Questions about Custom Case Airflow, Custom Heatsinks

Hey, so I've been designing a custom case for some time - this is going to be a computer-in-a-desk gig. The Crutch of the situation is that it is a classical American Craftsman desk - paneled wood, the whole nine yards. I'm not fond of the computer being "visible" in any way. I've been mulling airflow design over and over ad nauseum, and have two basic theories. The primary cooling for this system will be Water, with Backup to help remove excess heat. The computer is in a chamber that is on drawer slides for easy removal. The chamber is 14x20x24 inches in size. It will house a 24/7 web & file server, and my gaming computer. It will have 6-9 x 120mm Rads (Either 3x360, 2x360, 2x360+1x240, etc, still haven't decided, and ultimately not the question here.) The chamber is insulated to reduce sound.

Airflow Design One:
Intake in the Front, Exhaust in the Back. The entire front panel and back panels would be intake. I would cover them with speaker fabric, perhaps louvered wood panels to disguise it. Very large intake and exhaust fans on both sides. This is a "Classical" computer airflow design, and my last resort. I'm not fond of having to have exhaust in the back, as it marrs the appearance of the desk when looking at it from the back. (Executive desk, sits in the middle of a den.)

Airflow Design Two:

"U" Shape or "Magnet" Design. Think of a U. Turn it 90 degrees to the left so that it lays. Cool air is blown in through the bottom, then directed upwards via internal fans, into a duct built into the top. The purpose of this duct is to redirect the air vertically, then laterally, out the front of the drawer, so that both intake and exhaust are in the front. I love this option because it allows me to build the desk how I want, and provides possibilities of putting the desk against the wall, if necessary. My main concern here is, is it unwise to try and redirect air in such a fashion in a large space such as this using small fans? I'm worried particularly about dead spots of heat in the system, as well as the notion that because the top duct is much smaller than the intake, will I be able to move air through fast enough to prevent heat buildup. (Granted, increasing CFMs can account for this.) There is simultaneously the following issue. With the passthrough design one, I can't mount the Rads on the rather large back panel and push air out while still having generous room otherwise for conventional exhaust. With this U shape design, all air will have to pass through the rads, to get into the top duct system.

My second question is about custom heatsinks. I'm wondering if it is feasible or even necessary to do this. The entire case will be lined with an aluminum exterior shell surrounded by insulation. This is to prevent heat bleed through the walls of the case, which can warp wood, or worse, cause mold if moisture gets in there. Two, if there is a catastrophic problem with my water cooling, the aluminum shell will hold all the liquid so that the desk isn't damaged. I'm wondering if it would be possible to make a conductive heatsink attached to this shell to bleed conductive heat from the case. I'm dubious to whether this is even necessary however.

Basically, my concerns can be summarized as such:

Possible to use U shape cooling?
Heatsink necessary, useful, or possible

Keep in mind, throughout all of this, I'm trying to keep the computer as quiet as possible - hence water cooling. The only particular reason I need airflow is to pass air through the rads, and get some cooling across the North Bridges, PSUs, and Hard Drives. (They won't be water blocked. Maybe the North Bridge on the gaming computer.)

Thanks OCN.

Your explanations make perfect sense - you have my thanks. Rather embarrassing now that I think about it (I finished Thermo in my Eng Degree about 2 years back.) Just for the sake of it, I might put a nicely finished plastic tray in the bottom, just to save the wood anyway. The CPUs definitely will have heatsinks, I was more referring to the heat build up in an aluminum case - but removing that removes the necessity for a case heatsink. (For those unfamiliar, think the large metal fins you see on the outside of large electrical boxes at commercial / government buildings)

Thanks for the links - will duly look into. I should have some Cad designs soon.

Question then:

I was intending to mount all the hardware to acrylic. Is this not a good idea compared to a metal frame? And even then, a metal frame isn't "grounded," per se, is it? I mean, don't you have to actually have it connected to an electrical source, such as, say, the three prong socket outlet? Or is this accomplished merely by the fact that the metal frame is attached to the PSU as well, forming a loop to allow energy back to the wall?

Admittedly my knowledge of circuits isn't deep enough to understand this concept.

To me, I'm unsure why static and loose charge wouldn't choose to go through the grounded wire in 4 wire Molex, SATAp, 4pin, 6pin, 8pin, and 24pin, as all of those wires have a dedicated ground.