Noob Tubing + Fittings Question

[DeMoN]

Hi everyone can someone recommend some seethrough hosing and the best fittings available to me. I dont want to get really massively into the science behind watercooling at this stage, just want a silent pc.

I currently have the following components-

Thermochill PA 120.1
Thermochill PA 120.2
Danger Den Pump CPX1
3x Nexus Silent 120mm fans

My main focus is silent computing but obviously good colling as well

could someone please tell me what else i need to buy and what is the best products to go for in terms of silence and quality.

Tubing must be seethrough as i want coloured liquid to flow through it.

thanks in advance

demon

[ls206]

you will need a block for the component you wish to cool.
for the thermochill RADs you will need barbs with 3/8" BSP threads
if the barbs don't come with O-rings, you'll need some PFTE tape
Tubing is mostly preference, I use 7/16" ID tubing as it has a very tight fit on 1/2" barbs (less chance of leaking)

Do you actually "have" the components you listed, or are they what you have decided on so far?
The pump will need to be plugged directly into the mains, you might prefer one you can power with your PC power supply
e.g. Laing DDC or D5

[Fujimitsu]

Tygon is generally considered the best brand, what type of tubing exactly that you need depends on the diameter of the barbs on your components.
Clearflex and Masterkleer are good brands, but don't bend quite as well. If you're in a pinch you can use the PVC tubing from home depot or lowes but it's tough to get a good bend in. All the listed tubing is clear but will have white printing on it, which can be removed with goof-off or any strong solvent.

Most of the time you're looking for 3/8" ID or 1/2" ID tubing, and using barbs of matching size. If you already have barbs on the radiators, probably easiest to just use that size throughout the loop.

Barbs are pretty standard, usually come in two types. The standard is the high-flow barb, usually used with a zip-tie or worm-drive clamp. Some people also use compression fittings, but I'm not a fan.

If you need fittings for any reason most watercooling stores sell them, so do home improvement stores. Plan your loop out before building, if you need fittings the following kinds are easy to find:
F-shape
Y-shape
L-shape (elbow)
Straight (couplings, these can also reduce tube diameter)

You didn't list a block so I'm assuming you still need one. If you're only cooling your CPU a d-tek fuzion is probably your best bet, EK is also about to release a block but it's performance hasn't been shown yet. If you want to include a video card in the loop I would reccomend an mcw60 with some ramsinks, if you want a full cover block EK makes the best. The mcw60 can be moved to a new card, whereas the full cover blocks cannot, both are around the same price. If you want to cool the northbridge on your motherboard the swiftech mcw30 is a good choice, pretty universal. Dangerden and a few other companies make chipset-specific northbridge blocks but again they probably cannot be moved to a new system. This is about all you should watercool... no reason to do southbridge/ram/hdd etc.

Any specific questions or clarifications just ask, like I said earlier planning is essential to keeping this thing as simple as possible.

[Nate P.]

I use Masterkleer tubing, and it's crystal clear.