Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 pump orientation

[nickbg321]

Hey! I'm putting together my new PC and I was wondering if the pump orientation on the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 matters? I've attached two example photos to help illustrate my question.

 

 

I want to mount the pump VRM fan facing down (like in the 1st picture) because in the other orientation it feels like I am putting way too much stress on the tubing and on top of that my GPU is going to be rubbing against the tubes.

 

Is there any concern in mounting the pump VRM fan facing down, aside from the obvious that the fan will not be blowing air in the VRMs? Does it pose any threat to pump reliability and longevity?

[RejZoR]

After watching Steve from GamersNexus tearing it down I can say it literally doesn't matter. VRM fan will blow in the wrong direction, but that's about it.

 

Video:

 

Block design shouldn't be affected by the orientation as water is literally just pushed through and all the routing through chambers would be problematic for air bubbles either way. Also thanks to your inquiry I've discovered these Arctic coolers have fill port on the block part which will be handy for me in the future

 

I would suggest pointing the VRM fan upwards though and maybe rotating the radiator instead. Could that be done to improve hoses bending?

[nickbg321]

I've attached a photo of my setup. Currently the VRM fan is facing downwards and there is little to no pressure and the tubes are pointing downwards. If I want to have it fan facing upwards and have no excessive pressure I'd have to flip the radiator and have the tubes at the top.

[RejZoR]

Generally it shouldn't be a problem even if they are a bit kinked or twisted. Steve said Arctic Cooling is using rubber tubes on these AiO's which are generally not affected by mechanical deformation. Sure it feels weird having it twisted in a certain way, but shouldn't damage the tubing itself. Especially if it's not really extreme.

 

You don't use dedicated graphic card? I'd say mount it on the ceiling, but I think you're not doing it because of space. These 280mm radiators are a bitch with clearance on the case ceiling unless it's a big one. It's why I also had to resort to 240mm version because motherboard is so close there and I want it on the case ceiling so it pumps all the heat out.

[nickbg321]

I'm waiting for my GPU to arrive, should be here on Monday, hence there's nothing in the system atm.

 

The case (Phanteks P400A) does not support radiators on the top unfortunately. I think I'll leave it like this for now as the VRM fan blowing in the wrong direction is not a deal breaker for me. I don't have experience with other AIOs but the tubes on the Liquid Freezer are really not that flexible. It definitely feels like there's too much tension if I try to force it the other way around.

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

[Visantir]

Hello there! GN site referred above has two films which I suggest for watching. Steve explains how to put a radiator correctly in the case.

1) 

 

2) 

3) edited few minutes after: I want to add this picture from this video

 

Edited December 25, 2020 by Visantir

[Kleo Yan]

On 12/5/2020 at 10:12 PM, nickbg321 said:

I've attached a photo of my setup. Currently the VRM fan is facing downwards and there is little to no pressure and the tubes are pointing downwards. If I want to have it fan facing upwards and have no excessive pressure I'd have to flip the radiator and have the tubes at the top.

 

hmm.. this is kind of weird. I find it to mount the oppsite direction is better for me.. plus the VRM fan is actually blowing on the VRM itself. 

also I did a vid on how I mount my cpu block. 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[roddickman]

On 12/26/2020 at 2:50 AM, Kleo Yan said:

hmm.. this is kind of weird. I find it to mount the oppsite direction is better for me.. plus the VRM fan is actually blowing on the VRM itself. 

also I did a vid on how I mount my cpu block. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

bruhhhh not to sound like an asshole but you definetly need the hoses starting from the top of the pump, not the bottom. You got to flip the radiator so the water isnt flowing against gravity and working harder.

 

[roddickman]

I came to this forum because I had to mount the VRM fan the same way due to my motherboard and I was wondering if that would have any negative effect on the cooler.

[Jeppes]

7 hours ago, roddickman said:

bruhhhh not to sound like an asshole but you definetly need the hoses starting from the top of the pump, not the bottom. You got to flip the radiator so the water isnt flowing against gravity and working harder.

 

False. Best way is radiator on roof or front tubes down.

[nickbg321]

8 hours ago, roddickman said:

I came to this forum because I had to mount the VRM fan the same way due to my motherboard and I was wondering if that would have any negative effect on the cooler.

Hey! Mine's been running like in my photo for nearly 2 months now and I've had no issues so far. It manages to keep my stock 5900X around 72-73 C during Prime95 stress testing, In normal operation it rarely goes over 60 C.

[SavageNeo]

9 hours ago, roddickman said:

bruhhhh not to sound like an asshole but you definetly need the hoses starting from the top of the pump, not the bottom. You got to flip the radiator so the water isnt flowing against gravity and working harder.

 

False. you got it the other way around.

[Shonk]

The way the Arctic Liquid Freezer II is put together at the factory dictates the way around the block will want to be

and this may vary by device mine was the same as yours and the fan wants to be down and im not going to force a kink in the tubes

if it wants to be down let it be down

 

if you need extra vrm cooling due to a bad motherboard add vrm cooling

 

I did this on my Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming as the vrm's where not upto the job of a Prime 95 AVX Small FFT

long term load and i like for my pc to be stable under any load

I added extra heatsinks to the vrm and a 60mm blower that came on at 90°C vrm temp

 

But in the end decided to replace the motherboard for one with better vrm's  (Aorus Z390 Master)

as i wasnt happy with it but this meant i had to also replace my Thermaltake Core V21 Case as it was mATX

 

You have the rad setup in the optimal orientation

just make sure you did a good job with paste

I subscribe to the credit card method with MX-4 Paste

Thin layer on IHS + Thin layer on Heatsink with perfect coverage on the IHS

any other way is just to inconsistent for my liking no matter what gn says about it

 

MY i9-9900KS is super hard to keep under Tj Max.with a Prime 95 Small FFT AVX Load (250w load)

 

Package PL1 = Stock unrestricted

CPU Vcore = Normal

Dynamic Vcore (DVID) = -0.035V  (35mv undervolt)

CPU Vcore Load Line = Normal (Intel Spec 1.600 mOhm)

Turbo Ratio 1-5 Cores = 52, 6-7 Cores = 51, 8 Cores = 50 (e.g. stock at all Core)

 

Prime 95 Small FFT AVX load 250w with -0.035v (its 260w without undervolt)

Reported wattage is from the cpu not vrout btw vrout is lower

 

Noctua NH-D15S + 2 Noctua Fans = Hits Tj Max. Quickly

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 with rad in roof = Hovers around 97°C and hits Tj Max now and then on cores 2 and 4 (my worst cores)

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 with rad in front pipes down Hovers around 82-85°C with no core ever going past 90°C

 

I know i know in the roof should be the same but its not for me

 

so yeah keep it how you have it

 

Regards fans

AIO = Blowing into case

Top Fans = Sucking out of case

Rear Fan = Sucking out of case

 

Being that you are running amd you will be pulling nowhere near the 250w that i am on the cpu

so you should be fine either way