FOLLOW-UP answering common questions from the comments in this one, like cavitation, custom loops, tubes not reaching, and more! ua-cam.com/video/tU7D6y_QYcI/v-deo.html Grab a rugged, anti-static work surface for your PC building and modding projects! Our Medium Modmat is in stock and shipping now: store.gamersnexus.net/products/medium-modmat-gpu (this is also a great way to support the work we do while getting a highly usable tool in return!). Our GN Wireframe desk-sized Mouse Mats are also in stock and shipping now (and under 25% remain of this run after only a week!): store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-mouse-mat Another PSA: Cavitation isn't happening in your CLCs/AIOs. The motors aren't that powerful, you'd need to go to industrial applications for that. Cavitation is when water vaporizes on the surface of an impeller, which isn't happening in these hobbyist-level motors. With cavitation, air isn't in the voids formed but water vapor is. With CLCs/AIOs, it's just air bubbles getting pulled through the loop (not cavitation). Learn how liquid coolers are made in our factory tour: ua-cam.com/video/y16azp7Wh14/v-deo.html Watch our most recent CPU cooler review video for updated thermal data on the best CPU coolers for PC builds: ua-cam.com/video/KPLWlkHPlyo/v-deo.html
@@santisvander Should be fine, just make sure the pump isn't at the top of the loop. The air bubble will be split between the top of the tank on each side, which should give you plenty of space.
Lol I know I am now... it's funny he specifically calls out NZXT cuz I put the pump in how it said in their manual for front mounted installation...Yikes 😅
I was initially going to mount mine at the front with the tubes up, but got the shits fighting the tubes to make them look good, so I fitted it as a top exhaust, tubes down. So I won't be opening my case :)
@@elfo7 The key is to ensure that the pump is NOT at the top of the loop. Tubes going into the top of the radiator is fine as long as the actual pump is lower. This message gets a little lost in this video with a great deal of detail. The goal is to avoid air in the pump and the way to ensure this is to apply physics - air will always move to the top of the loop.
Well... there is one interesting material called ALON (Aluminium oxynitride) which is... transparent aluminum. It can be any shape since it use powder. So yeah, small (or not so small) windows are possible to see bubbles.
I’m currently building my first PC and is gathering all my parts, but had no idea that positioning was that important. I thought you installed your cooler as normal out of the box and everything will run its course 😅. I can’t imagine frying my PC/motherboard from being reckless lol. Thanks for the video!
Always wondered if radiator orientations mattered, but all the other videos only talk about thermals, and not about what happens to the radiator and noise etc. So thanks!
@@Skelath Such a small volume of liquid that "changes" properties, from liquid to steam, then back again.. as it falls to the bottom of the heatpipe. Additionally, the liquid is "moving" by gravity, and not a pump... giving no mechanical noise.
@@Mr1Tanker To add one more point to this, it's also moving via capillary action - i.e., it's not "dripping", and more flowing. As an example, when you turn the sink on and hold your finger in the water stream pointing down, when you move the tip of your finger, the water sticks to it and gets redirected. When the water is flowing like that, it doesn't make any noise - all the noise is from the aerator, or the stream hitting the basin of the sink.
@@Skelath because passive cooler have no mechanical pump to list the fluid in the heat pipes, it works purely off evaporation (I want to say convection, but I think that's technically incorrect). The only moving part(s) would be the fan(s) and that's a whole other discussion...
definitely dont listen to corsair about how to mount it. this video made me die laughing. its so bad. corsair should be ashamed. ua-cam.com/video/1GcSDODt528/v-deo.html
Swiftech H320 Prestige, has clear under mounted reservoir and CPU block, and primitive RGB. I still use it to this day, pretty nice unit and fun to watch the water go around.
Considering what case manufacturers seem to be doing with the front of cases I could totally see it lol. 2 120mm fans, with no where for the air to go because there's glass with RGB on top of it.
This was incredibly informative and educated me on the science behind AIO water cooling so I could make more informed decisions with my build. Thank you very much!
fist of all hes kind of wrong with it cus back and top is the exost fans that blow hot air out ur pc now having ur radiator on top ur heating up the cooling as the hot air blow thro the radiator resson for front mounting cus front is the air intake ware it suck the cool air up and with radiator there now u got cool air blowing thro ur radiator cooling the liqued down inside alowing for cooler temp on cpu its phisics and commen sens
@RedEye Directive Gaming try corsair case like the the rgb 7000x rgb I think it's called come with icue fans 4 of them and corsair icue rgb box to control the rgb I like it or u can try 1 of there ether case like the 5000D I think it is
The lengths y'all went to for the purpose of proving a pretty obvious point about AIO's is insane. You're all insane - I hope you know that. And that's why we love you.
I just built my newest PC a few weeks ago and I am so thankful to find this video! I installed the AIO cooler just like you said . I have a cooler master 280mm with the tubes down, going up to CPU. I am having no problems at all! Thank you so much!
Edited to include that this TLDR is just a quick recap for those who have watched the whole video and have a full picture understanding of the reasons why and why not. I STRONGLY encourage viewers to watch the whole video and the follow-up (ua-cam.com/video/tU7D6y_QYcI/v-deo.html) and not to start panicking about their set-ups. Apologies to Gamers Nexus and everyone for any misinformation this comment might have caused. TLDR: Top-mounted radiator: Yes Front-mounted radiator: make sure the tubes are coming out from below, not the top and make sure the pump is below the highest point of the radiator. Bottom mounted radiator: don't. just don't
@@Marblewho Front, but the tubes at the top. I have a 9900KS and it was impossible to do any stability tests (I was doing some undervolt to drop the temps). Now i can do some tests and the temperature not reach 100C
Undid my rookie mistake and flipped my Radiator just the other day, it’s quieter already and looks a lot better. Really nice to know *why* it’s quieter, better temps etc.
I bought a prebuilt a year ago and have always been struggling with high CPU temps particularly in high CPU-Intensive games such as Rust. I have a single fan AIO. I was playing Rust today and noticed my CPU temps were 95-100°C... I finally had a google and came across this video. Turns out the AIO was upside down exactly like at 18:16 I unscrewed and flipped the AIO then booted up Rust. Max 65°C. Thanks so much for this video and the in depth explanation Steve & team.
@@Ash4med its the same principle of holding your water bottle straight and the air stays up top... nothing to do with cooling or pcs. just fluids acting up in a normal manner...
This is the first time I've seen a "STOP DOING" clickbait type titel that I actually was doing wrong. Shut down the pc* and flipped the radiator. And yes the boot up blub was removed, and no more gurgles.... And it even runs cooler, though that is very very likely to be mainly caused by the fact that while at it I removed the radiator's winter coat.... What's even worse, I work in oceanography and know my way around turbulent flow... I should have known, but never actually thought about how to do it, just mounted it and it (kinda worked). *By shut down I mean tried swapping it hot, then decided I needed a bit more room and pulled the cords out of it.
I say don't feel bad. It's not your fault that case suppliers provide bad info and the product documentation isn't the best. Blame marketing for not making sure the info is well known enough. It's not your job to be thinking about PC parts, it's the people supplying them.
This is frustrating for me, mine is set up in a way that is not ideal although not the worst according to this video but the water lines on my Aio aren't long enough to install it any other way.
I had no idea this was even a factor and me and someone had a long talk about air in the lines when I was building it my opinion was that the air would be better at the top near the barbs ala nzxt config but they thought it would be better for them to be in the reservoir. Mine is mounted on my 2080 and I'm really curious to know how much of a difference it might make because I don't really have any complaints atm.
My corsair aio cooler on my 4770k has lasted like 9 years, still going, understanding a little about pump head, how pumps work etc helps alot, great vid
I've been looking everywhere for the answers that literally only this video provides. I'm building with an AIO for the first time in two days. I did so much research and was convinced until this moment that tubes up vs tubes down didn't matter for front mounted radiators. I'm so relieved to have GN finally provide a definitive answer on this, yet pissed that AIO has been around for God knows how long and only now is there a correct answer floating around as to how you're supposed to mount your shit.
I'm in the same boat. Just got my Arctic freezer II (finally) and have been looking for such a guide as this to know the best way to install it. Once again GN to the rescue!!
Very good info indeed. So just to make it clear ... If you have a Corsair H100i Titanium RGB cooler (like i just build) .. mounting the radiator as Corsair shows in their mounting instructions for the 465 case in the front with the tubes at the top!!!.... The correct way would be to turn the radiator around with tubes down .. Is it still ok to have the tubes come out at the right side of the cpu block/pump so you still see the "Corsair logo" the right way ?? I'm amazed that even the companies building the things show you an incorrect mount in there mounting instructions. But hey if we botch the mounting up like they instruct us too they "maybe" sell more Aio's if the user don't switch to another brand the next time. I have had no issues with water gurgling for the week the machine has been running. The Corsair Aio and their LL fans arent the most silent around but its ok as long as you don't have a very demanding cpu that need higher rpm to keep cooled. I am currently hitting in the upper 60's degrees on my R7 3800X package when under 100% load (67 the highest I've had), while having no higher readings than 35 degrees from the Aio. I take that is the water temp it messeures ? These readings are with all 5 Fans in the system set to "Quiet" If I hit Extreme settings tey drop to around 30/60 degrees. But if the Aio will live longer, I'm gonna flip that radiator. the tubes should be long enough. I just wonder if they have made longer tubes on the H115i if you have to go all the way from the bottom of the case and up to the cpu, think the H100 would have a problem. But as these 3 Fan cases often have a psu shroud that covers 3/4 of the intake from the lower fan, noone in their right mind would place a 2 fan Aio in the bottom of the 3 front fans. Plus on the 465X case from Corsair I'd have to remove the HDD case to have enough clearance for an H115, why I saved a few bucks and went for the H100. Thanx for a good video Steve. You propably didn't have the time, but next time just to clear it all out for the buttheads or non english native viewers of us, show a few shots more of correct vs incorrect mounted tubing configs for both front, top and back mounts of the Aio's. As I see it the bottom mount would propably only be needed for those ultra compact cases where you just barely can mount the Aio at the bottom.
Hi. He's right and wrong. As long as the cpu pump is lower than the highest point of the tubes on the rad, it's fine. Hot or warm coolant will rise faster as it's molecules are more spread, and it will have no issue travelling upward if the top of the raditior is higher than the pump, in a closed loop. Once the hot coolant is at the higher point on the radiator, gravity will let it fall down into the rad, and cool it as it fills with enough pressure to send the cooler liquid back up. Once running it won't matter. Only the initial cycle likley which has low load anyway. Provided there's no leaks and pressure is maintained, it should make almost no difference... It won't kill your pump, in a healthy loop and properly filled one 🤷
@@Nick-GR Then people who weren’t as technically aware is now informed so yeah, this video still would have shaped thousands of PCs. Your comment is pretty irrelevant.
I built PCs and repaired them since the home PC was introduced, I started with Tech when the Atari game console was out and was the go to repairer in my neighborhood. I also tinkered with cars my whole life and know the orientation of a car radiator, the thing is I learned how these are installed correctly from working on cars. I am not a genius I just know the physics of how a pump for a radiator in a car works.
Just bought my first water AIO and after reading around was starting to have doubts about installing it because of so many people complainign about gurgling and pump whine etc. I had all but decided to return it in favor of the "big ass noctua" that's proving so popular (and MUCH cheaper), however it seems it could well be they were all just mounted wrong.
@@dumbodum the air cooler featured in the video wasn't a random air cooler but rather the best one noctua had to offer. More often than not AiOs beat air coolers
The noctua n15 is comparable to many 240 or 280 rads in terms of cooling, thermals and sound, based on GN charts from most recent best of video. It can’t compare to the 360 or 420 rads, but if you don’t need that much cooling, then that kind of air cooling is totally viable. GN tested the n15 with a i9 12th gen, so it was up to cooling that stock. I like the safety of air cooling - I personally prefer parts that don’t have even the potential to fail in a way that will damage other parts, but that might be my engineering background. I am thrilled aio are so so much more reliable than when they first came on the market tho.
omg i just turned my case over and my temps went to 30c to 26c but i still going to flip my radiator or maybe mount up top if that what he said worked too but thank for giving me that idea my case looks funny upside down right now tho lol.
For almost a decade, I've used air coolers on all my builds until a few months ago where I cracked and bought a 360 AIO for my main rig. For AIO orientation, I asked many of my friends who use AIO, searched UA-cam, and google searched as if I was doing a project, but alas I did not find any answers. Until I remembered Steve mentioning in one of his videos not to mount AIOs like @17:56, but still no concrete answers. I ended up mounting it like @13:00 but with the tubes near the back instead. This is a great video since this is the only video that I've seen that actually answers how to properly orient AIOs.
I ended up mounting my AIO's rad to the top of the case simply because that seemed to cause the least stress on the hoses, had no idea I was saving it from bubbles and other issues too, now that I know how useful that is I'm defginitly planning it into future builds
I heard that throwaway comment on another vid too, changed orientation and saw an instant improvement in coolant temp. I've only had the aio installed a month or two incorrectly so fingers crossed it didn't cause too much damage.
@@UNSCPILOT i have 2 computers with an aio one is on top and the other is on the rear exhaust simply because it's literally the only place on these 2 cases that could hold the radiator.
And this is why I always always tell people to NOT use AIOs unless they intend to do OCing and the majority will never OC and does it just because it makes their case "authentic pro gamer". You can't do much wrong with a fan - it's usually quieter, cheaper, easier to install, works on all cases (only need to take RAM / component clearance into account), you can't really fuck it up that it breaks and you have so many choices for fans + on a massive cooler, if the fan breaks you can replace it. If a AIO pump breaks .... not to mention potential leaks, installation issues, cost, noise level, your case potentially not working (which you always find out after you try to install it of course).
Honestly one of the most informative and easy to understand videos i've ever watched. I plan to upgrade to an O11D Mini SNOW and a DeepCool AIO and this information will be invaluable since it's my first AIO.
4 Years ago when i bought my first AIO the dude at the store told me to just put the radiator as high as possible. Told me to put it in the top with the fans exhausting the air through it. After this video I understand exactly why. Thanks random KTM employee :)
19:46 - I work in medical devices industry for 16 years now in R&D. Part of my job is testing of these devices in the silicone models of human blood vessels systems. In those 16 years I had to get rid of a lot of air bubbles :D Your video is great, however I only partially agree with the setup at 19:46. You created kind of U-shaped loop. The problem is that if by any chance during installation you trapped some air in the pump (even if the pump is lower than top of the radiator), there's NO WAY the air from the pump will travel down the loop toward the bottom of your 'U'. Air bubbles are gonna remain trapped in your pump.
I honestly never knew this, I always have mounted my AIo’s with the tubes coming out the top mounted at the front of the case! I always did this due to the manufacturers photos/ from seeing other you tubers do this, crazy how know one has mentioned this before
I don't think you'll ever get the credit you deserve. You really provide the most objective and supportive information on PC building on the biggest video platform in the world
Love this type of content. I installed a Kraken x61 on top for a Xeon x5650 running at 4.72 GHz back in 2015. That AIO was getting roasted until 2019, when I installed it into my Ryzen 3800X rig. Both PCs have been used for gaming or mining 24/7 for 7 years with the same AIO. It's still going.
Similar story for me. I run a 7-year-old x61 that cooled an FX 8320 at 4.6ghz for years and now a Ryzen 3600 at 4.3ghz. Still doing fine but I would like another way to control the fan/pump speed other than using the CAM software. 😁
Unfortunately, front-mounted, tubes-up is often the only way a particular liquid cooler will fit it a particular case, either because there aren't appropriate mounts anywhere else and the tubes are too short for tubes-down, or because there's an issue with clearance related to the motherboard or the RAM that prevents mounting it in the top of the case.
Yeah, that's a common issue, unfortunately. The good news is that it mostly causes noise and is less likely to cause long-term damage (but the noise may become annoying over time).
@@GamersNexus Yea when y'all showed Barb's at bottom it didn't look like a graphics card would be able to fit in there is that why it wasn't installed.
Can confirm that this is an issue with my Liquid Freezer 2 280. The tubes are too short for tubes-down but luckily GN below says it's just a noise issue for the most part and I honestly don't really hear anything from my AIO so I guess it'll be fine for now?
Would this be a viable option if you cut a hole in the desk/surface that you ARE putting the pc on? That way the exhaust fan isn’t suffocating when you flip the pc and all the usb lines can fit through easily with no problems. 10/10 would look wack kek
The push from GamersNexus got case manufactures to bring back mesh cases, now we may see RGB tempered glass AIOs. AIOs may start looking like mini custom loops now. On a serious note, I really wanna see a case manufacture bring back side mounted fans. Come on now, you guys can bend glass. I don't see why you cant put a 200mm fan on a side panel.
The problem I find is the tubing on these AIO coolers is nearly always too short to mount them properly with the tubing at the bottom of the radiator as described in this video. If the manufacturers would just make the tubing a bit longer this might actually be a possibility, but pretty much every build I've done that isn't top mounted has to be upside down due to the pitifully short length of tubing provided on these units.
@@jamisonmunn9215 just seems crazy to me lol I've built maybe 13 or 15 cases in the past 2 years or so. And never had any issues. The inky issue I've had so far is actually with my personal build. The hoses are too long for the mesh 2 case I have by Lian Li. So they look ridiculous, bit annoyed by that, but it's by corsair, the liquid ice 3 fan rad
This type of content, along with things like calling out MSI over their shady reviewer relations, is what make me confident that GN is a trusted Source of tech knowledge.
I have my rad front mounted like the NZXT one in the Picture, I am just trying to understand if I should try to put the tubes flipped upside down now or not. I don’t think my case will have room to mount at the top with my 280mm X62
Yeah, I mounted mine like the AIO makers do it... I have a 360mm AIO that can only be mounted vertically on the front of the case so I can't top mount it and the tubes won't get around my 5700XT Red Devil to flip it in the front so I'm screwed. I guess it's a good thing my 3700x came with an air cooler in case it fails on me eventually. I just built this computer last month so I have a long way to go anyways.
I just purchased an Arctic Liquid Freezer 2 A-RGB 360 cooler (new RGB version of the original, released on May 13th 2021), they are literally linking THIS VIDEO in their web based installation instructions. You know you're doing something right when the manufacturers link your video as part of their education on how to use a product! Great job GN!
It has been 12 years since my last PC build due to going to laptops. Your channel has been very helpful getting back up to speed with current tech for an upcoming build I have planned. Great channel.
The pump for almost any cooling device whether it be a pc or car should be below the highest level of liquid, this ensures that liquid is constantly being flowed through the pump due to height and gravity. Dry running pumps can cause many problems and eventually cavitate them.
Well put. I think 3 minutes of this video could have been omitted by just simply saying “make sure that the afferent line to the pump is being fed by a reservoir that definitely has no risk of air accumulation - being below the fluid-air level.”
in any way pump and temp will separate dissolved air. for avoid that, cool agent must be warmed max as well cooler itself and only in that condition it must become watertight
I'm glad I found your video. I'm no pc guru. I've decided to build my own PC because I don't want a pre-built system. I love how you explained everything in laymen terms. So now I can consider many factors before making a purchase ie. Cord length and how the manufacturers orient their radiators in their products and install instructions. Thanks!
I asked for evidence to back up some of Steve's claims a few months back when he commented on orientation of an AIO (front mount tubes up or down), i'm not sure if he read the comment but he delivered anyway 👍🏻
Yep. You must use the top of the radiator (I/O pipes below) as an air trap. I installed a vertical radiator, so the air trap was above the pump n block by about 3.5cm to ensure it gets no air gets into it too. It worked flawlessly. Very quiet, very efficient, faster on loads, and temps were the absolute best. Because if the pump is too low, if there is any air is in the top of the radiator, the pump has to push water up OUT of the IN radiator to flow into the OUT radiator. To have gravity place an immediate resistance onto the pump is not optimal. I feel, even if you have a top mounted radiator, the pump too low will have to push water upwards into the IN radiator and rise up before it will come back out of the OUT radiator. Keeping the pump just below the air trap with as little of the res water above, in a 100ml system, will reduce static pressure on the pump by at least 90 grams even when the PC is off. But the pump and IO pipes MUST be below the air trap and the IN line to the pump n block on top above the pump n block OUT line as in the video^ .
same with mine. I have to keep my 240 fans going to the top of the case for the cpu. Then my gpu aio is going to the back which works fine. Ive never had issues though
This mostly applies to AIOs. In custom loops you generally have a reservoir/pump combo where the pump is always under the Res and will always be submerged.
Every front mounted AIO I've ever seen has had the tubes at the top, I always thought it was a bad idea, and I always did tubes at the bottom myself, but I never knew if it actually mattered at all. Then this video pops up in my feed randomly, 2 years after it was posted, and finally I'm validated lol.
It's not that it's a bad idea, very often mounting it tubes bottom will make it hard or impossible to mount longer gpus. As long as the pump is below the highest point of the loop it should be ok. The worst thing that can happen is some bubbling noise in a radiator. I am currently using be quiet! silent loop 2 mounted like that but it has a port for refilling and it comes with a bottle of coolant so if it ever starts to be noisy I will just refill it. It is suboptimal but there won't be any damage.
@@afgncap Thank you. This wouldn't be such an "embarrassing topic" to him if he'd have first considered what happens to the hoses in a bottom mounted 360mm radiator setup in order to get them past a 340mm long video card with a rollcage for a frame in order to get to the AIO pump. Or if he considered a problem like mine - where a dual SATA HDD cage is sitting close enough to where the tubes exit the radiator if bottom mounted that they have to be doubled back on themselves 10mm out from the fittings just to get over the cage. I'm going to go with "that would be a worse idea than any top hose mount".
So... a lot of us are pretty much screwed then. I mean, if I mount my MasterLiquid ML240RS with the rad up front (tubes up), I'm basically introducing bubbles (and the gurgle noise, which happens but is not very common) into the top of the rad. I don't think I can mount it tubes down because of the GPU, but I'll try it tomorrow, and mounting at the top is possible, but I may not have the space to do push/pull the way I have it now..... It's also rather infuriating to think that, even though I have considered this before, there are no directions on this on pretty much any manual. In fact, it lead me to believe there was some unknown system built in to let air bubbles escape.....
I have the exact same problem, looks like going up top is the best option, but I know for a fact that push/pull would be imposible because of RAM clearance issues ( I tried it when I put my system together in the first place)
I had to put mine up top. The instructions were garbage and I had no idea what to do because of it just being pictures and poorly made ones at that. Hoses weren't even long enough to put them at the top of the front panel.
>So... a lot of us are pretty much screwed then. Yea p-much I'm running a Kraken x62 AIO in a fractalDesign Meshify C which barely has enough room to mount the radiator at the front if your graphics card is a long boy. Having the tubing at the top vs the bottom could be the difference in getting that radiator to fit and it's what I'm facing right now. Can't mount the radiator up top cause then it conflicts with the motherboard.
I have a narrow micro atx case. It can't fit a decent air cooler because they're too tall. My only option for managing thermals with an overclock is water cooling but there's no option for top mount and my HDD tray blocks any hope of mounting the rad tubes-down. I'd may eventually get a new case but it is perfect for my desk size. There's zero noise aside from fans and my temps are fantastic, so is there really a problem here?
This is super-useful and intuitive in retrospect. I recently cleaned my pc and ran into high CPU temp errors afterwards (probably shifted air around). I was about to dump my AIO and thankfully came across this gem of a video. I had a front mounted radiator with the pump being barely above it. Switched to top mounted configuration and now my CPU runs cooler than ever! Thanks GamerNexus for once again!
I also think AIOs should have a fanless option for cheaper so you can get matching fans if you dont like the fan design they use but maybe im just crazy
I agree but that defeats the purpose of aios. I mean it quite literally stands for all in one. So everything in one package. Though I do wish they sold aios minus their fans as I want to replace my aio fans with lian li ones
@@aungsan7541 It wouldn’t defeat the purpose unless it was marketed with the intention of never adding fans, which wouldn’t make sense. Giving the option of customization seems like a great idea.
@@Marcelis dont get me wrong i agree, i just built my first pc and i replaced the fans which came with the aio. that alone cost me an extra 95£ and left me with also 3 spare fans, I would have loved to been able to customise. Just a shame that they dont let you do so, or sell just the pump, tubing and rad
consumer- I need to rma my aio nzxt- How did you have it mounted? consumer- Just like you showed in you pictures nzxt- Well that was wrong. Denied. Bwahahaha
I picture these corporate marketing reps having mini panic attacks every time they get a notification that GN has posted. "My god, the thumbnail has TWO skull & crossbones. Issue a code red and convene the marketing team immediately for an emergency meeting!"
This was extremely eye opening to me. I've been building computers for a long time now. I've almost always used AIO's. I honestly never knew this. And I pride myself on trying to know every in and out when it comes to thermal dynamics. This is embarrassing that I didn't know this... I'm grateful again, like always, that your 100% always for the community and NEVER the manufacturers/distributors. This is a HUGE problem in our community to say the least and you are a shining light IMO for always being the one to address what is affecting our community negatively. I admire you greatly and just wanted to thank you for doing this video
I was thinking of going to an AIO (for the first time) to move away from my stock cooler that came with my 3600X after finding out that it wasn't keeping my CPU at temp levels I was happy with at idle. I have to admit, reading reviews of them on sites like Newegg, and Amazon really turned me off of the idea. Then I found this video, and it completely changed my mind. THANK YOU Gamers Nexus, for putting out quality content for people like me, who have no idea what they're doing with liquid cooling and want to dip their proverbial toe in with something simple like a prebuilt AIO. My new AIO is currently running soundlessly (except for the slight whir of the fans) at the top of my case and keeping my CPU MUCH cooler than the stock wraith was able to do, even with updated case airflow, and I credit this video for restoring my faith in the idea, seven months after it was published.
@@AAWT probably? If the air pocket forms at the side where the CPU contacts, conductivity will decrease. Although it might vary on the structure, Even a tiny air pocket on wrong place might be crucial as it would be a dominating factor of thermal resistance. On the other hand, high flow rate near the pump might prevent air from accumulating.
this made me double check that my closed loop system was installed properly, and I did indeed mount the tubing at the bottom :D You guys have really useful information.
@@mig23zcyther ikr, i havent seen a front mounted 360 rad with tubes below on the internet, ever! Well he said the only issue with front mounted tubes on top is the noise, mine doesnt do it, so i guess were fine?
@fran i hope so too! I have a 280mm nzxt x62 that i got 1 1 1/2 year ago so hopefully it will last a couple more years or at least by the time I’ll decide to replace it with a new one. 😅
@@fran117 yeah same mine doesnt make any sound except for the fans that i have on them. plus its impossible for me to front mount with tubes on bottom because of my gpu and case size
Sadly most AIO's have short tubes and mounting them "correctly" isn't viable, specially with a big hardware piece that you didn't mention in the middle, the GPU. In my case for example if I mount the AIO like you say the tubes are stretched as far as they can go and they push against the GPU, putting a ton of strain on the PCI-E. I agree with the testing but most of the time that's not viable in a real use case. Maybe companies should make AIO's with longer tubes.
@@belfalasvinyamar except just saying to try doesn't work when it's a physical limitation. Also doesn't help if it's 360 mm radiator that goes down into the shroud at the bottom. Hard to bend the tubes around that
@@chrisgent45 Yeah Im using the Arctic Freezer II and I can't mount it with tubes down. It's impossible to route the tubes from the bottom with a GPU installed. I disagree that too mounting is the best way too...all heat inside a PC rises to the top. Your pump *might operate a bit better this way but your temps will also be significantly higher. I've done extensive temp testing with my 360 rad at the top vs front. Front is much better than top.
@@GSP-76 yeah, Bitwit did a video about top versus front placement, and front resulted in 10 degree cooler temp than top, with the discernable difference in GPU temp. Thinking I will have to order a 280 mm AIO instead of 360.
Doing research on my first build. Glad I saw this video before starting it. I was going to install the AIO exactly the way you said NOT to. Now that I know this I will make sure to install the radiator at the TOP of the case. Thank you so much for saving me from making a massive mistake right off the bat.
flashback to the LTT Tech Support Challenge, remembering Steve with a second of frustration at the AIO set with barbs up by the hosts. I thought this would be addressed when I saw thumbnail for this video... :)
3 years later, this is still the most informative video on liquid coolers and how to best mount them. There are many different types of liquid coolers, and the same solution will not apply for all of them. This video provides an in-depth explanation that helps people find the best orientation for their liquid cooler on their own.
i just got my corsair AIO last week and built my first pc. my tubes were on top which my radiator below the cpu pump. I'm so glad I watched this video and fixed it! my tubes are now on the bottom and the radiator is above the cpu pump! thank you!
i literally just checked under my desk if i got my AIO mounted correctly lmao (im safe, nice). but honestly, it makes tons of sense and im wondering why no one talked about that before. great video guys!
Awesome video. Mad props to you and your channel. I remember when I first installed an AIO on my 2500K and was searching for the proper way to mount it... (almost 10 years ago I think) Came across some pretty stupid suggestions that made me doubt my ...education... (physics was probably my favorite subject in school) I was going through sites and some videos and was constantly thinking "that can't be right". Fast forward to recent years, I've been low key looking at a replacement case for a "secondary" PC I have and bad radiator placement is very common on many of products pictured.
Mount inlet/outlet tubes at the bottom of the heat exchanger; top of pump mounted at least a couple cm below the top of the heat exchanger. Any air in the system should eventually collect and stay at the highest point of the loop, which ideally will be the 'tank' space at the other end of the heat exchanger from the inlet/outlet tubes.
I bought an NZXT H510i case and Kraken Z63 AIO, installed it the way it said in the manual and pics. My mind is blown at how wrong it is. My next build, I'm buying from a different company. This is by far my favorite and most technical and informative UA-cam channel I've ever seen in UA-cam. Thank you GamerNexus, for your expert and highly technical, accurate and helpful videos!!
I’ve been running my PC AIO’s incorrectly for the past 7 years! Found this video 4 years late! Going to crack it open and correct my orientation and hopefully get another 3-4 years out of my system. Thanks!
Dropped almost 4 degrees on my side mounted rad 3950x going from tubes at the top to tubes at the bottom and that's with the pump below the top of the radiator. Thumbs up from me.
I moved my rad tubes to the top and my temperatures actually went up a couple degrees. Probably cause the fresh air is not blowing directly on the radiator anymore.
When I was building my PC a couple months ago I watched 5 videos on how to set up my AIO with a front mounted radiator and they all had the tubes at the top. Thank you for shedding some light on this. Also flipping a radiator was more of an ordeal than I thought it would be.. Edit: I was not experiencing any noise or issues, but just wanted to be safe. Edit:: You may want to inform your buddies Linus and Jay about the stuff in this video
Would be nice to be able to buy AIOs with different lengths of tubes or with a choice of having 90 degree fittings on the radiator. Would help users to correct mounting in all types of cases.
@@coastallab3926 do you really want to spend 2x the price of an NH-D15 for marginally better cooling that's hard to install, uses more power, and a has risk of frying your system?
I love how NO ONE even listened to what was said in this video AT ALL and has started commenting on other peoples videos about wrong installations. There are some fair points but a lot of this does not apply to most of you. I wish people would actually use their ears and listen to what was actually said and not turn this into something else entirely. Don't just hear what you want to hear. Good video Steve.
We run into this problem a lot. I tried to make it clear really early in the video (guess you heard that part) that the point isn't to create a whirlwind of comments spamming other YTers, but to get manufacturers to provide clearer documentation/images on how to install things.
@@GamersNexus exactly! When I watch something I always watch the entire body of work. I don't know why people find that so hard lol. Thanks for backing us up on this mate. It's appreciated.
Imagine if they would put a bleeder port on the pump and on the radiator where, regardless of how you had it mounted in your rig, you could bleed the air bubbles out of it and top it up. The whole problem arises because these things are a bitch to bleed and have a ludicrous amount of air trapped in them right from the factory.
@@shawnpitman876 Couldn't do that on my PC. Nowhere else to put optical drives, no vents on the top of the case. I'd have no choice but to put it on the floor of the case somewhere...and probably put a bung in the pump body where I can just back off a screw, bleed out the air, top up the coolant, and plug it back off again.
Gotta say this is the best channel of its kind, comprehensive tests and honest objective info. No bullshit joking around and trying too hard as most channels. Quality stands out on its own.
19:53 this is Gamers Nexus ideal location of pump and radiator inside case to reduce noise (whine/gurgling) and is overall better for longevity of AIO (if case and length of tubing on AIO permits).
@@oisintimon317 top mounted is he's preferred but he said if your front mounting make sure the pipes are at the bottom, if you can't do this then top mount. Is the basis of the video
After finding out about this, I'm surprised to see how many rigs have the pump/block as the highest point in the system because of how the case is designed. A ton of cases have the mobo mounts so high in relation to the radiator mounts that this problem would be unavoidable with pretty much all AIOs.
Same thought. Even with a massive case like TT P8 Core the motherboard is so close to the radiator/fans that assembly is difficult and risky sometimes.
@@mothambo Go with a Gigabyte C200. Super cool, classy case, and has TONS of space for mounting the cooler on top of the mother board. I'm having around 2-3 inch free space between my 56mm AIO and Ballistix RAMs(The closest thing to the AIO)
No excuse... my old ass case has no mounts for a radiator at ALL and is super cramped for an ATX case. So I got out my drills and sheet metal cutters and mounted that bad boy on top so it doesn't share the GPU and mobos air
FOLLOW-UP answering common questions from the comments in this one, like cavitation, custom loops, tubes not reaching, and more! ua-cam.com/video/tU7D6y_QYcI/v-deo.html
Grab a rugged, anti-static work surface for your PC building and modding projects! Our Medium Modmat is in stock and shipping now: store.gamersnexus.net/products/medium-modmat-gpu (this is also a great way to support the work we do while getting a highly usable tool in return!). Our GN Wireframe desk-sized Mouse Mats are also in stock and shipping now (and under 25% remain of this run after only a week!): store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-mouse-mat
Another PSA: Cavitation isn't happening in your CLCs/AIOs. The motors aren't that powerful, you'd need to go to industrial applications for that. Cavitation is when water vaporizes on the surface of an impeller, which isn't happening in these hobbyist-level motors. With cavitation, air isn't in the voids formed but water vapor is. With CLCs/AIOs, it's just air bubbles getting pulled through the loop (not cavitation).
Learn how liquid coolers are made in our factory tour: ua-cam.com/video/y16azp7Wh14/v-deo.html
Watch our most recent CPU cooler review video for updated thermal data on the best CPU coolers for PC builds: ua-cam.com/video/KPLWlkHPlyo/v-deo.html
Got the shipping notification for the mousemats that I ordered for my wife and I. Super excited to get them!
how is your day?
Steve! what about front mount, side tubes?
@@santisvander Should be fine, just make sure the pump isn't at the top of the loop. The air bubble will be split between the top of the tank on each side, which should give you plenty of space.
@@asooxbmw5616 Nice! Thanks for picking it up! Feel free to email support if you need anything!
Oh well... A lot of people are going to open their cases today. Well done GN!
i wont i have it front mounted tubes up, and dont have any issues with it. no noise no temp issues
@@animalm4st3r Same here... I get noise when I mount it up top... and it doesn't fit with tubes down so meh... i'll just keep it tubes up
Lol I know I am now... it's funny he specifically calls out NZXT cuz I put the pump in how it said in their manual for front mounted installation...Yikes 😅
I was initially going to mount mine at the front with the tubes up, but got the shits fighting the tubes to make them look good, so I fitted it as a top exhaust, tubes down. So I won't be opening my case :)
I just mounted my rad on the top ahahah literally
11:49 for correct setup
EDIT: "Best" Setup. Having your radiator vertical with tubes at the top works fine as well
So that is the best choice?
@@elfo7 yes that is the very best way you can do it !
@@elfo7 The key is to ensure that the pump is NOT at the top of the loop. Tubes going into the top of the radiator is fine as long as the actual pump is lower. This message gets a little lost in this video with a great deal of detail.
The goal is to avoid air in the pump and the way to ensure this is to apply physics - air will always move to the top of the loop.
@@becksvideoproductions thank you. I love GN but sometimes rhe main point is missed in data!
@@gradyyoung1434 Actually Jay did a followup video explaining this very topic, for the same reason :)
Tempered glass RGB coldplates?
Corsair: WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN
Well... there is one interesting material called ALON (Aluminium oxynitride) which is... transparent aluminum. It can be any shape since it use powder. So yeah, small (or not so small) windows are possible to see bubbles.
@@rusTORK you put aluminum and aluminium in one sentence.
@@NorthCamZ no, they just misspelt/mispronounced ALUMINIUM (pronounced :- ALU - MIN - E - UM) the second time like all yanks do.
@@NorthCamZ Yep, because for me it's Алюминий.
@@Smakheed en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Coinage
I’m currently building my first PC and is gathering all my parts, but had no idea that positioning was that important. I thought you installed your cooler as normal out of the box and everything will run its course 😅. I can’t imagine frying my PC/motherboard from being reckless lol. Thanks for the video!
How did ur build turn out?
@@melodawg2k211 He crushed it.
Always wondered if radiator orientations mattered, but all the other videos only talk about thermals, and not about what happens to the radiator and noise etc. So thanks!
Considering this, why do thermal coolers not make any trickling noise, and why does orientation not matter? they too have liquid / air inside.
@@Skelath What do you mean by thermal coolers?
@@Skelath Such a small volume of liquid that "changes" properties, from liquid to steam, then back again.. as it falls to the bottom of the heatpipe.
Additionally, the liquid is "moving" by gravity, and not a pump... giving no mechanical noise.
@@Mr1Tanker To add one more point to this, it's also moving via capillary action - i.e., it's not "dripping", and more flowing. As an example, when you turn the sink on and hold your finger in the water stream pointing down, when you move the tip of your finger, the water sticks to it and gets redirected. When the water is flowing like that, it doesn't make any noise - all the noise is from the aerator, or the stream hitting the basin of the sink.
@@Skelath because passive cooler have no mechanical pump to list the fluid in the heat pipes, it works purely off evaporation (I want to say convection, but I think that's technically incorrect). The only moving part(s) would be the fan(s) and that's a whole other discussion...
and i just learned something new just before i build my new PC
I came here to make sure I installed my AIO right.
definitely dont listen to corsair about how to mount it. this video made me die laughing. its so bad. corsair should be ashamed. ua-cam.com/video/1GcSDODt528/v-deo.html
I learn something new ever day... today I learned that even if you drink bleach you are not exempt from getting Covid
@@NapFloridian Dead people can't get covid, so I'm not sure you are right about that.
@@NapFloridian You really only need to worry about Covid 19 if you don't take vitamins to prevent it.
I swear next year at ces if i see any tempered glass radiators or aios im gonna blame this video.
they will be rgb but ngl that would be cool
$249 for a 140mm rad. Calling it now.
Swiftech H320 Prestige, has clear under mounted reservoir and CPU block, and primitive RGB. I still use it to this day, pretty nice unit and fun to watch the water go around.
Considering what case manufacturers seem to be doing with the front of cases I could totally see it lol. 2 120mm fans, with no where for the air to go because there's glass with RGB on top of it.
Just the rad end tanks would be awesome, great visual check for water flow and fluid levels.
This was incredibly informative and educated me on the science behind AIO water cooling so I could make more informed decisions with my build. Thank you very much!
Just gravity. Water flows downward.
fist of all hes kind of wrong with it cus back and top is the exost fans that blow hot air out ur pc now having ur radiator on top ur heating up the cooling as the hot air blow thro the radiator resson for front mounting cus front is the air intake ware it suck the cool air up and with radiator there now u got cool air blowing thro ur radiator cooling the liqued down inside alowing for cooler temp on cpu its phisics and commen sens
ikr, im thinking of going to liquid cooling, but still yet to find a case i want.
@RedEye Directive Gaming try corsair case like the the rgb 7000x rgb I think it's called come with icue fans 4 of them and corsair icue rgb box to control the rgb I like it or u can try 1 of there ether case like the 5000D I think it is
@RedEye Directive Gaming the corsair 7000x rgb u can use a 420mm radiator the biggest thay come in in a aio version
watch the entire vid for 26 minutes, and check my PC. ahhh sweet. good thing i only have stock intel CPU fan
🤣🤣 me too
Lolololol
My aio isn't meant to sound like an aquarium? :O
Hey, if you like that noise, go for it!
My aquarium is quieter
Haha bubbles go blub blub blub
@@GamersNexus lol
@@GamersNexus having worked with fuel pumps in the past, getting air in the pump also greatly reduces the life of the pump itself.
The lengths y'all went to for the purpose of proving a pretty obvious point about AIO's is insane. You're all insane - I hope you know that. And that's why we love you.
I just built my newest PC a few weeks ago and I am so thankful to find this video! I installed the AIO cooler just like you said . I have a cooler master 280mm with the tubes down, going up to CPU. I am having no problems at all! Thank you so much!
how did he help you if you already had it on correctly
Hello so you have tubes down and it’s going to be good for me?
Tubes are long enough for cpu??? To rich the place for pump???
Edited to include that this TLDR is just a quick recap for those who have watched the whole video and have a full picture understanding of the reasons why and why not.
I STRONGLY encourage viewers to watch the whole video and the follow-up (ua-cam.com/video/tU7D6y_QYcI/v-deo.html) and not to start panicking about their set-ups. Apologies to Gamers Nexus and everyone for any misinformation this comment might have caused.
TLDR:
Top-mounted radiator: Yes
Front-mounted radiator: make sure the tubes are coming out from below, not the top and make sure the pump is below the highest point of the radiator.
Bottom mounted radiator: don't. just don't
too much talking. They could have made it this simple
how about back mounted ?
@@iyanbee736 he should have made a summary in the start and then for the nerds have the rest
@@ThePersonalPC same as front, have tubes on the bottom
Just in time, I modified my PC case to have a 120mm fan on top
This will be used for radiator later on
I live in a hot region and my idle temperatures dropped 10C just changing the radiator position. Thank you, Gamers Nexus.
Katsu Abe what orientation did you have it at before?
@@Marblewho Front, but the tubes at the top. I have a 9900KS and it was impossible to do any stability tests (I was doing some undervolt to drop the temps). Now i can do some tests and the temperature not reach 100C
@Nome Cognome Yes, you are right. My case have some opening for airflow. It gets a little too dusty with time but nothing i can't clean easily.
Front, Radiator Tubes at the Top and Pump Tubes Position? Down, Right side, Up?
@@silencewench9520 Pump tubes at the side.
Undid my rookie mistake and flipped my Radiator just the other day, it’s quieter already and looks a lot better. Really nice to know *why* it’s quieter, better temps etc.
Excellent! Great to hear that it helped!
@Gamers Nexus On a top mounted rad - does it matter what orientation the hoses are in on the pump itself...side, top or bottom?
@@t_pagz No, the rad is still the top of the loop.
I bought a prebuilt a year ago and have always been struggling with high CPU temps particularly in high CPU-Intensive games such as Rust. I have a single fan AIO.
I was playing Rust today and noticed my CPU temps were 95-100°C...
I finally had a google and came across this video. Turns out the AIO was upside down exactly like at 18:16
I unscrewed and flipped the AIO then booted up Rust.
Max 65°C.
Thanks so much for this video and the in depth explanation Steve & team.
100 C 😨
@@alexjones9390 with a liquid cooler 🥲
short version: waters goes down, air goes up. your pump is running dry while your system is gonna fry!
there goes my 26 minutes...
When did people forget this lol... perhaps only custom water loopers had this knowledge??
@@Ash4med its the same principle of holding your water bottle straight and the air stays up top... nothing to do with cooling or pcs. just fluids acting up in a normal manner...
@@uygy15 I didn't say it had anything to do with cooling or computers... I said how did people forget this?
@@uygy15 felt like an hour to be honest :D
This is the first time I've seen a "STOP DOING" clickbait type titel that I actually was doing wrong. Shut down the pc* and flipped the radiator. And yes the boot up blub was removed, and no more gurgles.... And it even runs cooler, though that is very very likely to be mainly caused by the fact that while at it I removed the radiator's winter coat....
What's even worse, I work in oceanography and know my way around turbulent flow... I should have known, but never actually thought about how to do it, just mounted it and it (kinda worked).
*By shut down I mean tried swapping it hot, then decided I needed a bit more room and pulled the cords out of it.
I say don't feel bad. It's not your fault that case suppliers provide bad info and the product documentation isn't the best. Blame marketing for not making sure the info is well known enough. It's not your job to be thinking about PC parts, it's the people supplying them.
This is frustrating for me, mine is set up in a way that is not ideal although not the worst according to this video but the water lines on my Aio aren't long enough to install it any other way.
I had no idea this was even a factor and me and someone had a long talk about air in the lines when I was building it my opinion was that the air would be better at the top near the barbs ala nzxt config but they thought it would be better for them to be in the reservoir. Mine is mounted on my 2080 and I'm really curious to know how much of a difference it might make because I don't really have any complaints atm.
Really cool that you work in oceanography!
My uncle is the training office for oceanographers in the military. So salute to you!
I love how everything you do is straight number based. No flashy slides or misleading information. just raw data.
Thanks again.
@@morpheas768 welcome to politics, they all are including democrats and Republicans. Let's get back to the topic here.. computers..
My corsair aio cooler on my 4770k has lasted like 9 years, still going, understanding a little about pump head, how pumps work etc helps alot, great vid
Whats the model of that aio?
@@JoshTrue-xt9bf can't remember the h100 or something, non rgb
I've been looking everywhere for the answers that literally only this video provides. I'm building with an AIO for the first time in two days. I did so much research and was convinced until this moment that tubes up vs tubes down didn't matter for front mounted radiators. I'm so relieved to have GN finally provide a definitive answer on this, yet pissed that AIO has been around for God knows how long and only now is there a correct answer floating around as to how you're supposed to mount your shit.
I'm in the same boat. Just got my Arctic freezer II (finally) and have been looking for such a guide as this to know the best way to install it. Once again GN to the rescue!!
Very good info indeed. So just to make it clear ... If you have a Corsair H100i Titanium RGB cooler (like i just build) .. mounting the radiator as Corsair shows in their mounting instructions for the 465 case in the front with the tubes at the top!!!.... The correct way would be to turn the radiator around with tubes down .. Is it still ok to have the tubes come out at the right side of the cpu block/pump so you still see the "Corsair logo" the right way ?? I'm amazed that even the companies building the things show you an incorrect mount in there mounting instructions. But hey if we botch the mounting up like they instruct us too they "maybe" sell more Aio's if the user don't switch to another brand the next time. I have had no issues with water gurgling for the week the machine has been running. The Corsair Aio and their LL fans arent the most silent around but its ok as long as you don't have a very demanding cpu that need higher rpm to keep cooled. I am currently hitting in the upper 60's degrees on my R7 3800X package when under 100% load (67 the highest I've had), while having no higher readings than 35 degrees from the Aio. I take that is the water temp it messeures ? These readings are with all 5 Fans in the system set to "Quiet" If I hit Extreme settings tey drop to around 30/60 degrees. But if the Aio will live longer, I'm gonna flip that radiator. the tubes should be long enough. I just wonder if they have made longer tubes on the H115i if you have to go all the way from the bottom of the case and up to the cpu, think the H100 would have a problem. But as these 3 Fan cases often have a psu shroud that covers 3/4 of the intake from the lower fan, noone in their right mind would place a 2 fan Aio in the bottom of the 3 front fans. Plus on the 465X case from Corsair I'd have to remove the HDD case to have enough clearance for an H115, why I saved a few bucks and went for the H100. Thanx for a good video Steve. You propably didn't have the time, but next time just to clear it all out for the buttheads or non english native viewers of us, show a few shots more of correct vs incorrect mounted tubing configs for both front, top and back mounts of the Aio's. As I see it the bottom mount would propably only be needed for those ultra compact cases where you just barely can mount the Aio at the bottom.
I thought only about air intake or exhaust & front/back fan mount, gamer nexus deserves big brain tutorial award.
@DispelTheMyth Steve answers that in the follow-up video. Orientation of tubes coming out of the pump makes no difference.
If you mount it at the front with tubes down, you'll have better cooling and noise levels
9/10 people: *Repositions cooler*
The 10th guy: *Flips PC Over*
Haha!!
Jokes on you, I live in australia.
@@trignite haha same
@@trignite you mean Austria... right?! ...RIGHT??? 😂
Hi, today after changing my psu i had my watercooling do some noise so i inclined the whole thing till the bubble are in top :D
This is the video that literally changed the shape of thousands of PCs since the day it was released and for the foreseeable future.
Hi. He's right and wrong.
As long as the cpu pump is lower than the highest point of the tubes on the rad, it's fine. Hot or warm coolant will rise faster as it's molecules are more spread, and it will have no issue travelling upward if the top of the raditior is higher than the pump, in a closed loop. Once the hot coolant is at the higher point on the radiator, gravity will let it fall down into the rad, and cool it as it fills with enough pressure to send the cooler liquid back up. Once running it won't matter. Only the initial cycle likley which has low load anyway. Provided there's no leaks and pressure is maintained, it should make almost no difference...
It won't kill your pump, in a healthy loop and properly filled one 🤷
No it didnt. People who are technically aware, knew this shit long ago.
@@Nick-GR Then people who weren’t as technically aware is now informed so yeah, this video still would have shaped thousands of PCs. Your comment is pretty irrelevant.
@@loveisanopendoor5745 shot himself in the foot with his own words lmao
I built PCs and repaired them since the home PC was introduced, I started with Tech when the Atari game console was out and was the go to repairer in my neighborhood. I also tinkered with cars my whole life and know the orientation of a car radiator, the thing is I learned how these are installed correctly from working on cars. I am not a genius I just know the physics of how a pump for a radiator in a car works.
Just bought my first water AIO and after reading around was starting to have doubts about installing it because of so many people complainign about gurgling and pump whine etc. I had all but decided to return it in favor of the "big ass noctua" that's proving so popular (and MUCH cheaper), however it seems it could well be they were all just mounted wrong.
@Thomas B LTT did a test and found air coolers beat most AIOs anyway
@@dumbodum the air cooler featured in the video wasn't a random air cooler but rather the best one noctua had to offer. More often than not AiOs beat air coolers
bought kraken 6 years ago and i’m using it wrong ?😂 still is quite and efficient. buy aio!😊
@Thomas B plus if the air cooler has 2 fans, its very unlikely both would fail at once, the other fan will probably be enough to keep it running
The noctua n15 is comparable to many 240 or 280 rads in terms of cooling, thermals and sound, based on GN charts from most recent best of video. It can’t compare to the 360 or 420 rads, but if you don’t need that much cooling, then that kind of air cooling is totally viable. GN tested the n15 with a i9 12th gen, so it was up to cooling that stock. I like the safety of air cooling - I personally prefer parts that don’t have even the potential to fail in a way that will damage other parts, but that might be my engineering background. I am thrilled aio are so so much more reliable than when they first came on the market tho.
Just turn the whole case over 😎
"Have you tried running your PC upside down?" should be the AIO manufacturer version of "Try turning it off and on again."
Or use an R-ATX configurable case like some of Be Quiet's Dark Base series... 😅
500IQ plays
i actually did that XD
the front of my case is at the bottom
omg i just turned my case over and my temps went to 30c to 26c but i still going to flip my radiator or maybe mount up top if that what he said worked too but thank for giving me that idea my case looks funny upside down right now tho lol.
For almost a decade, I've used air coolers on all my builds until a few months ago where I cracked and bought a 360 AIO for my main rig. For AIO orientation, I asked many of my friends who use AIO, searched UA-cam, and google searched as if I was doing a project, but alas I did not find any answers. Until I remembered Steve mentioning in one of his videos not to mount AIOs like @17:56, but still no concrete answers. I ended up mounting it like @13:00 but with the tubes near the back instead. This is a great video since this is the only video that I've seen that actually answers how to properly orient AIOs.
I ended up mounting my AIO's rad to the top of the case simply because that seemed to cause the least stress on the hoses, had no idea I was saving it from bubbles and other issues too, now that I know how useful that is I'm defginitly planning it into future builds
I heard that throwaway comment on another vid too, changed orientation and saw an instant improvement in coolant temp. I've only had the aio installed a month or two incorrectly so fingers crossed it didn't cause too much damage.
@@CACOE_ You should be good! Unlikely it caused damage that fast unless it was really burning 24/7.
@@UNSCPILOT i have 2 computers with an aio one is on top and the other is on the rear exhaust simply because it's literally the only place on these 2 cases that could hold the radiator.
And this is why I always always tell people to NOT use AIOs unless they intend to do OCing and the majority will never OC and does it just because it makes their case "authentic pro gamer". You can't do much wrong with a fan - it's usually quieter, cheaper, easier to install, works on all cases (only need to take RAM / component clearance into account), you can't really fuck it up that it breaks and you have so many choices for fans + on a massive cooler, if the fan breaks you can replace it. If a AIO pump breaks .... not to mention potential leaks, installation issues, cost, noise level, your case potentially not working (which you always find out after you try to install it of course).
It's 12am and you got me flipping my CPU cooler
how should the CPU cooler be? i need to know.
@@b00ph watch the video 👌
@@b00ph 11:55 - 13:10 - 19:55
Lol
It wasn't 12am but I did too.
Honestly one of the most informative and easy to understand videos i've ever watched. I plan to upgrade to an O11D Mini SNOW and a DeepCool AIO and this information will be invaluable since it's my first AIO.
I'm looking to do this same setup. Did you end up top mounting.
From what I understood side mounting though less ideal is not bad either.
I'd just go top mounted and tubes down on pump my deepcool 360ex from 2020 has my 5800x3d never seeing over 65°c, And no noise from it!
4 Years ago when i bought my first AIO the dude at the store told me to just put the radiator as high as possible. Told me to put it in the top with the fans exhausting the air through it. After this video I understand exactly why. Thanks random KTM employee :)
Good samaritan
the problem is the aio as exhaust.. because the hot air will go trough the radiator and is not cooled enough
good advice
@@clasch87 That is not a problem, its standard for a reason.
@@zachmullins9444 Steve literally said in this video that’s it’s not as cool to run as exhaust instead of intake.
I've had so many people dismiss me as an idiot for telling them their coolers are mounted improperly. This video feels downright vindicating.
Time to send this link to all of them with a comment stating "I told you so."
likewise
what if i cant mount it with tubes down, i have a 280mm x63 in a h210i the pump is mounted properly tho
This is a big "I told you so" for those people. 😂
@@FcoEnriquePerez The proper answer to that is "Air is also a fluid dumb ass".
I am going to check how hihi put my office PC together after watching this. Thank you for this!!
Yo, what are the odds I found your comment? :)
Oh hi Louis lol.
You too huh?
Your office computer is liquid cooled?
@@florbfnarb7099 "Dota is very poorly optimized and demanding AAA game".
Hence it's liquid cooled 😉
19:46 - I work in medical devices industry for 16 years now in R&D. Part of my job is testing of these devices in the silicone models of human blood vessels systems. In those 16 years I had to get rid of a lot of air bubbles :D Your video is great, however I only partially agree with the setup at 19:46. You created kind of U-shaped loop. The problem is that if by any chance during installation you trapped some air in the pump (even if the pump is lower than top of the radiator), there's NO WAY the air from the pump will travel down the loop toward the bottom of your 'U'. Air bubbles are gonna remain trapped in your pump.
So whats the solution? Give the pump a quick shake while holding the radiator above it right before installing the AIO?
I honestly never knew this, I always have mounted my AIo’s with the tubes coming out the top mounted at the front of the case! I always did this due to the manufacturers photos/ from seeing other you tubers do this, crazy how know one has mentioned this before
that's physics! GN has only explained it :)
Aren't the hoses too short anyway to put the tubes on the bottom in a front mount situation?
@@navithefairy depends on the AIO and the case, sometimes yes
@Erich Ly that's a nzxt design problem. They know it, they probably did it on purpose.
@Erich Ly If it's secured and it works, It's not a problem not to do it the "right" way
Glad you found a solution
I don't think you'll ever get the credit you deserve. You really provide the most objective and supportive information on PC building on the biggest video platform in the world
he never stopped talking in this video
:D
He took a breath at 2:50 😅
could be an auctioneer
@@a.ellahi3745 that was a silent fart lmaoaoo
I'm 1 minute in, and holy crap! It won't stop lol
Love this type of content. I installed a Kraken x61 on top for a Xeon x5650 running at 4.72 GHz back in 2015. That AIO was getting roasted until 2019, when I installed it into my Ryzen 3800X rig. Both PCs have been used for gaming or mining 24/7 for 7 years with the same AIO. It's still going.
Similar story for me. I run a 7-year-old x61 that cooled an FX 8320 at 4.6ghz for years and now a Ryzen 3600 at 4.3ghz. Still doing fine but I would like another way to control the fan/pump speed other than using the CAM software. 😁
Unfortunately, front-mounted, tubes-up is often the only way a particular liquid cooler will fit it a particular case, either because there aren't appropriate mounts anywhere else and the tubes are too short for tubes-down, or because there's an issue with clearance related to the motherboard or the RAM that prevents mounting it in the top of the case.
Yeah, that's a common issue, unfortunately. The good news is that it mostly causes noise and is less likely to cause long-term damage (but the noise may become annoying over time).
@@GamersNexus Yea when y'all showed Barb's at bottom it didn't look like a graphics card would be able to fit in there is that why it wasn't installed.
Can confirm that this is an issue with my Liquid Freezer 2 280. The tubes are too short for tubes-down but luckily GN below says it's just a noise issue for the most part and I honestly don't really hear anything from my AIO so I guess it'll be fine for now?
This is my problem. My GPU is in the way.
Good news, none of my PCs AIOs are bottom mounted.
@@GamersNexus You would think that manufacturers would say something about it but ehh...
Just flip your PC over - Verge
^_^
Would this be a viable option if you cut a hole in the desk/surface that you ARE putting the pc on? That way the exhaust fan isn’t suffocating when you flip the pc and all the usb lines can fit through easily with no problems. 10/10 would look wack kek
Simple... Lol
Cases with USB front panels on the top of the case : "Am i a joke to you?"
Just move to Australia 🤣
totally gunna be acrylic and glass AIOs now...
The push from GamersNexus got case manufactures to bring back mesh cases, now we may see RGB tempered glass AIOs. AIOs may start looking like mini custom loops now. On a serious note, I really wanna see a case manufacture bring back side mounted fans. Come on now, you guys can bend glass. I don't see why you cant put a 200mm fan on a side panel.
+Germaine Breakenridge it won’t look that good,
Please 😍
A way to sneak in more rgb, so probably. Hopefully with very short warranties because folks will see the air pockets and think it's leaking.
@@GSXone why would you want side mounted fans though, they're a pain in the ass and disturb the airflow going front to back of the case
The problem I find is the tubing on these AIO coolers is nearly always too short to mount them properly with the tubing at the bottom of the radiator as described in this video. If the manufacturers would just make the tubing a bit longer this might actually be a possibility, but pretty much every build I've done that isn't top mounted has to be upside down due to the pitifully short length of tubing provided on these units.
Luckily all the ones I've used by coolermaster were long enough, love them
4 cases and I dont have one that could mount properly.
@@jamisonmunn9215 just seems crazy to me lol
I've built maybe 13 or 15 cases in the past 2 years or so. And never had any issues. The inky issue I've had so far is actually with my personal build. The hoses are too long for the mesh 2 case I have by Lian Li. So they look ridiculous, bit annoyed by that, but it's by corsair, the liquid ice 3 fan rad
@@TobiasKryze i am going to try again tomorrow. It could just be because I only have the cheapest mid tower cases and a pretty big GPU.
@@jamisonmunn9215 ah, yeah that could be it too, could depend on your definition of upside down.
This type of content, along with things like calling out MSI over their shady reviewer relations, is what make me confident that GN is a trusted Source of tech knowledge.
**looks at thumbnail and over to case several times, sweating**
I have my rad front mounted like the NZXT one in the Picture, I am just trying to understand if I should try to put the tubes flipped upside down now or not. I don’t think my case will have room to mount at the top with my 280mm X62
Yay I did it right on accident . :)
I've been using this orientation on my S340 Elite since Coffee Lake launch. I'm not even worried one bit.
@@JhustineProvido to be honest i just moved my vertical because it simply had better cooling in my case. They have 5 year warrantys anyway
Yeah, I mounted mine like the AIO makers do it... I have a 360mm AIO that can only be mounted vertically on the front of the case so I can't top mount it and the tubes won't get around my 5700XT Red Devil to flip it in the front so I'm screwed. I guess it's a good thing my 3700x came with an air cooler in case it fails on me eventually. I just built this computer last month so I have a long way to go anyways.
I just purchased an Arctic Liquid Freezer 2 A-RGB 360 cooler (new RGB version of the original, released on May 13th 2021), they are literally linking THIS VIDEO in their web based installation instructions. You know you're doing something right when the manufacturers link your video as part of their education on how to use a product! Great job GN!
NZXT should really hire you to approve their marketing and R&D at this point.
Title: How to kill your AIO... first thing you see is Steve taking a saw to an AIO....
Yeah, that'll do it.
It has been 12 years since my last PC build due to going to laptops. Your channel has been very helpful getting back up to speed with current tech for an upcoming build I have planned. Great channel.
The pump for almost any cooling device whether it be a pc or car should be below the highest level of liquid, this ensures that liquid is constantly being flowed through the pump due to height and gravity. Dry running pumps can cause many problems and eventually cavitate them.
Well put. I think 3 minutes of this video could have been omitted by just simply saying “make sure that the afferent line to the pump is being fed by a reservoir that definitely has no risk of air accumulation - being below the fluid-air level.”
in any way pump and temp will separate dissolved air. for avoid that, cool agent must be warmed max as well cooler itself and only in that condition it must become watertight
I'm glad I found your video. I'm no pc guru. I've decided to build my own PC because I don't want a pre-built system. I love how you explained everything in laymen terms. So now I can consider many factors before making a purchase ie. Cord length and how the manufacturers orient their radiators in their products and install instructions. Thanks!
How did it go?
My wife: what are we doing today?
Me (after watching this video): I'm working on my computer.
So truexD adjusting it perfectly makes me happy and i can sleep wellxD
i turned mine around while watching
saw this video late last night ... and first thing the next day changed the orientation ... it looks uglier now though
@@rashaadadam3359 but safer 👍
Divorce letter incoming.....
GN have been looking at Jays Twitter feed and after seen so many systems with bad AIO installs couldn't resist doing this video
I asked for evidence to back up some of Steve's claims a few months back when he commented on orientation of an AIO (front mount tubes up or down), i'm not sure if he read the comment but he delivered anyway 👍🏻
Yep. You must use the top of the radiator (I/O pipes below) as an air trap. I installed a vertical radiator, so the air trap was above the pump n block by about 3.5cm to ensure it gets no air gets into it too. It worked flawlessly. Very quiet, very efficient, faster on loads, and temps were the absolute best.
Because if the pump is too low, if there is any air is in the top of the radiator, the pump has to push water up OUT of the IN radiator to flow into the OUT radiator. To have gravity place an immediate resistance onto the pump is not optimal. I feel, even if you have a top mounted radiator, the pump too low will have to push water upwards into the IN radiator and rise up before it will come back out of the OUT radiator. Keeping the pump just below the air trap with as little of the res water above, in a 100ml system, will reduce static pressure on the pump by at least 90 grams even when the PC is off. But the pump and IO pipes MUST be below the air trap and the IN line to the pump n block on top above the pump n block OUT line as in the video^ .
Me: Looks at my computer
My computer: don't even think about it
same with mine. I have to keep my 240 fans going to the top of the case for the cpu. Then my gpu aio is going to the back which works fine. Ive never had issues though
@@BGIANAKy I reconfigured my 240 Castle just out of fear 😳😳😳..... Fear..... Fear based on thumbnail hysteria
Ctrl c + Ctrl v
god do I feel this
hahahahaha same
Woah, this isn’t 4 in the morning... is this even a gamers nexus video?
for me it was 4 am at release ^^
101 on how physics is annoying with liquid cooling, and how to and not to kill your water cooling loop/aio.
This mostly applies to AIOs.
In custom loops you generally have a reservoir/pump combo where the pump is always under the Res and will always be submerged.
Every front mounted AIO I've ever seen has had the tubes at the top, I always thought it was a bad idea, and I always did tubes at the bottom myself, but I never knew if it actually mattered at all.
Then this video pops up in my feed randomly, 2 years after it was posted, and finally I'm validated lol.
It's not that it's a bad idea, very often mounting it tubes bottom will make it hard or impossible to mount longer gpus. As long as the pump is below the highest point of the loop it should be ok. The worst thing that can happen is some bubbling noise in a radiator. I am currently using be quiet! silent loop 2 mounted like that but it has a port for refilling and it comes with a bottle of coolant so if it ever starts to be noisy I will just refill it. It is suboptimal but there won't be any damage.
@@afgncap Thank you. This wouldn't be such an "embarrassing topic" to him if he'd have first considered what happens to the hoses in a bottom mounted 360mm radiator setup in order to get them past a 340mm long video card with a rollcage for a frame in order to get to the AIO pump. Or if he considered a problem like mine - where a dual SATA HDD cage is sitting close enough to where the tubes exit the radiator if bottom mounted that they have to be doubled back on themselves 10mm out from the fittings just to get over the cage. I'm going to go with "that would be a worse idea than any top hose mount".
Manufactures be like:
“Hmmmmmm tempered glass liquid RGB coolers... Great idea!”
DON'T GIVE THEM IDEAS!
@@GamersNexus well you kind of gave us the ideas first... Thank you for giving the Industry such good ideas
@@SuperSeigerman We don't want credit for this! Shh!
@@GamersNexus imagine rainbow water with gliter in it perfect to that unicorn build
@@GamersNexus Too late! R&D is on it.
So... a lot of us are pretty much screwed then.
I mean, if I mount my MasterLiquid ML240RS with the rad up front (tubes up), I'm basically introducing bubbles (and the gurgle noise, which happens but is not very common) into the top of the rad. I don't think I can mount it tubes down because of the GPU, but I'll try it tomorrow, and mounting at the top is possible, but I may not have the space to do push/pull the way I have it now.....
It's also rather infuriating to think that, even though I have considered this before, there are no directions on this on pretty much any manual. In fact, it lead me to believe there was some unknown system built in to let air bubbles escape.....
if they had longer hose it could work
I have the exact same problem, looks like going up top is the best option, but I know for a fact that push/pull would be imposible because of RAM clearance issues ( I tried it when I put my system together in the first place)
I had to put mine up top.
The instructions were garbage and I had no idea what to do because of it just being pictures and poorly made ones at that.
Hoses weren't even long enough to put them at the top of the front panel.
>So... a lot of us are pretty much screwed then.
Yea p-much
I'm running a Kraken x62 AIO in a fractalDesign Meshify C which barely has enough room to mount the radiator at the front if your graphics card is a long boy. Having the tubing at the top vs the bottom could be the difference in getting that radiator to fit and it's what I'm facing right now.
Can't mount the radiator up top cause then it conflicts with the motherboard.
I have a narrow micro atx case. It can't fit a decent air cooler because they're too tall. My only option for managing thermals with an overclock is water cooling but there's no option for top mount and my HDD tray blocks any hope of mounting the rad tubes-down. I'd may eventually get a new case but it is perfect for my desk size. There's zero noise aside from fans and my temps are fantastic, so is there really a problem here?
This is super-useful and intuitive in retrospect. I recently cleaned my pc and ran into high CPU temp errors afterwards (probably shifted air around). I was about to dump my AIO and thankfully came across this gem of a video. I had a front mounted radiator with the pump being barely above it. Switched to top mounted configuration and now my CPU runs cooler than ever! Thanks GamerNexus for once again!
Do you have the front fans blowing out now? Or still pulling in?
@@mikewazowski8368 it should be pulling in not blowing out for a front radiator.
I also think AIOs should have a fanless option for cheaper so you can get matching fans if you dont like the fan design they use but maybe im just crazy
I agree but that defeats the purpose of aios. I mean it quite literally stands for all in one. So everything in one package. Though I do wish they sold aios minus their fans as I want to replace my aio fans with lian li ones
@@aungsan7541 It wouldn’t defeat the purpose unless it was marketed with the intention of never adding fans, which wouldn’t make sense. Giving the option of customization seems like a great idea.
@@Marcelis dont get me wrong i agree, i just built my first pc and i replaced the fans which came with the aio. that alone cost me an extra 95£ and left me with also 3 spare fans, I would have loved to been able to customise.
Just a shame that they dont let you do so, or sell just the pump, tubing and rad
consumer- I need to rma my aio
nzxt- How did you have it mounted?
consumer- Just like you showed in you pictures
nzxt- Well that was wrong. Denied. Bwahahaha
They'll post the picture of your PC and use it as a meme on their Twitter support page
Thumbnail game level: Godmode.
Made me click
actually they are cringe
I picture these corporate marketing reps having mini panic attacks every time they get a notification that GN has posted.
"My god, the thumbnail has TWO skull & crossbones. Issue a code red and convene the marketing team immediately for an emergency meeting!"
😂😂😂
And they should! 🙂
This was extremely eye opening to me. I've been building computers for a long time now. I've almost always used AIO's. I honestly never knew this. And I pride myself on trying to know every in and out when it comes to thermal dynamics. This is embarrassing that I didn't know this... I'm grateful again, like always, that your 100% always for the community and NEVER the manufacturers/distributors. This is a HUGE problem in our community to say the least and you are a shining light IMO for always being the one to address what is affecting our community negatively. I admire you greatly and just wanted to thank you for doing this video
I was thinking of going to an AIO (for the first time) to move away from my stock cooler that came with my 3600X after finding out that it wasn't keeping my CPU at temp levels I was happy with at idle. I have to admit, reading reviews of them on sites like Newegg, and Amazon really turned me off of the idea. Then I found this video, and it completely changed my mind. THANK YOU Gamers Nexus, for putting out quality content for people like me, who have no idea what they're doing with liquid cooling and want to dip their proverbial toe in with something simple like a prebuilt AIO. My new AIO is currently running soundlessly (except for the slight whir of the fans) at the top of my case and keeping my CPU MUCH cooler than the stock wraith was able to do, even with updated case airflow, and I credit this video for restoring my faith in the idea, seven months after it was published.
What are your front fans doing now?
I just flipped the whole case and realize that I'm not using an AIO
I flipped my house, and it seemed to fix the problem. Bong water, anyone?
Can someone tell me if mounting the water block (the part sitting on the CPU) upside down is a problem?
@@AAWT probably? If the air pocket forms at the side where the CPU contacts, conductivity will decrease. Although it might vary on the structure, Even a tiny air pocket on wrong place might be crucial as it would be a dominating factor of thermal resistance. On the other hand, high flow rate near the pump might prevent air from accumulating.
Who's ready for the new tempered glass liquid RGB coolers?
this made me double check that my closed loop system was installed properly, and I did indeed mount the tubing at the bottom :D You guys have really useful information.
Damn why didn't anyone tell me this 5 years ago
Beats me. Had mine front mounted with the the tubes on top.
@@mig23zcyther ikr, i havent seen a front mounted 360 rad with tubes below on the internet, ever! Well he said the only issue with front mounted tubes on top is the noise, mine doesnt do it, so i guess were fine?
@fran i hope so too! I have a 280mm nzxt x62 that i got 1 1 1/2 year ago so hopefully it will last a couple more years or at least by the time I’ll decide to replace it with a new one. 😅
@@fran117 yeah same mine doesnt make any sound except for the fans that i have on them. plus its impossible for me to front mount with tubes on bottom because of my gpu and case size
@@mig23zcyther right? I had no idea. Had mine mounted front case with tubes top & it works fine. Haven't noticed a noise other than the fans
Im suppose to be studying for my midterm tomorrow and you got me remounting my AIO...
pc > midterms
Sadly most AIO's have short tubes and mounting them "correctly" isn't viable, specially with a big hardware piece that you didn't mention in the middle, the GPU. In my case for example if I mount the AIO like you say the tubes are stretched as far as they can go and they push against the GPU, putting a ton of strain on the PCI-E. I agree with the testing but most of the time that's not viable in a real use case. Maybe companies should make AIO's with longer tubes.
He mentioned: ua-cam.com/video/BbGomv195sk/v-deo.html
@@belfalasvinyamar except just saying to try doesn't work when it's a physical limitation. Also doesn't help if it's 360 mm radiator that goes down into the shroud at the bottom. Hard to bend the tubes around that
@@chrisgent45 Yeah Im using the Arctic Freezer II and I can't mount it with tubes down. It's impossible to route the tubes from the bottom with a GPU installed. I disagree that too mounting is the best way too...all heat inside a PC rises to the top. Your pump *might operate a bit better this way but your temps will also be significantly higher. I've done extensive temp testing with my 360 rad at the top vs front. Front is much better than top.
@@GSP-76 yeah, Bitwit did a video about top versus front placement, and front resulted in 10 degree cooler temp than top, with the discernable difference in GPU temp. Thinking I will have to order a 280 mm AIO instead of 360.
Ouch... Imagine spending 150$ on a case and 100$ more on aio coolers thar dont even fit properly with each other
Doing research on my first build. Glad I saw this video before starting it. I was going to install the AIO exactly the way you said NOT to. Now that I know this I will make sure to install the radiator at the TOP of the case. Thank you so much for saving me from making a massive mistake right off the bat.
instructions unclear: I flipped my pc case upside down
Thats way easier
Did it work?
😂
Not sure if optimal for mechanical hw like HDDs. Other than that, in my amateurishness, it should work!
@@Hawky2947 You can mount mechanical drives in any orientation, it's all good.
-8C just by repositioning my NZXT AIO. Much appreciated Steve.
damn thats impressive, good to know
@@chad2687 more like he gained what he should never have lost.
@@randybobandy9828 Yeah thats fair
@Nathan Peterson Ok ok. I got it wrong then.
On what case? Yesterday i bought H510 but i dont have an idea about how to install my Masterliquid ml240l v2 :(
flashback to the LTT Tech Support Challenge, remembering Steve with a second of frustration at the AIO set with barbs up by the hosts. I thought this would be addressed when I saw thumbnail for this video... :)
I thought that Steve actually might remount the radiator he looked so annoyed
3 years later, this is still the most informative video on liquid coolers and how to best mount them. There are many different types of liquid coolers, and the same solution will not apply for all of them. This video provides an in-depth explanation that helps people find the best orientation for their liquid cooler on their own.
i just got my corsair AIO last week and built my first pc. my tubes were on top which my radiator below the cpu pump. I'm so glad I watched this video and fixed it! my tubes are now on the bottom and the radiator is above the cpu pump! thank you!
i literally just checked under my desk if i got my AIO mounted correctly lmao (im safe, nice). but honestly, it makes tons of sense and im wondering why no one talked about that before. great video guys!
Physics: you ignored me, and where did it take you?...back to me...
1
@@chriskaiyaraj4888 2
3
@Steamed Hams 5
6
Awesome video. Mad props to you and your channel.
I remember when I first installed an AIO on my 2500K and was searching for the proper way to mount it... (almost 10 years ago I think)
Came across some pretty stupid suggestions that made me doubt my ...education... (physics was probably my favorite subject in school)
I was going through sites and some videos and was constantly thinking "that can't be right".
Fast forward to recent years, I've been low key looking at a replacement case for a "secondary" PC I have and bad radiator placement is very common on many of products pictured.
I'm several minutes in and I still have no idea which way is supposed to be the right one.
Mount inlet/outlet tubes at the bottom of the heat exchanger; top of pump mounted at least a couple cm below the top of the heat exchanger. Any air in the system should eventually collect and stay at the highest point of the loop, which ideally will be the 'tank' space at the other end of the heat exchanger from the inlet/outlet tubes.
If sideways, tubes down, if at bottom of case, don't, if top of case, orientation irrelevant
The right installation starts at 13:01
@@healman1000 phew. I top mounted on a whim and was right lol, mostly just to help move the exhaust upward.
I'm nearly at the end and still have no idea what orientation is right...
Very interesting to see and learn about this issue with visuals!
Toasty bros not getting any reply’s interesting.
I bought an NZXT H510i case and Kraken Z63 AIO, installed it the way it said in the manual and pics. My mind is blown at how wrong it is. My next build, I'm buying from a different company. This is by far my favorite and most technical and informative UA-cam channel I've ever seen in UA-cam. Thank you GamerNexus, for your expert and highly technical, accurate and helpful videos!!
Fedora...come on man..
I’ve been running my PC AIO’s incorrectly for the past 7 years! Found this video 4 years late! Going to crack it open and correct my orientation and hopefully get another 3-4 years out of my system. Thanks!
Dropped almost 4 degrees on my side mounted rad 3950x going from tubes at the top to tubes at the bottom and that's with the pump below the top of the radiator. Thumbs up from me.
Cap
I just re-adjusted my dual Xeon pc and 4 way 3090 sli pc's rad, and it's running 1000° cooler, I'm obviously not lying
Hey, what case are you using, if i may ask?
@@mihalyfirobert743 PC-011 dynamic, aio is a deep cool castle 360ex.
I moved my rad tubes to the top and my temperatures actually went up a couple degrees. Probably cause the fresh air is not blowing directly on the radiator anymore.
When I was building my PC a couple months ago I watched 5 videos on how to set up my AIO with a front mounted radiator and they all had the tubes at the top. Thank you for shedding some light on this. Also flipping a radiator was more of an ordeal than I thought it would be..
Edit: I was not experiencing any noise or issues, but just wanted to be safe.
Edit:: You may want to inform your buddies Linus and Jay about the stuff in this video
Imagine spending more money to have more problems.
-this comment was made by the air cool gang
I like to see it
Your computer is ugly
@@lmCIoudz and your cpu runs hotter. This comment sponsored by the big shiny brick gang
@@Pyrohawk 9700k at 4.8ghz ALL cores and I never see Ofer 50c while gaming and never over 63c while using AIDA64 100% load. You mad?
@@lmCIoudz 50-55c at 100% load, 10700k 5ghz...
This was the reason why the fan noise was so loud when I used the same all-in-one water cooler!!! Thank you for your hard work and information.
Would be nice to be able to buy AIOs with different lengths of tubes or with a choice of having 90 degree fittings on the radiator. Would help users to correct mounting in all types of cases.
i think a 90 degree fitting is a loss of liquid inertia, your aio performance will drop since your pump is smaller than the custom loop.
AIOs are just a gimmick anyway. You need a custom loop to actually beat a beefy air cooler, mostly because AIO pumps are so anemic.
@@cm01 wot, did you know that simply an nzxt x72 can beat any air cooler?
CoastalLab a gimmick. huh. that’s a new one
@@coastallab3926 do you really want to spend 2x the price of an NH-D15 for marginally better cooling that's hard to install, uses more power, and a has risk of frying your system?
Steve Burke - the hero we need, not the hero we deserve.
PogO
PogO who asked?
"we" pfff, I deserve him.
PogO DIDN'T ASK
My last AIO lasted over 4 years, but I think having the rad mounted with the tubes at the top was the reason it died. Thanks for the awesome video!!
it was not. this guy doesnt explain it the right way. watch jay2cents video
@Gerardo Gonzalez Proved it? How did he prove it? By saying what he thinks? Do you know what "prove" means?
Thanks man the indepth explanations with visuals were much appreciated
I love how NO ONE even listened to what was said in this video AT ALL and has started commenting on other peoples videos about wrong installations. There are some fair points but a lot of this does not apply to most of you. I wish people would actually use their ears and listen to what was actually said and not turn this into something else entirely. Don't just hear what you want to hear. Good video Steve.
We run into this problem a lot. I tried to make it clear really early in the video (guess you heard that part) that the point isn't to create a whirlwind of comments spamming other YTers, but to get manufacturers to provide clearer documentation/images on how to install things.
@@GamersNexus exactly! When I watch something I always watch the entire body of work. I don't know why people find that so hard lol. Thanks for backing us up on this mate. It's appreciated.
Even though I did not expect your comment here at all, I can't help but feel that I expected it once I saw it.
@@GearSeekers ''When I watch something I always watch the entire body of work'' are you coming on to him?
hmm ... after seeing all this, I'm keeping my Noctua Nh-d15 ..
Best cooler I ever used!
@@zarmaanful My Nh-D15 is bent down, like ... because gravity ? what the ...?
@@Maisonier what?!
If you're not using a Noctua air cooler you're a bell-end :P
Just got rid of my D15, ugly as hell while winning maybe by 5 celsius compared to my aio.
Imagine if the just put a sticker on the radiator "this way up"
That's actually a really good idea, could even make it one of those plastic peel things. Everyone loves those things right?
That wouldn't fix things if people mount the rad lower than the cooler in the case still, would still make the pump the highest point in the loop.
I'd stamp it into the radiator along with instructions to mount the radiator above the pump.
Imagine if they would put a bleeder port on the pump and on the radiator where, regardless of how you had it mounted in your rig, you could bleed the air bubbles out of it and top it up.
The whole problem arises because these things are a bitch to bleed and have a ludicrous amount of air trapped in them right from the factory.
@@shawnpitman876 Couldn't do that on my PC. Nowhere else to put optical drives, no vents on the top of the case. I'd have no choice but to put it on the floor of the case somewhere...and probably put a bung in the pump body where I can just back off a screw, bleed out the air, top up the coolant, and plug it back off again.
One of those rare vides with true engineering approach, data and clear presentation.
Gotta say this is the best channel of its kind, comprehensive tests and honest objective info. No bullshit joking around and trying too hard as most channels. Quality stands out on its own.
19:53 this is Gamers Nexus ideal location of pump and radiator inside case to reduce noise (whine/gurgling) and is overall better for longevity of AIO (if case and length of tubing on AIO permits).
What about if I have it mounted on the top
@@oisintimon317 - that should be fine.
@@oisintimon317 top mounted is he's preferred but he said if your front mounting make sure the pipes are at the bottom, if you can't do this then top mount. Is the basis of the video
@@peterrodriguez14 king #1
@@jeffreekenny king #2
After finding out about this, I'm surprised to see how many rigs have the pump/block as the highest point in the system because of how the case is designed. A ton of cases have the mobo mounts so high in relation to the radiator mounts that this problem would be unavoidable with pretty much all AIOs.
Same thought. Even with a massive case like TT P8 Core the motherboard is so close to the radiator/fans that assembly is difficult and risky sometimes.
@@mothambo Go with a Gigabyte C200. Super cool, classy case, and has TONS of space for mounting the cooler on top of the mother board. I'm having around 2-3 inch free space between my 56mm AIO and Ballistix RAMs(The closest thing to the AIO)
No excuse... my old ass case has no mounts for a radiator at ALL and is super cramped for an ATX case. So I got out my drills and sheet metal cutters and mounted that bad boy on top so it doesn't share the GPU and mobos air