After an initial hiccup, I managed to actually succeed with my watercooling project in the Dan A4-SFX - it was not a full loop, just a custom-made aio and also noctuarize my 2060. That was back in 2020 and it was when I actually felt like I reached my end game state.
However, I started to miss the regular layout - even with an ITX gpu, I really liked just how much lighter and roomier this case was with an L9a with a 3D-printed duct, while not even loosing significant cooling performance compared to a 120mm aio. Also making it happen with just that cooler for 40 bucks compared to all the cost and effort of the watercooling stuff (and L9a looked great too) made me eventually reconsider and after a year, I went back to the traditional layout. The weight of a much harder maintenance, knowing that eventually I need to change the coolant and whatnot, with the much-much harder dis-; and reassembling procedure was a burdening feeling - to let all that go was a relief and I liked the case being so roomy with a visibly better cable management.
It made me realize, that I left out a few things about the equation that results in a true end game for me - things like simplicity and price/value.
I am now in a Velka 3 still with the same noctuarized 2060 ITX gpu, yet switched to a 12400T. It's tiny, simple and dead silent while delivers enough performance for what I need. Still, a noctuarized 4060 (maybe with the model from Manli) is what I would consider ultimate endgame for me, or maybe a low profile 4060 in an A24-v5 with a regular 13400 (since the case having taller cooler clearance), but it might be overkill for me. Since I don't need much power, what brings the feeling of satisfaction for me is how effectively can I cool everything with low noise and consumption in a simple build using a 4-5L case.
