Cooling Noctua NH-L9i for i5-10600 without setting the maximum power limit.

Sztachu

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 27, 2020
4
0
I'm new here, and I thought this forum is one of the best to ask this question.
I'm going to buy a new pc "soon", and I fell in love with the look and performance of NH-L9i, so that's why I would like to go with that cooler, with additions of 4 extra fans in the case, but here comes a little problem, on the Noctua site, there are saying that with the newest CPUs from Intel, you should set the maximum power limit to 130W. But the deal is, that info stands only for the unlocked CPUs for example i9-10900K. There is no info about other CPUs for LGA 1200, and for 99% I'm going to buy an i5-10600 (not i5-10600K), so here comes the question, am I also going to need to setup the maximum power limit for i5-10600 to 130W ? Or I should be fine without changing stuff in BIOS for my CPU without getting the CPU over 90°C ?
(If I wrote something wrong, sorry, English ain't my first language.)
 

tinyitx

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 25, 2018
2,279
2,338
According to Intel, i5-10600 (non K) has PL1=65W and PL2 = 134W and tau = 28s. Very simply put, the CPU will go up to PL2 under certain high load for a brief period of 28s before dropping down to PL1.
So, if you do nothing and everything is in stock/default, I think that extra 4W is not going to make any difference.

However, I do suggest you go into BIOS and confirm that it has been set up so. Sometimes, board manufacturer would 'enable' settings that will give the mainboard a more powerful performance.
 
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Sztachu

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 27, 2020
4
0
According to Intel, i5-10600 (non K) has PL1=65W and PL2 = 134W and tau = 28s. Very simply put, the CPU will go up to PL2 under certain high load for a brief period of 28s before dropping down to PL1.
So, if you do nothing and everything is in stock/default, I think that extra 4W is not going to make any difference.

However, I do suggest you go into BIOS and confirm that it has been set up so. Sometimes, board manufacturer would 'enable' settings that will give the mainboard a more powerful performance.

Big thanks man, that is really helpful <3
 

ignsvn

By Toutatis!
SFFn Staff
Apr 4, 2016
1,706
1,646
I don't say these TDP calculations are wrong, but do be careful with all the extra heat.. Noctua NH-L9 was originally created for 65w CPU TDP and lower. Higher TDP is possible but only in cases with adequate airflow. Please refer to this older documentation https://noctua.at/en/nh_l9i_tdp_guidelines

Noctua engineers were trying to be conservative with the TDP ratings (perhaps to keep the CPU fan RPM slow & silent, or to avoid lawsuits, I dunno), and they only updated these after they heard & observed people put the cooler onto CPUs with higher TDP than what it was originally designed for.

So again, I don't say you can't use it, but please check in advance what you're going to do with that CPU, your ambient temperature, your case airflow, noise expectation, and so on.

Edit: and what case are you going to use btw?
 
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Fa5en

Trash Compacter
Jan 22, 2020
44
19
i'm kinda in the same boat, although i use an i5-9600k (not overclocked even though it's a K model). I plan on a smaller case than my SG13 (most likely the Dan Case A4) and intend to use the NH-L9i. I only use my computer for gaming and what i have noticed during gaming is that my CPU rarely use more than 65 watts (i use MSI afterburner) Only during load scenes does it spike a bit upwards 65 watts. I primarily play games like Metro Exodus, Dying light and stuff like that. I do not know how accurate MSI afterburner is, but it think it's a helpfull monitoring tool.
 

Sztachu

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 27, 2020
4
0
I don't say these TDP calculations are wrong, but do be careful with all the extra heat.. Noctua NH-L9 was originally created for 65w CPU TDP and lower. Higher TDP is possible but only in cases with adequate airflow. Please refer to this older documentation https://noctua.at/en/nh_l9i_tdp_guidelines

Noctua engineers were trying to be conservative with the TDP ratings (perhaps to keep the CPU fan RPM slow & silent, or to avoid lawsuits, I dunno), and they only updated these after they heard & observed people put the cooler onto CPUs with higher TDP than what it was originally designed for.

So again, I don't say you can't use it, but please check in advance what you're going to do with that CPU, your ambient temperature, your case airflow, noise expectation, and so on.

Edit: and what case are you going to use btw?

Well, I am going to use Lian Li PC-Q73WX or Corsair Crystal Series 280X. The Corsair one has a better fan options, I could go with x6 120mm fans (a bit overkill but hey, if I can, I will), the case from Lian Li has place for x2 120mm fans at the top, x2 80mm fans on the back, and If I will have enough space under the GPU, I could throw x2 120mm fans at the bottom, either slim fans or normal sized fans. I know that I've written that I'm going to use extra 4 fans, but I've made a little mistake there, my bad.