would have gone wih the assassin but looked this one up and it's not too bad for the price either:
Thermalright Phantom Spirit
they're very similar.
the Peerless Assassin has a tiny bit more fin surface area and supposedly runs a bit quieter, but probably nothing very noticeable.
though i wouldn't bother with the switch until you verify if properly installing the AIO helps enough with temps.
while you have it out rotate the radiator/tubing around to ensure any possible bubbles will have worked free.
Do you not need thermal paste with air coolers?
some may come with pre-applied pads, but it's almost always better to use a higher quality 3rd party thermal paste.
the last few builds i've done i used Prolimatech PK-3 and it is exceptional.
you're saying I've had my radiator and fans backwards this whole time? lol I feel like I would have encountered this a lot sooner if that was the case
it appears that way.
if the fans are blowing down into the radiator then all of the heat generated by the CPU is being lead into the system where it's heat affects all other components.
if the fans are blowing up away from the radiator then it is just not as effective as blowing up through the radiator.
either way your fans will have to work harder at higher RPMs with more noise produced and still will achieve less system-wide cooling.
Corsair Carbide Series 500R
i still have one of those old Corsair 500R cases as a media center system that had been moved to my mother's house quiet some years ago.
they are pretty good at cooling with the 200mm side fan, but the front/rear 120mm fans could definitely use an upgrade.