soft tubing ftw ?

blister

blister

blister

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iv just ordered a new pc in component form, iv used aio's for the last 2 build but think its time for a full on decent build re water and could co with some advice plz.
do i go for the corsair kit (hard tubing) about £460 ish atm or is it better to use soft and or hard tube and cherry pic components with honestly more help from u.
pc is this but changed up the psu to a 100w corsair cheers

Product namePriceQuantityItem total
Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard£616.661£616.66
TeamGroup Delta RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-57600C34 7200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FF3D532G7200HC34ADC01)£124.991£124.99
Asus TUF Gaming 850W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply£133.291£133.29
Corsair iCUE 7000X RGB Tempered Glass Full Tower Smart Case - Black (CC-9011226-WW)£208.331£208.33
Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail£333.291£333.29
DPD Next Working Day (Mon-Fri) £0.00
 
this is the corsair kit :-
www.overclockers.co.uk

Corsair Hydro X Series iCUE XH305i RGB PRO 360mm CPU Custom Cooling Kit - White

Order Corsair Hydro X Series iCUE XH305i RGB PRO 360mm CPU Custom Cooling Kit - White now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

thanks for the reply:)
i assume hard tube looks better but to add a gpu cooler later once its there might be an issue, imagined that might b the case re soft tube
 
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i always use soft, the tube grips very tightly around the fitting as well as the compression when you tighten it all up. I have never had a leak from soft tube failure anyway
 
Yeah hard Tubing
Can give you nice straight lines
Though you have to be more precise
With your measurements and cuts than soft Tubing
Then the average person trying hard Tubing fir first time
Depending on layout and bends
Probably wastes at least half of the Tubing
So what's in the corsair box likely isn't enough Tubing
Weirdly don't see a heat gun or heat resistant gloves
In that kit
Plus it's a white kit with a black radiator not white one
That's OK if radiator isn't visible I guess

I would say it's probably over priced
But you would have to go price all the individual parts
And add it up
Can probably do cheaper from barrow or byski parts
But yeah custom watercooling is no longer a cheap thing to do sadly
Then the added cost of another radiator or 2
Gpu block and more Tubing and fittings etc

Soft Tubing I use ek zmt
Think only comes in black but its great stuff
I did consider trying those silicon car hoses though
At one point
 
I've always used soft tubing, never felt the urge to go hard (...:eek::p) and it just seems like extra fuss and hassle setting up and when you need to change components. Theres no performance benefits to be has from hard tubing other than looks if thats your thing. For a first timer I'd go soft if I was you as it will save you a lot of hassle and waste trying to perfect your bends. If you plan your tubing runs well soft tubing can still look very neat and tidy
 
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Additional benefit of soft Tubing
Though adds more cost
You can use quick disconnects
Can isolate/remove gpu,cpu,pump,radiators etc
Makes life so much easier
Not aware of anything similar for hard tubing
 
Thanks very much everyone , so going forward i need to order what i need, im assuming the bigger the bore the more water the better the cooling?
so
2 rads plus fans for both reservoir and pump combo? tube obvs and liquid ( one enough? ) um decent cpu waterblock and also waterblock for a evga 3080ti ftw and fittings ..... rads have male fittings i think, everything else ha id need to look.
recomendations plz anyone, im only doing this once ha for now at least so fairly to good stuff. or is it easier if i just put up what i think is good, no scrasp that ..... i have no idea
Thanks again.
 
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Actually no
The tubing diameter doesn't affect it
Narrower say 13mm x 10mm may mean you would think
It would be less effective
but narrower tubing means more pressure

For soft Tubing 16mm outer diameter 10mm inner diameter
Or 5/8 od by 3/8 inner in non decimal if your old lol
Would be the most commonly used
Which means more fittings to choose from

Hard Tubing never used it
But believe 14mm may be most common

Radiators have female ports
So do pumps and reservoir

2 or even 3 Radiators
Depends on the thickness

I have the exact same gpu
It puts out a lot of heat
Got mine on a curve and under volted
Still hits 360w under full load
Combined with a 5950x with all those cores
It's enough to gradually heat up my pc room lol

Edit
Probably 1.5 litres of coolant
 
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If I were you
I would start by deciding which radiators
Luckily that's a very big case
So how many radiators
What size,length,width and thickness
Whether you want standard 2 ports on one end
Or whether crossflow/x flow
Where you go in one end out the other
This can really help keep things tidy as less tubing needed
I would highly recommend standard or crossflow/x flow
That have multi ports
The extra ports mean you can put a fill point
At very highest part of the loop
And a drain point at very lowest part

Check if you put radiators on front and side
What thickness can side be
Before the front rad stops you getting fans on the side one
Would also recommend get a leak tester
While not essential
It means you can test for leaks after each component is installed
Rather than build the whole thing then test
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Actually no
The tubing diameter doesn't affect it
Narrower say 13mm x 10mm may mean you would think
It would be less effective
but narrower tubing means more pressure

For soft Tubing 16mm outer diameter 10mm inner diameter
Or 5/8 od by 3/8 inner in non decimal if your old lol
Would be the most commonly used
Which means more fittings to choose from

Hard Tubing never used it
But believe 14mm may be most common

Radiators have female ports
So do pumps and reservoir

2 or even 3 Radiators
Depends on the thickness

I have the exact same gpu
It puts out a lot of heat
Got mine on a curve and under volted
Still hits 360w under full load
Combined with a 5950x with all those cores
It's enough to gradually heat up my pc room lol

Edit
Probably 1.5 litres of coolant
Click to expand...
pc bbq here we come
 
heres an example build in that case from these forums
just to give an idea or two
i remember this one actually
the guy had a terrible experience with a pc shop
in the end we arranged for him to come
and test his watercooled gpu in my pc to make sure
they hadnt broken it
and we found a forum member
who graciously did his hard tubes if i remember right

postimg.cc

51 CDBDA1 1298 4 AA0 95 EA 60 E8 B690424 B — Postimages

postimg.cc postimg.cc
 
blister said:
looks amazing, some very generous people here . great to see
Click to expand...
Think that example
He used multiport Cross flow rads
That's how he got a different look
Where there's not really any tubing on the right
Hand side
And got his drain port at very bottom
But basically there's multiple ways to run the tubing
Everyone has a different opinion of what looks good

And yeah definitely some great members
In these forums
Who will help if they possibly can :)
 
If you go with soft tubing(which I also think is the way to go) - go with ZMT/EPDM. Any clear tubing(even the horribly expensive Tygon) will eventually leak plasticiser, gunking your blocks.
If you buy ZMT - wash tubes first(internally), as they are covered with a bit of chalk. EPDM from other brands do not have this issue, but also does not look as great(only ZMT is fully matte, rest are more like satin).
Use RO water + biocide(topping few drops of biocide every few months) and you have a maintenance free loop :)
 
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Yeah have to agree
Other than my old primochill lrt
Which was a very strong/hard plastic soft tubing
Yeah that sounds weird hard soft Tubing lol
Ek zmt /epdm is best soft Tubing have tried

Just be aware they do 16mmx11mm
And 16mm x 10mm
Wouldn't think it would make much difference
BUT it does
16x11 is much flimsier and wasn't air tight
On my 16mm x 10mm fittings
The 16mm x 10mm is actually 9.5mm inner diameter
Still went on my fittings without having
To dunk the end of the tubing in hot water
But with ek torque fittings
Getting some of the collars to screw on was really hard
Due to the tube thickness
With ek classic fittings went on easily
 
I've always used clear soft tubing and never had an issue with blocks gunking up in 20 years of watercooling. Always used XSPC 1/2" soft tubing but currently using Mayhems. I like the look of ZMT/EPDM but isn't ensuring all the air is out of the loop as pain when you can't see through the tubes?
 
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SpudMaster said:
I've always used clear soft tubing and never had an issue with blocks gunking up in 20 years of watercooling. Always used XSPC 1/2" soft tubing but currently using Mayhems. I like the look of ZMT/EPDM but isn't ensuring all the air is out of the loop as pain when you can't see through the tubes?
Click to expand...
Out of sight
Out of mind lol

Seriously though
If can't see air bubbles in the blocks
And flow and temperatures are OK
Not that likely
To be air in the tubing
 
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