What’s the Best Fan and AIO Orientation for This Case?

For a typical setup, I’d try the AIO at the top as exhaust, with the side and bottom fans bringing cool air into the case. Radiator exhaust can raise internal case temperature slightly, but it removes the CPU’s heat directly and avoids pushing radiator-warmed air toward the graphics card. As long as the temperatures and noise are acceptable, there’s no need to over-optimize the airflow.

The pump’s location matters more than the exact fan direction. Make sure the pump is never the highest point in the loop, because trapped air can cause noise and reduce pump life. If the pump is in the CPU block, a top-mounted radiator is usually fine. If the pump is built into the radiator, mount the radiator so part of it remains above the pump; a front or side mount with the tubes positioned appropriately is generally safer than placing it at the bottom.

A common layout is bottom and side fans as intake, with the top-mounted radiator exhausting air. That gives the case a more consistent bottom-to-top airflow path instead of having intake and exhaust streams fight each other. The best arrangement still depends on your CPU and GPU temperatures, so test both layouts if possible.