Extreme Rigs Soft Tubing Test

In the last review I published on Extreme Rigs, the sole focus was on hard-line tubing, with Mayhems Borosilicate Glass Tubing being put under the ER microscope. We realize however that the vast majority of water coolers are still using traditional soft tubing because of the ease and speed in which a loop can be “plumbed up” to get a new system up and running.

With the recent release of Mayhems Ultra Clear soft tubing range it occurred to us that we should do some comparisons between it and the highly regarded Primochill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this publication a “review”, more of a quick look at the Mayhems Ultra Clear tubing followed by some comparisons before we start “The Test” from which the write up was born.

Before we delve in, we need to say thanks to a couple of our regular sponsors for providing the tubing used in “The Test”. Both companies back their tubing by supporting “The Test” and with continued support like this we can continue to bring quality articles to you our loyal readers.

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Let’s get started!

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32 COMMENTS

  1. The test is wrong…
    What kills tubing is heat & pressure…
    I have dark yellow tubing, was Koolance UV Clear. 1/2″id 5/8″OD.
    Also I have yellow mineral oil… It was crystal clear…
    Thinking about using coffe paper filters to clean the mineral oil…

    Tap water with CL Chlore makes tubing become white.
    But with heat, lots of.
    Ambient? will last for ever.

    Also I have UV Green Thermaltake tubing, also has become yellow, because the heat of the mineral oil.

    I’m thinking about purchasing Tygon E series tubing… probably the Avx
    Or the A-60-g dark matte black, I hate shinny black r-3400
    I like the se-200
    Maybe the F-4040

    Smooth inner surface avoids particles build up, but I prefer particle build up, so I know when to change the tubing.

    Once the pump was not running and the CPU was getting too hot, the H2O evaporated, Gas trapped, the tubing inflated like the Movie (1986) Big Trouble in Little China.

    https://youtu.be/A65Jq6NKdeI

    That’s why I trust Koolance… Did not explode like the movie.
    But Tygon has more specs, I like datasheets.

    • Agreed – heat should make it go “bad” more quickly. The loop pressure will be representative after all this has a real D5 in there. I don’t think we want to run “unfair” temperatures, but we will see what happens to the coolant temperatures without the fans off. Hopefully we get something nice like a 10C coolant to ambient delta. Not sure I’d trust TT tubing given that they also make aluminum radiators. Obviously we’d like to test a whole lot more varieties of tube, but it’s hard to run such a test as a complete apples to apples. Maybe after we have a winner on this head to head we can do another head to head with another brand.

    • 1/11/15 – The Test rig has been reconfigured and now includes a temperature sensor for each loop on the pump outlet port and a fan controller has been installed to monitor the temps and vary the fan speds.
      The fans will no longer be run all the time at their top speed of 1500 rpm, but run on various settings including off completely to get the coolant up to warmer temperatures to more simulate a real working loop.

    • Thermaltake is a nice brand, problem was the low quality aluminum screws, that break with normal pressure…
      I have TT Hard Drive coolers, nice…
      Also I have TT Radiator TMG1 from year 2008, I used to cool mineral oil and works fine… The Louvers & Dimples Patent Design is nice.
      Problem with Thermaltake is that has no compatible/standard tubing size diameters and / or standard nozzle/quick install connectors sizes… 3/8″
      The CL-W0072 was compatible with G1/4 threads.
      But HDD coolers were not.
      Also I have TT m9 vi1000 series case, nice… Similar design to other brands.

  2. I liked Thermaltake tubing because it was not PVC, “PVC does not shine,”, TT was made from shinny rubber, looks nice, But sadly there was no 1/2″ ID 5/8″ or 3/4″ OD.

  3. “Polymer Additives”, yo dawg i heard you liked plastic so i put some plastic in your plastic so that it could be plastic.

    Mayhems just needs to tell us what sort of plasticizer they are using, rather than using marketing gimmicks. Polymer additives? does that mean they put additives into the plastic(a polymer) or added plastic additives to the plastic?

    Can’t wait for this crap to turn white in your tests.

    • Plasticizers are added to virgin PVC to make it more flexible… “most” are toxic to humans….
      Problem is… PVC releases plasticisers to the atmosphere/room when PVC reaches 70°C.
      That’s one of the reason why there are “microwave oven” safe plastics.

  5. […] poste den Link hier auch mal, da es im Quartscher schnell unter geht The Extreme Rigs Soft Tube Test – ExtremeRigs.net Ich habe den Mayems Schlauch bei mir seit einigen Wochen in Gebrauch und bisher sieht er so aus […]

  6. Thanks for some excellent reviews!
    Forget Mayhem and Primochill.
    You should try testing Tygon 2375!
    It is much more chemical resistant, and excellent clarity and flexibility:
    Check out the specs:

    http://www.processsystems.saint-gobain.com/product_detail.aspx?id=251418

    It is also more than enough flexible for any reasonable bending.
    I have been using it for years in my PC. It will tolerate any available cooling fluid and stay clear.
    Believe me, I work as a process chemist.

      • Are you absolutely sure? I have the same exact tubing, so you have me worried. It shouldn’t be possible since this tubing is used even for food.

        • Yes, im absolutely sure, its chalks up bad over time, just as is shown in the article pictures, and gets in the reservoir and blocks.

          • Well, f*ck my life then. I guess the only tubing without plasticizers is the hard tubing -___-

          • Well, not necessarily, i just bought some of the Tygon 2375 tubing based on the recommendation of the previous poster, and it has potential, been in a test loop for a while now and it still looks good, its very clear, and isnt as rubbery as the 3603.

            Also, let’s see the results of this Mayhems tubing as well, it might be promising, even though im not happy with the Mayhems marketing BS. At least with the Tygon 2375 you know what you are getting and they publish the full specs of the tubing.

            Hard tubing is fine if you have all day to bend tubing, can afford to make a lot of mistakes, and have a system that isnt ever going to move around a lot. Those hard tubing fittings are no way as sturdy as compression fittings, in terms of their ability to withstand flex forces. they do look great, however.

          • I see. Btw. what coolant did You use with E-3603? Also how long do you already have the 2375? Please let me know if the problems with 2375 appear, it would be very useful if i had to change the tubing 😉

          • Ryoshi, go ahead and replace that tubing anyway, the 3603 will go cloudy, even with pure distilled or used with mayhems anti corrosion additive – the same thing happened. The 2375 has been in place for a week now and so far no discolourisation

    • I don’t know what happened but I tried to post (the post below) a few days ago, but let’s try this again, but this time I’ll just reply to the other posters commits to see if this post will FINALLY post this comment:

      I know this coming late in the game with my thoughts, go here and see my build:

      http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/277433-punknuggets-mod-the-hackinbeast/

      It’s received well over a million views and has been held up as one of the high end examples of a great well built Hackintosh. One of the key things that makes this build amazing is the Tygon R-3603 tubing that has been used. I’ve had this machine running on average 10 hours a day 6 days a week for 3.5 years and have not had to clean the water-cooling system AT ALL. The coolant is as clean as the day I used it. All I’ve done is just add Koolance LIQ-702 Liquid Coolant (UV Green) Coolant (link found here: http://koolance.com/liq-702-liquid-coolant-bottle-high-performance-700ml-uv-green) when needed every 8 to 10 months and that’s it.

      I’ve also used Koolance’s and Feser’s UV Purple and seen others use Red dyes and BOTH Red & Purple dyes (Purple uses red as part of it’s color). I don’t want to forget UV Pink (as that too uses Red dye). They seem to do two things:

      1) Gunk up everything inside your system (like goopy thick phlegm) within 12 to 18 months.
      2) Stains things terribly in your water-cooled loop!

      I’ve even heard nightmare stories of those that flush out their systems with boiling distilled water 8 to 12 times over, and STILL can’t seem to get all the Red dye out of their waterblocked CPUs, GPUs & Rads. But not with UV Green, Yellow, or Blue dyes. Those colored dyes seem to not have the same issues as with any other dyes that use Red in it. Oh, and just to let you know, if you decide that you want to reuse the same tubing for any future builds like I did (since this tubing will last many years and theres no need to replace the tubing), once your system is taken apart you might have a little residue left inside the Tygon R-3603 tubing with a little bit of peroxide, baking soda and boiling water you can get it 95%-99% clean. It doesn’t really matter anyway because when you refill your system, you’re more than likely going to be using the same color coolant anyway, so you won’t see any color change or difference. I’m sticking with my Tygon R-3603, as it’s worked great for me. I have to, as I have 50FT of this stuff anyway and got it for dirt cheap about 2 years ago. So I have PLENTY for years to come.

      • Thank you friend, you calmed me a lot.
        I’m using Mayhems X1 Purple UV coolant, it supposedly doesn’t stain. I have E-3603.

        • Also, I’m not using E-3603, but R-3603. They might be a bit different in their plastic composition, so I don’t know what to tell you when it comes to the tubing you’re using. When it comes to the dye, how did I “calm” you? Purple (that has red in it) tends to gunk up and stain the loop pretty bad. I could be wrong as chemical compounds to change over the years. Curious, how long have you been using this dye, and how long has it been since you’ve cleaned your loop and have you seen any residue?

      • AGREED!
        I have been running 1 of my 5 water-cooled PCs using Koolance LIQ-702 Liquid Coolant (UV Yellow) for more than 2 years and have not suffered any tubing discolouration or, more importantly, any biological growth despite having intense internal case lighting.

        Unfortunately, to save money (at least initially) my other 4 PCs have been using various types of Mayhems UV & Pastel coolants for around 2 years and have all had significant issues. Their resistance to biological growth seems poor and I have had algae/bacterial growth on the tubing inner walls and reservoirs after just 4 months. I have tried mixing their concentrate at full strength, one & half strength and double strength and have also tried Tygon clear and Tygon Bio clear (13/19mm) tubing, but this has not improved biological growth resistance in the loop (some say this tubing allows some UV lighting (Cold Cathode) to penetrate into the coolant and ‘kill’ the growth like an aquarium UV clarifier).

        I now drain and re-fill my PCs containing this coolant every 6-8 months (noting that I do not use silver ‘kill coils’). This is not an especially onerous task if you build you PC with a low drain port and at least two quick disconnect fittings (at tubing manifolds or branches between your CPU and GCs) to act as anti-vacuum locks/bleed ports. However, in the long run, it would have been cheaper to just continue using Koolance coolant for all my PCs. Sadly, fewer and fewer suppliers in the UK are stocking Koolance products.

        • If I were you, I’d buy as many as Koolance pints as you can and just store them in a dark, cool, dry, temp controlled location in your home. Koolance was smart to plastic vacuum seal all their coolants and that’s what keeps them lasting years. Hope this info helps and thanks for your feedback. When you get a chance let me know what you think of my Hackintosh build. Later… 🙂

        • Hey, i noticed that you said you used Mayhems UV liquids and Tygon tubing.

          If you had the green tint, it wasn’t algae, it’s a result of reaction of some sort. I had the same issue. For some reason Mayhems and Tygons products really hate eachother. After i switched to Primochill i had absolutely no problems. I recommend avoiding Tygons, they are not worth the money they cost and i see people have problem with them all the time.

          I must say though that this Mayhems tubing really impressed me. If it’s really as good or even better as Primochill(hard to say with this test because of coolant used) it’s a new recommended tubing for me, since it costs almost half as much as Primochill.

          • I have not tried Mayhems tubing, hence I cannot comment.

            However, I have tried many of their UV and pastel dyes/additives at different concentrations over the past 2 + years. I have 4 PCs which have run on Mayhems coolant from new, currently: UV Green/Yellow, UV Emerald Green, UV Blue and UV Red (soon to be changed as this barely reacts to UV light) and all of them suffer from biological growth showing as orange, red and/or brown clusters deposited on tubing and reservoir walls.

            All my PCs are fitted with dual reservoirs, dual D5 Pumps and multiple (2-6) triple/quadruple 120/140mm radiators and multiple GCs. Each PC is also fitted with different tubing: (1) Primochill Advanced LRT (Clear), (2) XSPC (Clear & UV Clear), (3) Tygon 3603 (recently replaced with Bio E3603), (4) Koolance (Clear)/ Tygon E-1000 (Clear). I have also had ‘corrosion/reaction’ problems with Koolance black anodised fittings( and one EKWB CPU Water-block) with Mayhems coolant. This is NOT just a Koolance ‘batch’ problem as many suggest, as these fittings were taken from my stockpile comprising of fittings manufactured across several years. This is also NOT an issue if you use Koolance’s own LIQ-702 coolant. I am about to replace the tubing on PC (2), which is my main test rig based on an Dimastech EasyXL chassis, so I may try Mayhems latest product.

            In comparison, my only PC which does not suffer from biological growth has run on Koolance LIQ-702 Liquid Coolant (UV Yellow) from new and has only needed the occasional ‘top-up’ over the past 2 1/2 years.

  8. Mayhems tubing is brill, its one of the cheapest tubing on the market and you can get 30 meters of it far less than any ware else. As Mick at Mayhems once said “Tubing is a throw away product that should not cost the earth and should be cheap to replace”. They hit the sweet spot and to top it off its legal in the EU were as Primochill’s is not. If Mayhems can produce tubing this cheap why are we paying stupid prices in the EU “£6.00 approx” per meter of Primochill. I have also heard on the grape vine Mayhems is working on coloured tubing as well that will not leach out a white powdery residue unlike Primochill’s versions.

    I personally would love to meet the guys over at Mayhems and see how they come up with there ideas and the research they do as they always seem to throw the rule book out the window.

    • Switched to Norprene (sourced from US Plastics) and got some EK EPDM (this EK hose seems to have a smaller bore) to experiment with as well, never miss the clear tubing, and of course, after a few months of operation, the water in the loop looks drinkable (do not do that).

  9. Awesome test guys, brilkiant even! Im struggling to find a soft tube that is good for extended timeframes, so this was a godsent. Any updates coming up soon?

  10. Good luck, Mayhems non-stain blue and red dye, stained the crap out of my Advanced LRT tubing. though it seems it was mostly, if not all, the blue

  12. The problem with the Tygon 3603 is that it was so soft it slipped the compression fitting and sprun a leak in my system. I had a massive cleanup afterwards and switched to the mayhem. The mayhem has been in there since March and has no leaks so far but the water looks like it has some algae in it. Tube is still clear though.

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