lost their shine and go dull, either you'd be continually polishing them or they'll end up green.
Brasso would solve that problem. A more permanent solution would be clear lacquer. If you decide on the second option check out your local musical instrument store. There is a special brand of lacquer used on brass instruments that adheres well to polished metal (I assume you'll be polishing your hardlines) and flows out nicely leaving an almost invisible coat.
My plan is to actually mount the copper piping vertically up and down either side of the case to make it look like a radiator (you know a wall mounted one). Inside will be tubing, not all teh pipes will be for the cooling, some will just be for effect.
Well My pipes I am going to paint. So tarnishing wont be a problem. But as mentioned you could polish and then laquer tham for a more permanent shine.
