I will be of course starting a project thread when I finally start to get this project of the ground which will almost certainly be around Christmas, but I'm planning and collecting pieces from now. I want to make as water cooled as possible. So cpu (an I5 2500k) a mobo, a gpu and hdd. Any other components you can think of whilst I'm at it? Would a single bay reservoir do? Would a single pump be enough (thinking of a D5) Has anyone modded an actual case (the side panel most likely) to act as a rad? Would putting the pump in a steel enclosure to hide it and padding it with foam to reduce noise affect performance at all? Has anyone seen old fashioned toggle switches for an i/o panel?
Would a single bay reservoir do? Yes, all a reservoir does is aid filling and bleeding the loop Would a single pump be enough (thinking of a D5) Probably, although I'm not sure how restrictive a HDD block is. A HDD block isn't really needed except for bling. I'd also consider a Swiftech 35X as the PWM feature allows slow speeds and quietness when not required Has anyone modded an actual case (the side panel most likely) to act as a rad? Nope Would putting the pump in a steel enclosure to hide it and padding it with foam to reduce noise affect performance at all? A D5 is reasonably quiet anyway at speed setting 3 and under and not too bad over that. Although the D5 transfers a lot of its operating heat into the water I'd still be concerned about heat build up if it were enclosed Has anyone seen old fashioned toggle switches for an i/o panel? Maplins have loads of them
The issue I have with most toggle switches is that they're on/off affairs and am I not right in needing a momentary switch for pc power? does anybody else agree about enclosing the pump? I thought this might be the case but was hoping not.
Perhaps a 3 position spring loaded toggle switch will do it On-Off-On, I'm pretty certain they have them at Maplins. Decoupling/isolating the pump will have a big impact on noise levels as you may get resonance if hard mounted. I'd definitely not consider enclosing a DDC, even though you can get a box to do it as they base/PCB gets really hot, maybe a D5 might be OK as most of the heat does go into the water. I know the bases of my D5s never felt hot.