Had a silly little idea...
 

It's probably silly, but I was just thinking about it and figured I'd ask.

Couldn't you use your case itself as a big heatsink in a watercooling loop? Such as attaching a block, or building a larger block for more surface area, to say the top or side panel? Wouldn't it add some sort of cooling? Or would the metal just warm up to the temp of the water and become useless, or am I just nuts?

Or would simply adding a 2nd radiator be easier and more effective?

I think I read that you could add as many radiators into a loop as you wanted, but it wouldn't make a bit of difference if the air flowing through it wasn't any cooler, or if the 1st rad was still being effective and still had headroom. Or something like that...

I would go for another rad...

If the water passing the rad is warmer than the air being blown through the rad... Then the rad will conduct some heat from the water into the air, thus adding performance to your watercooling system...

They actually sell cases that you connect heatpipes to, to cool your entire computer. They look just like a huge heatsink. Pricing runs anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000. They work, but they are way too damn expensive for my tastes.

so the heatsink-looking cases are there to replace a rad? So in essence, the ase becomes a rad? and this is all fanless?

can you post some linkage pertaining to these overpriced cases?

Check on the Zalaman Website... I don't have the link but a good google should reveal it.

~ Boli

i checked their website, but couldnt find any cases that double as radiators, mostly just hsf products

I know that german sites have them......basically huge rads that fill up one side of your computer and essentially require no fan. It just looks like a ton of copper tubes going back and forth downwards on the side of the comp.

do you get descent temps with that?

*sigh* now you made me have to look --> link

~ Boli

I would have to say they look alright, prob wouldnt cool that good its just for the looks:cool: .

That case is silent... But I guess it is no alternative for overclocking

EDIT: I think it would do real nice as a standardPC

well, it says it can transfer up to 150W/s. That should be enough for a little overclocking.

Wow. Looks pretty industrial. Probably weighs 300 lbs.

Mmm.....problem I see is that to me, those heatpipes might not be able to transfer the heat fast enough. Also, since heatpipes are thinks that have to stay connected, how are you supposed to install a new cpu or gpu?

Heat pipes transfer crap loads of heat realy quickly. The limitation is whether the surface area of the heatsink is enough. I'd say it would be. The case is black porbably to improve heat loss (from radiation).

For fun you could blow at the case with an office fan.