The place I thought could do some testing tell me they can't.
And it appears that the main benefit would be that I don't have to disassemble my whole machine to swap the PSU, while the motherboard would be where this whole nightmare began.
My old motherboard had died on me, and I couldn't find a like-for-like replacement for love nor money. Different brand board I could find, even for a reasonable price. But I had to re-plumb my watercooling. That's two 4x120mm radiators, pumps, tank, all the hoses that go in between.
I got it in my head a different color coolant would be nice - and things went downhill from there.
I install the new board and rebuild everything around it. And am happy my computer works again. And am busy running a backup of a damaged SSD (SATA port broke off, but I found a mobile-phone shop who fixed that well enough that I could run a backup) when the computer stops working.
Confused, I look in, and find a purple puddle on my motherboard. Oh, yeah, I got a Thermaltake Core X5 case, wherein the motherboard lives horizontal, underneath the radiators. Because I'm an idiot.
Eventually, I am able to find the leak. No, it's not one of the barb fittings. Turns out that the thread-insert in the radiator had somehow fused itself to a fitting, and the slightest nudge, like from switching out the hose, had busted the copper metal around it. Just a little, but when I tried to unscrew the fitting... you know how after tight comes loose? Here, trying to loosen it, after loose came tight-ish. The thread insert just spun in the radiator wall but would not be extracted.
And it turns out nobody, not the HVAC crowd, nor garages around here, will fix a busted radiator. It's 90 minutes each way to a specialist company (half blind, so it's all public transport for me).
So I had to order a new radiator. Thinking my clumsy claws had been to blame.
In the meantime, I was able to get the machine running with an ancient air-cooled graphics card.
After the new radiator arrives, and I assemble it all, and I do the trial run (trick the PSU into providing power to the water pumps, without even plugging the motherboard in). Normally, that's supposed to take all night.
Within an hour, the paper towels stuffed in there were soaked and I had to stop it.
Turns out the second radiator, on the CPU loop, had sprung the exact same goddamn leak!
Obviously, not buying the same brand radiator a 4th time. Fool me thrice.
Adequate alternatives would require waiting till July-ish. And after getting the GPU look watertight, I didn't want to disassemble it just so I could run the CPU loop.
New radiator slightly oversized and overpriced, I manage to fit it in. Trial run brings INSTANT purple-rain, and more than ever before.
Turns out the "plugs" on the side I wasn't using, and that the instruction manual didn't even mention? Yeah. Not plugs. Just decorative/to keep dirt out during transit.
I finally get it all watertight, and I think I've removed all the purple residue the shite new coolant was leaving all over the place where a drop might hit something and dry out.
And that's how I got here.
Worst of all: I got a 1500 W PSU not out of sheer vanity. The CPU in full tilt, not even overclocked, will draw 500 W alone. When I had originally built the machine, I had had to conclude that a 1200 W PSU would likely be insufficient. 1500 was just the next step up.
And you know how there's a semiconductor shortage?
Yeah. A new 1500 W PSU will set me back about as much as a new motherboard.
Because ******** my life.