Question Best 120mm AIO with pump in the radiator- Evolve Shift 2

[NiallHT]

Hi,
I am looking at doing my first ITX PC build using a Phanteks evolve shift 2 air.
one major issue with this case is the fact of the radiator is mounted at the bottom of the case meaning the pump will be in a potentially bad place. (GamersNexus giving me anxiety 😆 )
i was looking into this and i was surprised Phanteks didn't think of this when designing the case but who knows.

anyway, I found out that the NZXT Kraken 120 has a pump on the radiator itself meaning the pump would not have the excess air within it when fitted in the Shift 2.
but after looking I found that this cooler is possible one of the worst preforming AIO's on the market for this reason as it loses radiator space to the pump.
I was wondering if anyone else knows of any good 120mm AIO's (Max 120mm in the Shift2) as I have little knowledge of AIOs and normally stick to big air coolers.

thanks in advance for any tips/advice
Cheers, Niall

Links:
NZXT Kraken 120 AIO: https://nzxt.com/en-GB/collection/kraken-120
Shift 2 manual: https://www.phanteks.com/assets/manuals/Shift2-manual.pdf

 

[NiallHT]

it has just occurred to me that i could maybe use some air coolers in this build, as seen in this video by paul's hardware I linked below but I'm unsure what is a better option for cooling

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UatP7-mOOwI&t=676s

 

[Phaaze88]

The Evolv Shift 2's design doesn't complement most AIO/CLCs too well, as you've already read up on. Either pump heads will run dry and die earlier, while pump in radiator will see crappy thermals as air volume increases over time.
Fortunately, there is another type: the in-line pump. Be Quiet's Pure Loop 120 might have your number.
If not that, then for air coolers:
Noctua NH-L12S
Scythe Big Shuriken 3 Revision B
Thermalright AXP120-X67 and AXP90-X53
The manual says max clearance is 85mm. I prefer to err 1mm short to be on the safe side when recommending coolers to others.