H115i Platinum Radiator placement

Does anyone know of a reason why I shouldn't place the H115i's radiator at the front of my case instead of mounting it at the top. The only guidance Corsair gives in the "Quick Start Guide" is showing an illustration of a top mounted rad and a recommendation to set the fans as air intake. The problem is with my Fractal Design Define R6 case, doing a top mounted rad makes everything super tight up there, and it actually overlaps the top of my mobo, partially covering the DIMM slots, all the fan headers, as well as the LED display for troubleshooting codes. I'm just wondering if its recommended or not to front mount, because a front mounted radiator would solve all my issues. But not at a cost of higher temps. Edited June 16, 2019 by hapkiman

Front mount is fine as long as your case supports it. Just keep in mind that it will increase the interior temperature a bit but it'll also be better for your radiator temps. You may want to consider having direct intake as well to counter the increase from the radiator exhaust (which will be around the temp of the coolant, maybe 1C more).

Ok cool thanks. Yes the radiator will easily fit at the front in my case. So if I front mount the rad and set fans as intake, then I should set two 140mm ML fans at the top - and have them as exhaust right? And I guess the single 140mm fan at the rear (which is exhaust now) won't make much difference either way.

All else being equal in a perfect flow case, the internal top layer is usually a few degrees warmer the front rail. When you use it as top exhaust, you are also pulling the VRM, RAM, and general motherboard heat through the radiator. In a fully water cooled system, those things are often the warmest. It's only about a 2C difference for me, but if you are running an open fan style GPU, front mount may be worth more than that. Should be OK for the front rail in a R6.

Does anyone know of a reason why I shouldn't place the H115i's radiator at the front of my case instead of mounting it at the top. The only guidance Corsair gives in the "Quick Start Guide" is showing an illustration of a top mounted rad and a recommendation to set the fans as air intake. The problem is with my Fractal Design Define R6 case, doing a top mounted rad makes everything super tight up there, and it actually overlaps the top of my mobo, partially covering the DIMM slots, all the fan headers, as well as the LED display for troubleshooting codes. I'm just wondering if its recommended or not to front mount, because a front mounted radiator would solve all my issues. But not at a cost of higher temps.

 

The Define R6 is the perfect case for a front mounted AOI, due to the numerous options for case fan locations. I suggest that you make use of the base slots for fan intakes, you can easily fit a 140mm and a 120mm in front of the PSU. Keeping the non-CPU components cool is easy in this case.