[ben333]

1. The BlackIce GTX120 looks like it can be mounted internally in my case since I have a 120mm fan exhaust port on the back. Is that going to be enough to cool the CPU and the GPU? I know the GPU produces a lot of heat. I'd be OK with drilling a couple of holes in the back of the case if I had to in order to mount an external radiator as long as it's relatively invisible from the front.

Well for a 120mm radiator its a really good radiator. Not sure if it is better or worse than a cheaper 2x 120mm but I myself would prefer a 2x120 mm

2. The dual fan systems I've seen that are mounted externally appear to cover the PCI slots at the back. How am I supposed to plug in my monitor, sound, etc?

You keep the radiator as far off the back as you need it with spacers. If you use two monitors, the radiator would have to be about 3 inches off the back of the case.

3. Is a water cooling solution going to successfully reduce the amount of heat my PC puts out or am I barking up the wrong tree? The system I have now keeps all the components well within the system's heat tolerances and it's pretty quiet. It's just out of my personal heat tolerances while sitting next to it.

Water cooling will not reduce the amount of heat your system produces, water cooling is just a better way to remove heat from your components. You'll probobly feel just as hot sitting next to your computer as you did before you water cooled it unless you put the radiator away from you like in a window or under your desk.

4. Is water cooling too unreliable for me to really do this? What about monitoring? My air cooling system has monitoring to tell me when fans stop working etc. I'd feel better if there was some kind of monitoring and/or alarm system I could attach to the system.

In my opinion watercooling is a safe and effective way to remove heat, I even water cool my server at home. There is the same monitoring for good pumps as there is for fans, in fact my mcp655 pump even has a fan header to give my system RPM readings. If the pump slips under a certain RPM then the computer shuts off and your system is safe. But you don't really need to worry much about monitoring as long as you use a good pump and have a modern system. In my BIOS I can set a temperature at which the system shuts off so even if someone comes and pulls off my waterblock my computer SHOULD just turn it self off at the max temp I set (mine is 70C) But there are still horror stories of people who's pump died and their water block's acrylic top melted, etc so its probobly best to use a good quality pump. I'd recommend Eheim or Iwaki for a top of the line pump and then swiftech as a mid range.

Somewhere I have a picture of my setup when I had a radiator in my window next to the PC. It worked very well in October - the lines were cool to the touch at night and the computer was silent and wasn't heating my room.


EDIT: Found those pics... It looks kind of ghetto there but it wouldn't look bad with a case and shorter hoses.