First-time poster - please be gentle...
I've decided to forego upgrading my system config in the forseeable future (can't really see the point anymore..), but to stave off boredom I'm seriously considering moving to watercooling. My Lian Li PC71 is a little pressed for space though, so I'm thinking of going for Swiftech's H2O-8500 kit with GPU cooling included, since it doesn't use a reservoir and the pump+fill&bleed system will fit in a drive bay. However, all the tests I've read suggests that with the single B.I. Micro radiator, the set does not provide terribly efficient cooling - as in good, but no better than a good aircooler. Since I'm currently using an Alpha 8942 with a 120mm fan, which cools extremely well and is barely audible, I'm kind of thinking that the H2O-8500 might just be a step sideways rather than forwards and upwards as far as cooling and noise is concerned.
Then again, I got the idea that I might use 2 or 3 B.I. Micros to improve the kit's cooling performance. Swiftech says that this can be done easily (which is rather obvious...), but does not provide any more info than that, so I thought I'd turn to the gurus in this forum for help. What concerns me, after reading some of the ProCooling articles, is the impact of, say, 3 BIMs on the flowrate of the kit. The cooling sequence I've considered for my particular case is; Pump - CPU - BIM - GPU - 2xBIM - Pump.
Would this be OK, or would it restrict the flow so much that I need to look for a different solution? If so, does anyone have any bright suggestions for watercooling in a case where there is no room for a pump/reservoir in the bottom and where the owner does not want to mod the case AT ALL (except possibly a switch or power socket, as required by the Swiftech kit)?
Basically, the space available to me is as follows:
19x12cm space below PSU
2 empty 5.25 drive bays
Pic of case included for reference. The striped areas are off-limits, due to cabling, HDs, or PCI cards.
Any and all information, thoughts, suggestions would be very, very welcome.
Agrippa