Not sure where to ask this on the forums but I know the Retro guys in this section like to fiddle with stuff, and this is actually primarily retro related. I will explain what I want to do and throw it open for ideas, do's, don'ts, REALLY don'ts and the "are you mads?"
My dream retro setup is to cobble together several old mobos and cases so I have a separate DOS machine, Win98 machine, XP machine and a modern Windows 10 machine which will only be used for streaming to a Steam Deck, and have them all on a bench next to each other. The novelty I have in mind is that all this PC hardware already has water cooling blocks for the cpus and gpus, and I wanted to supply this from a single pump, res and radiator which connects these four PC's in series, with quick disconnects where needed. So basically one big loop which weaves it's way through each PC, with the actual pump, res and radiator including fans separate to this. It'll only ever be cooling one PC at a time so in theory should work.
The way I imagine it working is that whenever I switch any one of the PC's it will also somehow power the pump and fans, and all stop when that PC is switched off. From the googling I have done I get the feeling that there may be problems with simply connecting all the grounds together on the separate power supplies, and then running a 12v line from each PC to the pump, I imagine in parallel. From what I can gather there will be ground loops and so forth, and it generally sounds electrically dodgy, especially if two PC's happen to get switched on at the same time.
My other idea is to have a completely separate PSU for the pump and rad fans which is permanently on, but with the pump/fans controlled via a relay or relays, which are then controlled by each PC, so when one of them switches on it closes the relay and sends power to the pump. I think this would be the most electrically isolated option, but sounds elaborate.
Has anyone ever tried to do anything remotely like this, or done anything with connecting power supplies together and knows what the issues are etc? Or if anyone has any other ideas on how to achieve what it is I am describing then give us a shout.
My dream retro setup is to cobble together several old mobos and cases so I have a separate DOS machine, Win98 machine, XP machine and a modern Windows 10 machine which will only be used for streaming to a Steam Deck, and have them all on a bench next to each other. The novelty I have in mind is that all this PC hardware already has water cooling blocks for the cpus and gpus, and I wanted to supply this from a single pump, res and radiator which connects these four PC's in series, with quick disconnects where needed. So basically one big loop which weaves it's way through each PC, with the actual pump, res and radiator including fans separate to this. It'll only ever be cooling one PC at a time so in theory should work.
The way I imagine it working is that whenever I switch any one of the PC's it will also somehow power the pump and fans, and all stop when that PC is switched off. From the googling I have done I get the feeling that there may be problems with simply connecting all the grounds together on the separate power supplies, and then running a 12v line from each PC to the pump, I imagine in parallel. From what I can gather there will be ground loops and so forth, and it generally sounds electrically dodgy, especially if two PC's happen to get switched on at the same time.
My other idea is to have a completely separate PSU for the pump and rad fans which is permanently on, but with the pump/fans controlled via a relay or relays, which are then controlled by each PC, so when one of them switches on it closes the relay and sends power to the pump. I think this would be the most electrically isolated option, but sounds elaborate.
Has anyone ever tried to do anything remotely like this, or done anything with connecting power supplies together and knows what the issues are etc? Or if anyone has any other ideas on how to achieve what it is I am describing then give us a shout.
