Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but would mercury cooling work? Just a WC setup but use mercury? I found the price is do-able (~200) , would look awesome and would probably be very effective. Please ignore this post if it is inappropriate, but I am very curious.
Has been discussed many times before and dismissed due to the density of mercury being many times that of water and so not able to be moved by normal pumps. Also all your tubing would sag immensly due to the weight.
Also the stuff is crazy deadly. That's the main reason it's avoided. A few centigrade less on the CPU temps isn't worth death, unless you're a diehard XS'r, but you're not so it isn't.
Even ignoring the health hazards/technical difficulties pumping it, just the incredible added weight of such a system would be a deal breaker, I should think. You have to factor in not only the weight of the mercury itself (it's amazing how small a 1lb. container of mercury is) but the piping would have to be beefed up as well the block fittings...there is no way you'd be able to secure a block to the motherboard using the standard flimsy screws/springs supplied with kits. At the very least you'd have to go through the mobo and tie to the motherboard tray/panel (which is actually not a bad idea even with a waterloop really). All this to achieve what? BTW, you say you found the "price was doable (<200)"...what do you mean?
instead of mercury i'd try gallium indium. its an alloy thats liquid at room temperature. and its 100% non toxic
As for pumps, it's generally a good idea to go with the magnetic pumps for dense liquids, and it'll be a lot more quiet, too.
I would dismise the idea for a few reasons. A it oxides quite readily. B its freakin heavy pipes sag, if you did try it anything not support directly by the case walls would be ripped off. Its poisonous and impossible to dispose of. It has negative service tension so it doesn't "stick" to copper limiting its actual thermal conductivity greatly. A pump wouldn't be able to pump it due to its characteristics.
F. It has very low specific heat capacity (about 0.034 that of water), so is very quickly saturated with the heat of the system. You'd need loads of mercury and a very fast cooling radiator setup. G. It expands dramatically when warm (hence its use in thermometers) thus requiring considerable overflow space in your res.
