I duplicated (almost) the single fan only testing with an Alpenfoehn Blackridge cooler I earlier conducted with a Noctua L-12 Ghost Edition. I intended to reuse the Carbonaut thermal pad, but is is fused to the Noctua cooler’s cold plate. I used the Noctua NM-AM4-L9aL9i backplate. I would not use this cooler without a backplate. I also used Permatex Threadlocker Purple on the 4 screws securing the AMD mounting brackets to ensure they remained tight as I found them loosened after an earlier cooler mounting.
Tested:
Scythe Wonder Snail
Scythe Kaze Flex Black
Noctua A12x25
Phanteks T30
Noctua A12x15
Arctic P14
I included the Arctic P14 fan as it fit very nicely on top of either the Blackridge or the L12GE cooler when mounted in my 5.9 liter Yiluka YLK01 case.
I also tried the Arctic P14 fan as front mounted (case) fans with the Scythe Wonder Snail fan on the cooler for comparison in both intake & exhaust configurations.
As to fan noise, the Noctua A12x15 was very quiet on both coolers.
The Noctua A12x25 used on the L12GE in single fan mode was the quietest of the 25–30mm thick fans at 100% PWM. On the Blackridge, the A12x25 has a distinct whine above 1785 RPM – most likely due to the tighter fin spacing on this cooler.
The Phanteks T30 was the quietest of the 25-30mm thick fans on the Blackridge.
The Scythe Wonder Snail had more fan noise than the Noctua A12x25, but no bothersome whine.
The Scythe Kaze Flex Black made a lot of air noise. Included this fan to note the difference between a pressure and an airflow fan.
The larger Arctic P14 had a smooth sound even at max RPM.
Tested:
Scythe Wonder Snail
Scythe Kaze Flex Black
Noctua A12x25
Phanteks T30
Noctua A12x15
Arctic P14
I included the Arctic P14 fan as it fit very nicely on top of either the Blackridge or the L12GE cooler when mounted in my 5.9 liter Yiluka YLK01 case.
I also tried the Arctic P14 fan as front mounted (case) fans with the Scythe Wonder Snail fan on the cooler for comparison in both intake & exhaust configurations.
As to fan noise, the Noctua A12x15 was very quiet on both coolers.
The Noctua A12x25 used on the L12GE in single fan mode was the quietest of the 25–30mm thick fans at 100% PWM. On the Blackridge, the A12x25 has a distinct whine above 1785 RPM – most likely due to the tighter fin spacing on this cooler.
The Phanteks T30 was the quietest of the 25-30mm thick fans on the Blackridge.
The Scythe Wonder Snail had more fan noise than the Noctua A12x25, but no bothersome whine.
The Scythe Kaze Flex Black made a lot of air noise. Included this fan to note the difference between a pressure and an airflow fan.
The larger Arctic P14 had a smooth sound even at max RPM.
MakerBeam ITX Open Test Bench Aorus B550 ITX MB; Ryzen 7 4750G; 32 GB Corsair LPX 3200 RAM; Metal block over NVMe drive not installed; Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Paste No Graphics Card installed Alpenfoehn Blackridge Cooler – No bottom fan; (Case) Fan see below Open C of cooler faced towards unused graphics card slot. Cooler fins run front (RAM side) to back (IO side) of MB. Blender Classroom Render & Unigine Valley Ultra Settings Room Temp 21C; CPU & Case Fan PWM 100%; Temp Sensor TZ10 read 16.8C on all test runs; (Case) fan placed blowing air on RAM side of MB CPUID HWMonitor Readings: | | | | |||||
CPU Upper Fan | Scythe WS | Scythe KFB | Noc A12x25 | Phan T30 | Noc A12x15 | Arctic P14 | Scythe WS | Scythe WS |
Case Fan | | | | | | | Arctic P14 | Arctic P14 |
Blender Render Time | 11:10.97 | 11:13.31 | 11:12.15 | 11:14.37 | 11:21.46 | 11:13.10 | 11:12.42 | 11:11.40 |
Temp Sensor 0 | 38 | 38 | 39 | 38 | 42 | 40 | 36 | 37 |
Temp Sensor 1 | 41 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 45 | 43 | 40 | 40 |
Temp Sensor 2 CPU | 68 | 70 | 69 | 69 | 72 | 70 | 68 | 67 |
Temp Sensor 3 PCI | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
Temp Sensor 4 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 41 | 45 | 43 | 40 | 40 |
Temp Sensor 5 | 38 | 39 | 38 | 37 | 42 | 40 | 36 | 37 |
CPU Pkg Max Temp | 68.8 | 70.3 | 69.3 | 69 | 72 | 70.3 | 68.6 | 67.6 |
CPU Pkg Max Wattage | 89.03 | 88.97 | 89.02 | 89 | 89.02 | 89.17 | 89.05 | 88.84 |
NVMe Top 970 Evo + | 38 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 42 | 41 | 38 | 37 |
I-GPU Max Temp | 53 | 55 | 53 | 53 | 56 | 54 | 53 | 52 |
CPU Top Fan Max RPM | 2319 | 1599 | 2057 | 1973 | 1790 | 1573 | 2319 | 2327 |
Case Fan Max RPM | | | | | | | 1708 | 1717 |
Case Fan Direction | | | | | | | Intake | Exhaust |
