The one thing AIO's are known for is lack of any kind of restriction when it comes to the pump. It's a rather small hockey Puck sized thing (mostly) than mounts on top of the cpu. It's generally smaller than most stock coolers. So that's really not a concern.
Radiator in front. There's more than a few cases where the only place to mount a 240/280mm radiator is in front. There's several ways this can be done. My current pc has been changed, it used to have the rad on top, fans in push, then swapped for pull, now it's front mounted with fans in pull.
Top-push: most common, especially with RGB/led fans, acts as a top mount exhaust for case heat. Does best with fans @1500 rpm or higher.
Top-pull: easier to clean, doesn't really require disassembly, harder to mount originally. Does better with fan speeds under @1200rpm.
Front-push: most common, especially with rgb/led fans, hard mount to inside the case, fans mount from outside. Easy to partially disassemble for cleaning behind the fan. Fan speeds same as top mount.
Front-pull: hardest to configure due to hdd cages. Easiest to clean, rad is directly behind the dust filter, requires no disassembly. Fan speeds same as top pull.
Both front mounts act as intakes, both top mount act as exhausts. For some, this can be a bone of contention, suggestions of lowered airflow, high gpu temps, overheated cases etc. Poppycock.
Case temps on top mount are generally @2°C cooler than with a large air tower, bleed air from the sides of the towers and a giant heatsink supplying most of that 2°C difference. Gpu temps are @2°C cooler as airflow is not impeded by an aircoolers turbulence in the flow of heat from below. Motherboard temps are slightly higher than with an aircooler, the pump lacks bleed air potential, so the voltage regulatory circuitry around the socket doesn't get the same amount of air across its heatsinking.
Case temps on front mount rads are @2°C higher than aircoolers which the vast majority of heat exhaust is aimed directly at the rear exhaust fan. The radiator doesn't have that option. With decent airflow in the case, the rad exhaust doesn't stay long enough to really do much to heat up a case volume. Gpu is iffy. My gpu actually shows lower temps, the fans in pull are closest to the gpu, and have totally unrestricted exhaust directly at it. Push mount fans will show higher temps, simply due to the radiators airflow restrictiveness. The air will go in, just has a harder time reaching the back of the case. Cpu has the lowest temps of any cooler, the cooling elements having direct outside air contact, not inside case air as with top mount or aircoolers.
Overall, the temp differences are pretty negligible. Even a 5°C difference is honestly chump change when dealing with temps @20°C over case ambient for cpu/gpu, or @30-35°C Delta over outside ambient temps.
Each design, be it air or liquid has its own strengths and weaknesses. Both are equitable in performance, according to their respective brackets. The only real advantage AIO's have over air cooling is capacity, and thats only found when comparing the largest air coolers to the big AIO's. But since most p do not push 300w+ OC, even that advantage is negligible, anything under @250w is all the same.
Honestly, it's a personal preference thing, performance is equitable. The only ppl who get any benefit are benchmark chasers who will use a consistent load. Gaming loads vary so much, so fast that 10°C changes second to second are not uncommon, which makes anything inside that bracket pretty much identical.
Choose whichever way you want, neither style has any clear advantage. Aircoolers are generally cheaper, if budget is an issue, I personally do not like the huge heatsink a few mm away from my window with the big aircoolers, much prefer the aesthetics of the AIO's.
And don't bother listening to the noise critics. The only part of either design that makes any real amount of noise is the fans. AIO's make no more noise than a aircooler. But, the difference is entirely in the fans, a Noctua is extremely quiet, the old corsair h100+ series fans were absolutely miserable, spinning at 2400+ rpm. If Noctua put its fans on an AIO, the whole noise argument would go out the window.
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