Cooling Geeek A30 Owners, I need a cooler recommendation.

TheSLSAMG

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
May 1, 2018
4
1
Hello! I'm new here (though I have a fairly long history in the LinusTechTips community), and I was drawn here because I'm interested in building a small form factor PC for my living room and LAN use.

I came across the Geeek A30 from an advertisement and I realized it was the case I had to have. In the next few months, I'm going to be building out a rig in one. I know most of the parts I want to go for, but cooling seems like a difficult task given the 50mm max cooler height. But is it really 50mm? Is there any level of variance? If there is, how much taller or shorter is it?

I ask because I've seen both the Cryorig C7 and Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 and they seem like the only viable coolers that fit the bill. However, the C7 has a much larger heatsink height-wise (not to mention an upcoming full-copper option) so it seems like the clear winner. That being said, the C7's fan is apparently loud and not an amazing performer, but a standard 25mm fan would make the total height 57mm, 7mm more than what the A30 can apparently handle. I could just put an NF-A9x14 on it, however I'm not a big fan of Noctua's color scheme and I've seen the Reduxes cause a temperature increase on the L9i.

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant, I just want to be sure before I buy some of this stuff.
 
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spawn01

Efficiency Noob
May 12, 2018
6
11
I am currently building in a A30 case. When these guys say 50mm, they mean 50mm. I was hoping to shoehorn in something a little taller, but not happening. I just ordered a c7 copper from amazon. Shocked the hell out of me that they had it. the same goes for the GPU. They mean 211mm max. My card is 212mm and I had to take a file to it inorder for it to fit.
 
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Thehack

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Mar 6, 2016
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AMD stock cooler fits with removal of the shroud. There is also a few cheaper alternative depending on your cpu, but I recommend Noctua to reduce turbulence noise.

AR05, Zalman CNPS2X, AR11, are some alternative.

What CPU are you running?
 
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Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 13, 2017
152
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Hello! I'm new here (though I have a fairly long history in the LinusTechTips community), and I was drawn here because I'm interested in building a small form factor PC for my living room and LAN use.

I came across the Geeek A30 from an advertisement and I realized it was the case I had to have. In the next few months, I'm going to be building out a rig in one. I know most of the parts I want to go for, but cooling seems like a difficult task given the 50mm max cooler height. But is it really 50mm? Is there any level of variance? If there is, how much taller or shorter is it?

I ask because I've seen both the Cryorig C7 and Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 and they seem like the only viable coolers that fit the bill. However, the C7 has a much larger heatsink height-wise (not to mention an upcoming full-copper option) so it seems like the clear winner. That being said, the C7's fan is apparently loud and not an amazing performer, but a standard 25mm fan would make the total height 57mm, 7mm more than what the A30 can apparently handle. I could just put an NF-A9x14 on it, however I'm not a big fan of Noctua's color scheme and I've seen the Reduxes cause a temperature increase on the L9i.

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant, I just want to be sure before I buy some of this stuff.

ID COOLING IS-50



ID COOLING IS-VC45



PH-TC90LS


 
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TheSLSAMG

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
May 1, 2018
4
1
AMD stock cooler fits with removal of the shroud. There is also a few cheaper alternative depending on your cpu, but I recommend Noctua to reduce turbulence noise.

AR05, Zalman CNPS2X, AR11, are some alternative.

What CPU are you running?

I'm going to be running a Ryzen 5 2600. If there's headroom, I'll give it a mild OC (but I figure there won't be.) The CNPS2X looks interesting, but I can't imagine it can compete with the bigger coolers such as the AR05/11, C7 and L9a? Also, the AR11 seems like a really solid choice but it's only for LGA115x chips from what I can see.

I am currently building in a A30 case. When these guys say 50mm, they mean 50mm. I was hoping to shoehorn in something a little taller, but not happening. I just ordered a c7 copper from amazon. Shocked the hell out of me that they had it. the same goes for the GPU. They mean 211mm max. My card is 212mm and I had to take a file to it inorder for it to fit.

Damn. Good to know that the C7 Cu is available on Amazon, but I was hoping to be able to fit a 92x20 fan to it so I could get better cooling performance (I've heard that the C7's fan isn't particularly great). How does the C7 Cu perform if you don't mind me asking?
 

spawn01

Efficiency Noob
May 12, 2018
6
11
The ID cooling IS 50 will not fit. I tried. I considered a noctua with a 25mm thick fan instead of a slim fan. I wanted to use an ARTIC F9 fan in black and white. It would have come out to about 48mm in height. But, I am really feeling this copper C7. Should work fine for my 65 watt I5, It fits, just barely. Has about 3 to 5mm of clearance.

 
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Thehack

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Mar 6, 2016
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https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-hslp-48-a-powerful-sub-50mm-heatsink.1925480/

After looking at a thread for the AR11 and seeing someone mention that @dondan is going to be releasing a cooler later this year, I might just wait for it. It looks like it would be an excellent fit for my build.

It won't be Dan branded, seems like a manufacturer will release it with the specifications that he was prototyping. I am looking forward to that one as well.

The ID cooling IS 50 will not fit. I tried. I considered a noctua with a 25mm thick fan instead of a slim fan. I wanted to use an ARTIC F9 fan in black and white. It would have come out to about 48mm in height. But, I am really feeling this copper C7. Should work fine for my 65 watt I5, It fits, just barely. Has about 3 to 5mm of clearance.

You may encounter some turbulence noise depending on how the cooler performs. If you are using it as a light game machine it should be okay but if you are using the full 65W power then it would have turbulence. If you are sensitive to that I recommend the NH-L9.
 
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spawn01

Efficiency Noob
May 12, 2018
6
11
Gonna be used mostly for streaming and internet for the spare bedroom. My gaming rig is in a Antec ISK 600 case that is actually quite a bit louder. I test ran the cooler at max rpm with the side panel installed and it wasn't to bad. The slots cut out of the side panel for ventilation are huge so there is not much turbulence. Dust will definitely be a problem.
 
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Thehack

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Gonna be used mostly for streaming and internet for the spare bedroom. My gaming rig is in a Antec ISK 600 case that is actually quite a bit louder. I test ran the cooler at max rpm with the side panel installed and it wasn't to bad. The slots cut out of the side panel for ventilation are huge so there is not much turbulence. Dust will definitely be a problem.
Good to hear.

The cooler looks fantastic.
 
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TheSLSAMG

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
May 1, 2018
4
1
I bought the CPU and board last week (in this case, a 2400G and B350 Gaming ITX/ac) and I found out that the case does indeed have more than 50mm clearance. For anyone who is interested, it fits the 55mm Wraith Stealth just fine, though it's the maximum height for a cooler. A Cryorig C7 Cu with a 92x20mm fan on it should fit nicely.
 

ywori

Trash Compacter
Jul 6, 2018
38
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I bought the CPU and board last week (in this case, a 2400G and B350 Gaming ITX/ac) and I found out that the case does indeed have more than 50mm clearance. For anyone who is interested, it fits the 55mm Wraith Stealth just fine, though it's the maximum height for a cooler. A Cryorig C7 Cu with a 92x20mm fan on it should fit nicely.

Which fan are you planning on attaching the Cryorig C7 Cu with? Could you take photos of the case your setup.

How is the build quality of the A30?