I didn't want to have to build and leak test a system myself so I settled on Corsair H50 All in One CPU Cooler
as an alternative. I thought this would be a good compromise to the noise/heat dissipation as well as the overall build and test problems of normal water cooling systems. The theory was really there, but it all fell apart when I realized that I didn't have a 120mm rear exhaust fans. The only option that I had was the Acrylic side of the case had an 80mm hole. After a little research I found that a 4" holesaw is ≈ 102mm and decided I would give that a try. If you have ever tried to cut a hole in acrylic you probably know what was wrong with this plan, despite having 4 clamps holding the acrylic down, everytime I lowered the drill press down to the material it caused it to jump a few millimeters before I could get the drill head released. The surface area of the hole saw allowed too much grip. Plan b was to drill the hole in some particle board and use a trim router to finish the hole. The key to this is going slowly enough that you don't heat the bit up too much and start melting the acrylic. All things considered, for 45minutes of work it was a pretty successful project and I managed to not ugly up the acrylic too badly.
