Going from 1/2" to 3/8" back to 1/2" create a bottleneck?

[Elvis2]

most of my new watercooling hardware arrived yesterday and i installed it in my big antec sx835 case. i got a swiftech mcp-650 pump, danger den tdk cpu waterblock, a black ice extreme radiator, polyurethene 5 1/4" bay resevoir, 1/2" id clearflex tubing and a swiftech radbox cooled by a thermaltake 120mm manually/sensor adjustible fan. the radbox mounts the radiator and fan to the back and outside of the case. it has two two metal tubes mounted on a pci bracket that allows the coolant to pass thru the case from the waterblock to the radiator and then return, back thru the case and up into the resevoir. the only thing is, those two tubes are 3/8" in size where the rest of the system is 1/2". i'm waiting on the adapters to "step it down" going thru the case and then "step it up" going into the radiator. is this reduction going to cause a problem? it's not going to cause the pump to cavitate will it?
tia

 

[akira34]

I'd think you'd be better off altering the pass-through items to either take your 1/2" tubing, or get some 1/2" to replace it... You could cut the pci bracket item (or grind it) and then get some 1/2" tubing to protect your cooling tubing... Stuff like you find at automotive supply stores should be more than strong enough. Take your tubing with you to make sure it will fit and get just enough to do the job (shouldn't need more than a few inches for each pass). Of course, you COULD just do away with the rad box and mount the rad and fan inside the case venting out... That would eliminate the need to do any alterations and will make less stuff hang outside the case.

 

[gotensan01]

Originally posted by: Elvis2
most of my new watercooling hardware arrived yesterday and i installed it in my big antec sx835 case. i got a swiftech mcp-650 pump, danger den tdk cpu waterblock, a black ice extreme radiator, polyurethene 5 1/4" bay resevoir, 1/2" id clearflex tubing and a swiftech radbox cooled by a thermaltake 120mm manually/sensor adjustible fan. the radbox mounts the radiator and fan to the back and outside of the case. it has two two metal tubes mounted on a pci bracket that allows the coolant to pass thru the case from the waterblock to the radiator and then return, back thru the case and up into the resevoir. the only thing is, those two tubes are 3/8" in size where the rest of the system is 1/2". i'm waiting on the adapters to "step it down" going thru the case and then "step it up" going into the radiator. is this reduction going to cause a problem? it's not going to cause the pump to cavitate will it?
tia

That's exactly the reason why I didn't go with the Swiftech external mount. IMO, unless you are looking for UBER MAX performance, just go through the reduction. I bet your temps wouldn't even change (as far as the motherboard sensor can tell). As for the pump's life span...I would assume it would shorten, but by how much I don't know.

I think you could save a lot of time and trouble by just using the 3/8" connections. You can take it up as an upgrade project later on anyways :thumbsup:.

 

[stevennoland]

Although I wouldn't use the reducing PCI bracket, you probably won't notice a difference in temps. Your pump won't know the difference.

 

[Elvis2]

28C idle, 33C load, 26C ambient. 700 mhz. overclock on a P4 2.8C on stock voltage. 120mm thermaltake spinning @ 1775 rpm (adj.) i can live with that