Time to take the plunge

[Autochthon]

Hello aquatic aficionado's. I'm looking for some opinions

Here's what I have to start with. An old SuperMicro SC-750a server tower Here is a review with pics. http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?ArticleID=218. I have additionally drilled two 120 mm blowholes that blow air directly down onto the motherboard. With the various fans spinning it stays cool but things get loud. Time to throw some water on that noise ;)

dimensions:
25.75" high - 13" (lower) - 10.75" (middle) - 2" (upper)
17.25" deep - 16.25" case - 1" bezel
8.25" wide

I'm looking to set this up for water cooling an upcoming 2011 board/processor and sli/crossfire gpu's. I usually do mild to middlin overclocks and want quite though dead silence isn't needed.

I have a coolmaster 3 (5.25") bay to 4 (3.5") bay insert to hold hard drives. That and a a DVD leave me with 2 free external 5.25" bays and 1 external 3.25" bay to play with.

The physical space from the top of the PS to the 2 inch upper area is 5.5 inches high.

My initial though is to mount (1) 280 radiator vertically at the bottom front of the case and another 280 rad horizontally in the 2 inch space at the top.

Depending on the radiator choice, this would leave me 4 - 4.5" of the 3.5 bay and 5+ inches of the top 5.25" bay (if I mounted 3 fans to push air vertically upward).

As a loop I was thinking : top rad -> CPU -> bottom rad -> GPU's -> res -> pump -> ...

Any thoughts on where I might run into problems?
Any recommendations on suitable components?
I was thinking the Koolance 280 radiators my only concern is the fin density may want more airflow than I'd prefer.
I know nothing about pumps a MCP655 or koolance 450 would work?
reservoirs are tough I may not have enough space for a 2 bay option.

I have a homemade circuit that I've used to control high amperage fans from motherboard headers. I'd assumed I'd just use that and vary the radiator fan speeds using something like Speedfan. This might give me a bit more headroom for high output fans.

I was thinking air I might need to isolate the upper two chambers from the lower chamber with some kind of air barrier. This might allow me to overpressure the top chamber without reducing airflow in the lower radiator. Assuming air direction is into the case for the lower rad and out from the case for the upper rad.

So what do you all think?

Thanks
Auto

A third rad location occurred to me. In the lower area the width of the case allows for a 3 inch space above installed addon cards. 1. You could put a 280 oriented vertically (facing down towards the MB) starting 3 or 4 inches from the front of the case (far enough to clear the other front mounted 280 rad). This would leave the back 6 inches or so of the MB exposed and accessible 2. you could mount a 360 horizontally on it's side in that same space. Upside to these locations is much shorter tubing runs and don't lose any bays. Downside would be that accessing the motherboard would be a logistical nightmare.

[Conumdrum]

Never watercooled?

Then start here. Pick what you need out of the links. Might start at the beginning. WC is a fully different game.

Case design etc is fully up to you.

You need to know the limitations and possibilities. You make NO mention of heatload or parts. Thats the beginning of ANY WC loop. Flow rates, heatload, noise requirements, case size, budget.................................

Looks like a server update on the site. Overclockers.com. Look in WC forum. Look me up.

[Autochthon]

Sorry about that I thought the heat load was implied by my mention of processor type and overclocking. The system hasn't been purchased yet but the current ballpark is a bulldozer or 2011 cpu on a full atx board with dual sli or xfire gpu's. There would be some overclock but nothing dramatic.

I would expect a max load on the water cooled component of around 700 - 800 watts. I was thinking (2) 140.2 radiators. If I get creative I could make a custom top and put (1) 140.3 and (1) 140.2. Koolance was my first thought for radiator as they are relatively inexpensive and the 140.2 seemed to test reasonably well in the the 1000 RPM range with potential to do very well above that fan speed.

I hadn't decided on the water blocks as of yet because the cpu and gpu's are still up in the air.

The pump and reservoir was something I was hoping for some input on. I'm limited to between one and two 5.25 bays depending on design choice.
My initial thought was a single MCP655 or equivalent.

The least destructive design might be to use a single 140.3 laying across the top of the case with the nozzles extending beyond the back.