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Noctua NH-L9a-AM4: A Very Low-Profile AMD Ryzen Cooler

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  • #11
    Originally posted by M@GOid View Post
    with Ryzen AMD simply killed a lot of the market for third party coolers.
    It's the same story as always. Most folks are content with the stock cooler because they're not OC'ing and they're not too sensitive to noise (or other things in the environment drown it out). While the Wraith coolers are better than past stock coolers (and current Intel stock coolers), they still leave a bit to be desired.

    Personally, I have a Ryzen 2400G with the Wraith Stealth and I can't wait to get a better cooler. While the fan is not loud, its tonal characteristic is an annoying buzz. If I'm sitting in a quiet environment, it annoys me enough where I will put on music even if I'm not in the mood for it. The Wraith Spire would probably do a better job of keeping the fan from ramping up, but if it's the same fan, I would still want a better cooler.

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    • #12
      Originally posted by atomsymbol

      In my opinion, there is no point in trying to keep CPU temperatures below 60℃.
      My profile's set to ramp the fan from 55-65*C. I stated "mostly idle" because it's a 65W cooler. If you plan on hammering a 95W chip with a 65W cooler, you're usually gonna have a bad time. At full crank the NH-L9a-AM4 will hold my 1700X at 75*C (room temp ~76*F), which is a little higher than I'd like to keep my electronics. But because this box is never at 100% unless I'm doing a Nessus scan it works out perfectly.

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      • #13
        Originally posted by elatllat View Post
        I agree that Noctua is the best option if you don't have the space for passive cooling.
        Actually when it comes to low-profile coolers, Raijintek Pallas seems to be better for single-fan coolers. It almost performs on par with the NH-L12 in dual-fan configuration.

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        • #14
          Originally posted by atomsymbol
          If somebody is buying a stand-alone CPU cooler then the intention - aside from achieving lower noise levels, prolonging CPU lifespan, etc - likely is to overclock the CPU (enable PBO, modify wattage limits, etc).[/LIST]
          I don't think that's the reason anyone would buy this specific cooler. The whole point of it is to be low profile, so you could stick it in a case that a larger (stock) cooler won't fit in.

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          • #15
            This cooler is a perfect fit for the ASRock DeskMini A300W. It's such a perfect fit I have to imagine one was designed with the other in mind.

            I think that's still the only Mini-STX chassis with a full-size AM4 socket. If you are looking for the smallest possible AM4 build and want it to have quiet and effective cooling, this is the combo to get.

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            • #16
              I find it striking that in all examples here the benchmarks seem to have taken more time to complete with the Noctua cooler at full speed. Michael, could you maybe reassure us that the benchmark performance you observed was the same between all cooling methods for all tests? Because if for any odd reason performance was not the same, those temperatures really can't be compared.

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              • #17
                Originally posted by atomsymbol
                I suppose cooler manufacturers sometime in the future will be adding graphene or carbon nanotubes to CPU coolers to increase heat conductivity and will switch to new materials with higher heat capacity. Aluminium has higher heat capacity (0.9) than copper (0.385), but unfortunately aluminium has lower heat conductivity (237) than copper (401). It would be very nice to enrich aluminium with material X to increase its heat conductivity so that the combined material aluminium+X can be used in coolers instead of aluminium&copper.
                Have you heard of this marvel of space-age technology called heatpipe?

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                • #18
                  Originally posted by atomsymbol

                  Just some notes:
                  • Knowing the temperature is somewhat pointless if we do not know the RPM (and thus the noise level) of the cooler. The coolers I have (limited) experience with are becoming audible at about 1100 RPM, so it would be nice to know whether the Noctua cooler is spinning at less than 1100 RPM when running Prime95 Small FFTs on all cores.
                  • The benchmarks do not include Prime95 Small FFTs test which is (as far as I know) the best way to heat up a CPU.
                  I have the same cooler on a Ryzen 5 1600, and it's more or less inaudible even when the CPU is fully loaded when compiling, although that's a 65w CPU.

                  I'd like to point out that Noctua also makes extremely quiet 40mm fans too. In general Noctua is one of the best if not the best worldwide in low-noise CPU fans.
                  See here a ridicolous 21 x 40mm fan setup that is almost as silent as 2x 120 fans.
                  Have you ever seen those fan adapters, the things that let you take a 120mm fan and attach it to a 280mm rad. I always wondered why would you want to do that...


                  I don't have professional equipment so I can't provide Sone measurements, sadly.

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                  • #19
                    Originally posted by atomsymbol
                    Note 2: For many people, Noctua coolers and fans aren't a valid option unless they add other color schemes to their brown&metal color scheme such as black&metal.
                    I despise people who use the PC as a goddamn doll.

                    That said, they also sell black 120 and 140mm fans with swappable angle rubbers of different color, with the "Chromax" product line. https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/chromax
                    They also sell heatsink covers for their tower heatsinks black or white with swappable inlays of different colors, again with the Chromax product line. https://noctua.at/en/products/access...eatsink-covers

                    I meant: beyond (traditional) heatpipes.
                    I've seen studies about using carbon nanotubes or other similar nano-sized structure as the wick material inside heatpipes, to increase dramatically the internal surface area, and thus the ability of the phase-changing fluid to absorb (or release) heat.

                    I don't think they will do away with the concept of phase-change heat transfer (heatpipe) any time soon. If you find a better material for heat transfer you can always scale up the phase-change devices too with it, so you end up with better and better heatpipes.

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