Water cooling worth it in confined space?

i have recently put my pc in a new cabinet under my tv in the living room, the cabinet is open at the front and back with the front and arse of the pc on the edge, but temps are going to high as the 2 main fans what evacuate the air are on the side now, (which use to be the top) are hitting the mdf, would a H80i/100i cooler help lower temps in a confined space? or would the radiator/fan pushing the air out, hitting the side of the cabinet still cause temps to rise? would it be just as bad as my 2 system fans as it is now? how much air flow do these rads kick out?

with the system stood up unobstructed, my CM 212 EVO on the fx8350 at max reached 55 degrees, just putting it flat in the middle of the room caused that to rise to about 58, then putting it in the cabinet it hit 70 at which point i stopped prime 95.

 

failing this ill try to replace the weak rear system fan with another after market fan, and if that doesn't help ill have to reposition the tower on top, behind the tv to give it breathable air again, which will solve the problem but doesnt look very good. thanks in advance for any ideas//suggestions.

Well, a high end closed loop cooler will likely out perform the EVO, but it is still reliant on airflow to the radiator.  So if you can't mount it somewhere it will get good ventilation, it's not going to help much.  If your case allows, I'd get some high performance fans in the front (for intake) and the rear (for exhaust) and make sure all your cables etc are routed well to increase airflow.  Remove anything you can inside you don't need (removable hard drive cage etc).  You can also try underclocking.  That would lower temps as well.  Maybe a move to a case that's specifically designed to be horizontal, or just something small enough to fit the space upright would be a good idea too?

thanks for that Whiskey, i have 2 bays in the front but only one at the rear, and unfortunately the front has 5 HDD in them blocking airflow as my main use is a media centre, ive just bought the dam case and never thought id want to use it in this way haha, but thanks for that, all i wanted to know was if water used very little air flow but as i suspected, like you said, it still uses enough to be a problem.

Ive had another thought tho while staring at it, if i brace the middle of the left side of the cabinet with mdf, i could then cut the shelf and the lid and stand the pc up like it was meant too with the top fans clear again flush with the top of the cabinet, means a bit of work tho and possibly making it weaker but itd still look decent...hmmmm to cut or not to cut, decisions decisions *walks of cursing, should of bought a ****** ps4* :-)