CONNECTING TUBING FOR WATER COOLING WITHOUT BREAKING STUFF

[COLLINS311]

Hello,

I'm putting together my first water cooling PC and I was just curious about this. I've got an apogee gtx block, one of those 8800 GTX water cooled cards, and i'm using 1/2" tubing.

My questions is: When attaching tubing to my cpu water block fittings and VGA block fittings, what is the best way or any advice to do this without damaging my CPU, VGA, and motherboard? I"m noticing it's taking quite a bit of pressure to attach the tubing to the fittings and I'm worried I'm going to do some damage.

Any advice from more experienced builders before I go ahead and break all my hardware?

 

[kwalker]

stick the end of the tubeing in hot water .
it works so much better .
that is unless your into pain
8)

 

[COLLINS311]

but won't i still have to apply alot pressure downwards, or will it just slide right on? Obviously you can see I've never done/attempted this and I am probably just being a baby about it. Just really don't want to break this stuff due to my stupidity...I already have enough cuts on my hands from modding the case...sigh, thanks neosporin.

oh and thanks for the tip and response

 

[kwalker]

The hot water makes it easier.
Its a piece of tubing without a brain.
It cant possibly defeat you.

 

[T8RR8R]

I use a touch of liquid soap around the fittings. I use just enough to make my finger wet, not even a drop. ALSO put your tubes on your blocks before you install them into your case. It makes things alot easier. Oh and you have to come back and tell us all about your temps

 

[COLLINS311]

Thanks for the tips, I'll be trying this later this evening *fingers crossed I don't break anything

I'll try to remember to come back here and post my temps. I was going to wait a while before I tried to OC anything, just to make sure things were running stable..maybe a week or two. This being the most expensive macine i've ever built I'm just trying to be extra careful. Oh and here is what i'm running...i guess I should put this in my sig eventually.

e6600
EVGA 680i (A1)
Corsair Dom TWIN2X2048-9136C5D
Thermaltake 850W PSU
BFG 8800GTX
2x 74gb Raptors raid0
1x 250gb seagate 7200
Swiftech H20-22 Apex Ultra with GTX block & extra single 120mm rad
Audigy 2ZS Platnium
Thermaltake Armor

 

[Granite3]

I always use the threaded connectors in the end of the tubes, then screw them onto the fittings.

Nice, secure, and easy to attach OUTSIDE the case.

This way the cpu block is easy to securely apply to the cpu socket, the screw the connectors home.

Similar to THIS

Enjoy the lower temps!

Don't forget to leak test for at least 6 hours.

 

[COLLINS311]

thanks!

Thanks for the advice. I would definitely look into those barbs you suggested...just one problem....I can't wait another week to put this thing together. It took me 2 months to finally get all the components planned and purchased. And I'm ready this weekend to tackle this thing and get up running.

As for running this thing for 6 hours. How does running the pump without the PSU attached to the motherboard work? I didn't really want to short out any of the pins on the 24pin ATX connector. I bought a PSU tester instead...is it just as simple as attaching it through that? In case anyone knows.

thanks again!

 

[T8RR8R]

I dunno about a tester. I actually just use a 12V AC adapter that I got from my old router. It puts out 12 volts DC with 500ma and 6W. I just shove one of the pins from the pump into the adapter and lean it over to bridge it to the next pin. If you get your polarity wrong, it won't do anything, so it's pretty safe. Then I just make sure it stays that way and I'm all set for 6 hours.......haha I can't wait that long when I get something new, so I usualy go for 2 and call it good. Anything from 7-12V will work. BUT I do recommend finding one that puts out 12V so you get max PSI.

 

[COLLINS311]

just to vent. Put this thing together this weekend...ended up being about 2-3 inches short of tubing on my last connection in my circuit. :x Which means I had to order more tubing, cus I couldn't find any of it locally to save my life. Should be here tuesday. I even measured twice and cut once.

Also thanks for everyones help. Getting the tubes on the fittings was a snap using everyone's ideas, now getting the fittings tight on the blocks...that was tuff.

Thanks again!