Question Is my AIO installed correctly?

It's fine. As long as the block is below the top of the radiator it won't start pulling air bubbles.
What about the hose? The hose is slightly higher than the radiator. And I can't manipulate it to be lower. Can air bubbles form in the hose that way?
 
What about the hose? The hose is slightly higher than the radiator. And I can't manipulate it to be lower. Can air bubbles form in the hose that way?
See photo... this is the ONLY way this AIO would fit in my case. I'm just worried I will get air in my pump. Temps are fine. 25c idle and 55c under load.
See photo... this is the ONLY way this AIO would fit in my case. I'm just worried I will get air in my pump. Temps are fine. 25c idle and 55c under load.
Radiator should be placed so hoses are at bottom. There's always some unfilled space at top of radiator and hole leading to pump intake may be in the air pocket and so starving pump at low flow until it heats up, expand and partially fill up top tank.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKwA7ygTJn0
 
Radiator should be placed so hoses are at bottom.
I have never had an AIO that lets me place the hoses at the bottom of the rad - they're always too short to reach round/over the GPU.

For the OP, here's what mine looks like and it's perfectly fine!

jzlEAwEl.jpg

Can air bubbles form in the hose that way?
Unlikely, but you can usually hear when there are bubbles in the loop as it makes a distinctive sound. (Mine normally does it for a few seconds when I first turn it on if it's been off for a while.)
 
I have Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 in very large Raidmax case and there's no problem with hoses reaching bottom. It was same with Cooler Master Nepton II pro. Looking at OP's picture, hoses should easily reach bottom.
 
Don't forget a) the OP already said it won't mount the other way up and I have no reason to doubt that they tried, and b) that case seems to have a PSU shroud that extends above the bottom of the radiator so you need to factor in an extra 5cm or so to account for the awkward bends that would be required. Possibly rotating the block so the hoses come out of the bottom would give enough slack, but just based on the pictures it doesn't look to me like there's any chance of it reaching.

In general most AIOs seem to have hoses that are around 35cm long, and given that on an ATX board it's about 30cm from CPU socket to bottom right corner there's not usually a lot of choice in which way up it goes - once you take routing it round other hardware into account hoses up is more often than not the only option.

Annoyingly AIO spec sheets (or even reviews) rarely mention the hose length so there's really no way of knowing until you try, but the Arctic Liquid Freezer II has 45cm hoses which explains why yours fits the other way up. (I'm guessing the OP has an ML360R which, from the few reviews that seems to think it worth mentioning, is on the shorter end but I can't find an actual figure anywhere.)

All that said, even if it's not ideal it's not going to be catastrophic if you can't mount everything in the optimal way. The pump might make a bit of noise when you first power it up when it's been idle for several days and cooling may lose a percentage point or two efficiency, but if your particular hardware combination means you can't put things in the perfect position it's not the end of the world - as long as most of the water in the system is above the pump it's going to be juuuust fine. I occasionally consider remounting mine so it's on the top of the case but it's honestly more trouble than it's worth - I never even get close to the thermal limit on anything, and the four miles of RGB and fan cables were a nightmare to manage and I do not want to do it again if I don't have to!
 
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@AirAKose , what you have going is FINE, just like in the JTC's video. The controversy over AIO hoses got misinterpreted from the Gamers' Nexus video and said misinterpretation got regurgitated the world over.
The worst thing that comes out of that position is NOISE - not death - from the small reservoir where the hoses connect to the radiator. The fluid level lowers over time to permeation at the hoses, and you get more air collecting in that reservoir - that's the source of the noise. It can take a few years before it may annoy you.
Now, if you were using one of ID-Cooling's Frostflows, then it'd be deadly.

Also, that extra 15~20mm of hose length those Arctic Freezers have goes a long way... no pun intended.
 
Don't forget a) the OP already said it won't mount the other way up and I have no reason to doubt that they tried, and b) that case seems to have a PSU shroud that extends above the bottom of the radiator so you need to factor in an extra 5cm or so to account for the awkward bends that would be required. Possibly rotating the block so the hoses come out of the bottom would give enough slack, but just based on the pictures it doesn't look to me like there's any chance of it reaching.

In general most AIOs seem to have hoses that are around 35cm long, and given that on an ATX board it's about 30cm from CPU socket to bottom right corner there's not usually a lot of choice in which way up it goes - once you take routing it round other hardware into account hoses up is more often than not the only option.

Annoyingly AIO spec sheets (or even reviews) rarely mention the hose length so there's really no way of knowing until you try, but the Arctic Liquid Freezer II has 45cm hoses which explains why yours fits the other way up. (I'm guessing the OP has an ML360R which, from the few reviews that seems to think it worth mentioning, is on the shorter end but I can't find an actual figure anywhere.)

All that said, even if it's not ideal it's not going to be catastrophic if you can't mount everything in the optimal way. The pump might make a bit of noise when you first power it up when it's been idle for several days and cooling may lose a percentage point or two efficiency, but if your particular hardware combination means you can't put things in the perfect position it's not the end of the world - as long as most of the water in the system is above the pump it's going to be juuuust fine. I occasionally consider remounting mine so it's on the top of the case but it's honestly more trouble than it's worth - I never even get close to the thermal limit on anything, and the four miles of RGB and fan cables were a nightmare to manage and I do not want to do it again if I don't have to!
Thank you, you put my mind at ease. It's as you said; the PSU shroud is in the way and would require a very uncomfortable bend and pressure of the hose. Which seems like would cause a leak over time. And I'm pretty sure if I did manage to make it work, the hose would not have been long enough. I couldn't top mount because front i/o cables were in the way, and also the top vent does not extend the full length of the case, so i would have been only able to use 2 fans anyways. I realize my solution would have been to get a smaller radiator, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of returning it.

As of now, there's zero noise coming from pump. I can hear it spinning slightly, but no gurgling at all. On another note, does anybody have any cleaver suggestions for hiding/disguising the GPU power cables? :)
 
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