Stop Doing It Wrong: How to Kill Your CPU Cooler (AIO Mounting Orientation)

A lot of PC builds online (including manufacturer photos & NR200P builds) incorrectly mount AIO liquid coolers, leading to pump noise/whine and early cooler failure. Sponsor: Buy Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on Amazon () or Hydronaut paste () FOLLOW-UP answering common questions from the comments in this one, like cavitation, custom loops, tubes not reaching, and more! Grab a rugged, anti-static work surface for your PC building and modding projects! Our Medium Modmat is in stock and shipping now: (this is also a great way to support the work we do while getting a highly usable tool in return!) Learn how liquid coolers are made in our factory tour: Watch our most recent CPU cooler review video for updated thermal data on the best CPU coolers for PC builds: We’ve wanted to do this video idea for a long time now, but finally got around to it after seeing an increase in manufacturers incorrectly picturing liquid coolers installed in their cases. Bitfenix and Cooler Master have both shown installation procedures that can actually kill the cooler, while pretty much everyone else has shown some form of sub-optimal installation that will minimally hurt the acoustic performance of coolers. In instances of mini-ITX cases like the Cooler Master NR200P, we’ve noticed a lot of build photos on forums online (and in YouTube media, but we don’t blame the YTers or builders for overlooking this) installing coolers bottom-mounted. This, we think, isn’t an issue with the reviewers or the PC building enthusiasts, but with the educational materials provided with the cases. The fact that there is an explicitly mentioned bottom-mount for radiators in a case where it’s very likely to be used is a problem, and any case with such a mount should include warnings against installing closed-loop liquid coolers with block-mounted pumps in these positions. Installing a custom loop bypasses this issue, since the pump is almost never going to be in the block, and therefore should never be at the top of the loop (it’s more likely to be in the middle of the loop). But AIO CPU coolers should not ever be bottom-mounted with the pump at the top of the loop. Manufacturer websites (shown in this video) also commonly show front-mounted radiators with tubes at the top, which will become noisy as permeation increases, and sometimes can be noisy immediately. This video is a PSA to try and help reduce pump whine, pump noise, and prevent liquid coolers from dying early or overheating. Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: RELATED PRODUCTS Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 on Amazon: EK’s AIO 360 D-RGB will eventually be on Amazon here: Find the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 on Amazon: Or find the Liquid Freezer II 280 on Newegg: Noctua NH-D15 on Amazon: EVGA CLC 280 on Amazon: TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Stop Doing It Wrong! 03:14 - Mounting AIOs Wrong Can Kill Them 04:52 - How Liquid Coolers Work 05:52 - Cutting Open a Cooler & Building a Test Vehicle 07:02 - Proving a Point with a Clear Coldplate 07:30 - Important Science: Air Gap & Permeation 08:55 - Manufacturing an AIO Cooler 10:03 - Permeation & Plastic Deformation 11:00 - Experiment Setup 13:00 - Good: Top Mount, Tubes Down 14:46 - Bad: Bottom Mount, Tubes Up 15:52 - Lowest Point vs. Highest Point in the Loop 17:10 - Pump Starved for Water & Plastic Decay 17:56 - Bad: Front Mount, Tubes Up 19:50 - Ideal Orientation for Front Mount 20:03 - Good: Front Mount, Tubes Down 20:58 - FEP, EPDM, & PTFE Tubing Explained 22:50 - Permeation & Evaporation Rate (Ideal Conditions) 24:24 - Air Bubble Formation & Pump Noise or Failure 25:01 - Stop It! ** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! ** Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video (“this video is brought to you by“) and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or “sponsored content“ (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage. Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates: t: f: w: Editorial, Host: Steve Burke Video: Keegan Gallick, Andrew Coleman