Choosing among LP air coolers

laiv

Average Stuffer
Original poster
Jan 25, 2020
75
56
Hi there!

I have been the whole day looking for specs and compatibility between the next components: Mobo / Cooler / RAM.

Initially, I was planning to mount a 120mm LP air cooler. I selected three.

Noctua NH-L12S
BeQuite Shadow Rock LP
Scythe Shuriken 3.

The thing is, Noctua and BeQuite are very restrictive when it comes to the RAM height (22mm). Noctua allow us to mount the fan on the top and get 45mm of clearance at cost of rising the height of the block up to 86mm. Scythe has shaped the block to make it taller in some parts so that the RAM can fit confortably.

I would like to mount RGB Led RAM (G.Skill or Corsair) but these are quite tall considering the situation. I have been looking for similar builds and I saw builds mounting these coolers on ITX mobos and RGB RAM like mines. That lead me to the next question

Can we mount air coolers in different orientations?

In case it helps, I'm working on the next components:

- Mobo : aorus x570 i pro wifi
- Coolers: Already mentioned
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO / G.Skill Trident Z

If anyone has the Aours, I would appreciate a lot his/her thoughts. I would like to know the clearance we have for the cooler. Does a 120mm cooler fits well or it hits the RAM?
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,587
2,701


Here is the BS3 mounted on a MSI B450i, it uses the AM4 mounting holes so should mount the same on the Gigabyte. As you can see you have all the clearance you need for tall ram.



This shows how much clearance you have over the VRM cooling area. The MSI doesn't have the larger heatsink like the Gigabyte so I don't know for sure if you have clearance but there is a fair bit there.
 

laiv

Average Stuffer
Original poster
Jan 25, 2020
75
56
@rfarmer Thank you very much for the pics!

I like your build! A 450SF PSU? Really? A 600w already frightens me. I never built anything with less than 750. Moving to SFF is pulling me out of my comfort zone in many ways.
 
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rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,587
2,701
@rfarmer Thank you very much for the pics!

I like your build! A 450SF PSU? Really? A 600w already frightens me. I never built anything with less than 750. Moving to SFF is pulling me out of my comfort zone in many ways.
You're welcome. I had the PSU from a previous build and have not had any issues with it, seems to be plenty of power.
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
@rfarmer Thank you very much for the pics!

I like your build! A 450SF PSU? Really? A 600w already frightens me. I never built anything with less than 750. Moving to SFF is pulling me out of my comfort zone in many ways.
Most people go WAY overboard on their PSUs. Most manufacturer PSU recommendations are also often 30-50% higher than necessary (largely to shield them from liability). A 600W PSU can comfortably handle any single GPU PC today (barring - perhaps! - 280W Threadripper). A midrange build with, say, a Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 5700 or RTX 2060 would likely consume less than 300W when gaming, and less than 350 for a torture test peak load. Given that modern PSUs are rated for continuous load (i.e. they are capable of delivering their full rated wattage over long periods) this is really not a problem. Sadly people are still stuck with the old logic of the previous decade two decades ago now! of dramatically overspecifying their PSUs. This thinking rose to prominence due to PSUs back then largely being shitty and having overblown ratings, which is no longer the case. Heck, many OEMs give their PSUs ten year warranties, which should tell us something about their durability. Almost any PC outside of the high end would be fine with a decent quality 450W unit, with 550W being enough for all but the most power hungry ones. 750W is the realm of low end dual GPU or other systems with heaps of power hungry components.
 
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rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,587
2,701
Finally, looks like Scythe Shuriken Big 3 is the winner. The other two leave very little room for the RAM and this must be LP too. Like @rfarmer shows, I found content on the internet showing how Scythe Shuriken 3 can be mount in different positions so that it doesn't mess with the RAM.

- Mobo Gigabyte - SSB3
- Mobo Gigabyte Aorus x570 I Pro Wifi - SSB3
Looks like the cutout in the cooler fits over the Gigabyte VRM heatsink with no problem, I wasn't sure of that.
 
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laiv

Average Stuffer
Original poster
Jan 25, 2020
75
56
... Almost any PC outside of the high end would be fine with a decent quality 450W unit, with 550W being enough for all but the most power hungry ones. 750W is the realm of low end dual GPU or other systems with heaps of power hungry components.

You made me save like 30€/$. I managed to find a EVGA 550 GM 3 which is cheaper than the Corsair SF600 and yet 7y of warranty.

Thank you for the insights.
 
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Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
You made me save like 30€/$. I managed to find a EVGA 550 GM 3 which is cheaper than the Corsair SF600 and yet 7y of warranty.

Thank you for the insights.
No worries! Also remember that the most important characteristic of any PSU is the quality of the power it outputs, second to which comes quality of components and assembly. And only expert reviews can tell us about any of these, as spec tables don't cover this at all (nor would they be trustworthy if they did).