Built a PC for my friend. We picked out all the components and he bought the combo from MicroCenter. At the store he decided to upgrade everything. We got everything home and found out about the known clearance issue with the m.2 heatsink interfering with his AIO pump. We initially decided to leave the heatsink off (he’s not going to use either of those slots). It was bothering both of us aesthetically having the open slots and thermal pads showing so we started looking for a more elegant solution. None of the other aftermarket low profile m.2 covers were going to match perfectly and it was really bothering him. He had the idea to check if there was a way to remove the top, bulkier part of the heatsink. A screwdriver, pliers and some electric tape later, we have a finished build.
TLDR: had a mobo/aio clearance issues, tried for an elegant solution and used brute force for the win.