Cooling Thicker fan on Noctua nh-l9i

[Thauner]

It would be interesting to see how the mounting will be. Please post pics later!

I specifically ordered my custom Mod Mini to be able to have 25mm fan

Still haven't made the order, but I will post a picture when it gets to my door. Trying to find if There's any other fans that I should try also

 

[McTeags]

But he tried with the redux 25mm fan.
Bledha is talking about be quiet fans.

What 25mm fan did you try?

I replaced the NF-A9x14 with the NF-A9 on my L9i cpu cooler and didn’t notice much of a performance difference. I have to do a bit more testing before I come to a stronger conclusion though. Just swapped them out and played some games and monitored the temps.

 

[bledha]

Not much difference to be seen in temps across the board with this cooler, it isn't so hefty that getting the heat away faster will do much - although keep in mind this varies extremely based on case configurations so everyone's mileage will vary. Also, quite a bit on how the BIOS controls the fan speed. RPMs matter!

That being said, there are plenty of quieter fans than the NF-A9x14 which perform better or on par - I have had the luck to be able to test several of them. If your CPU cooler has immediate access to fresh air, the temps won't make much of a change, the noise and aesthetics do, however!

 

[McTeags]

Not much difference to be seen in temps across the board with this cooler, it isn't so hefty that getting the heat away faster will do much - although keep in mind this varies extremely based on case configurations so everyone's mileage will vary. Also, quite a bit on how the BIOS controls the fan speed. RPMs matter!

That being said, there are plenty of quieter fans than the NF-A9x14 which perform better or on par - I have had the luck to be able to test several of them. If your CPU cooler has immediate access to fresh air, the temps won't make much of a change, the noise and aesthetics do, however!

But that brown is so sexy. No?

 

[Thauner]

Not much difference to be seen in temps across the board with this cooler, it isn't so hefty that getting the heat away faster will do much - although keep in mind this varies extremely based on case configurations so everyone's mileage will vary. Also, quite a bit on how the BIOS controls the fan speed. RPMs matter!

That being said, there are plenty of quieter fans than the NF-A9x14 which perform better or on par - I have had the luck to be able to test several of them. If your CPU cooler has immediate access to fresh air, the temps won't make much of a change, the noise and aesthetics do, however!

I ordered the silent Wings fan now. Have to try. But after reading comments here and in other treads, I'm also qurious about the C7, ar06 and others. I'm also willing to change the whole cpu cooler for even better temp results. I'm in a streacom case, so I have a bit more space than the s4 mini case.

But that brown is so sexy. No?

I think it's sexy, and retro looking. Love that!

 

[n13L5]

How about a thicker AND larger fan?

I imagine a Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Sterrox LCP fan could easily be mounted to the top cover of the S4 Mini

It would certainly help cool the rest of the mainboard better.

I do not know how close the fan must be to the NH-L9i fins for optimum efficiency.
So some home-made rubber spacers may be needed to get it close to the fins - or not...

Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Sterrox LCP fan





Depending on your mainboard, you may or may not be able to mount this or the one below



Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax

(this is a 150mm fan with 120mm mounting holes)


If I'm way off on the airspace above the mainboard in the S4 Mini, do let me know, my S4 is still shipping here, and I'm trying to get the needed fans BEFORE it arrives

 

[Thehack]

Most of the airflow is generated on the blade tips, so most of the air will be going around the cooler, defeating the purpose.

 

[n13L5]

Most of the airflow is generated on the blade tips, so most of the air will be going around the cooler, defeating the purpose.

I suppose the only way in that case is to fit a larger fan on top of the existing smaller fan - which is probably only possible with a very thin fan if at all. I guess I'll see how much space is left after I get the case...


edit:

On second thought and further research, I found this:
https://smallformfactor.net/reviews/cases/nfc-systems-s4-mini-review

He managed to use a larger fan and get things adjusted to keep CPU cooling equal while increasing main-board cooling.

And he did manage that, without using the latest, more efficient Noctua NF-A12x25 Fan.

So by using that new fan, which Noctua said is both quieter and moves more air (which no review has contradicted so far), we should be able to do the same as he did, but without the increase in noise...


Short of me finding something better @ 45mm height, than the Noctua NH-L9i, that is the route I will go with my 95W TDP part...

 

[Thehack]

What case are you using? I'm familiar with most cases and what is considered the best scenario.

 

[Thehack]

If your motherboard fits a LP53, that would be the best cooler for Intel. You use it with an Noctua NF-A9x14.

 

[n13L5]

If your motherboard fits a LP53, that would be the best cooler for Intel. You use it with an Noctua NF-A9x14.

The entire time, I've been talking about the S4 Mini - that's en-route to me at the moment...
Ah yeah, just checked if I forgot to say that - I did say, but only in the first one of my posts ^^
As for fitting the cooler you mention, idk, cause I haven't decided on the MB yet. Z390 from ASRock or MSI - after I do some test installs with some older gen components I have laying around. I guess my ASUS gaming mini-ITX board isn't the best for fitting coolers - too much upright crap on it - we'll see what happens...

I've been building computers since 1989, first professionally, later, because I enjoy doing it.
I've never been shy with using an angle grinder on cases and heat sinks to get what I want... Quite far from the calibre of Colin Furze though!! But then, he doesn't do computers...

What I looked up since my last post were a variety of 45 mm height CPU coolers - apparently the max that would fit into the S4 Mini - in my case the Sky-reach version (which I understand had a few changes for improved fitting of various things)

Frankly, I'm doing this case to be able to haul it in my carry-on and avoid having to carry a monster sized laptop with an unsatisfying display. The plan is to travel with the computer packaged in the S4 and a 50" 4K TV checked in with the Airline as luggage. The screen stays there and the computer will travel back and forth with me.

When I arrive, I could as well remove the top and stick a gigantic 2-Kilo passive cooler on it

But it would be better to just find a cooler that can do 95W TDP comfortably.
I don't need to over-clock. I'd be ok to drop voltage and under-clock to some degree.

 

[n13L5]

Just found it... Cooltek LP53... all copper... NICE...

$72 on Amazon - not nice lol

Ok, found it elsewhere for $50.. better.

Sadly, it doesn't better the Noctua's mediocre 2x Heatpipes.


And I couldn't yet see if their fan is a 25mm job, but by your words, it must be, since otherwise you couldn't put an NF-A9x14 and still have it fit.



So we'd have 1mm space between top edge fan and the top of the S4 Mini. GREAT! I call that optimal. Kudos for the suggestion! - I don't know if I would have found that, and if, how long it would have taken me

So I will put a little piece of 1mm adhesive rubber mat on each corner of the fan, so the case doesn't get any ideas about becoming some sort of percussionist ^^

 

[Thehack]

LP53 measured cooler only is 26mm. It is all copper, and generally performs 20% better than the L9i. It does have issues fitting a couple motherboards but is regarded the best cooler for the S4. I do sell it at my store in signature and have it in stock.

Most people attach NF-A9x14 by Zip ties, but I have designed a 3d printed mounting bracket that makes the install cleaner.

 

[Narwhal]

I ordered the silent Wings fan now. Have to try. But after reading comments here and in other treads, I'm also qurious about the C7, ar06 and others. I'm also willing to change the whole cpu cooler for even better temp results. I'm in a streacom case, so I have a bit more space than the s4 mini case.

I just saw you wrote you ordered a silent wing, in 92mm ? which means a silent wing 2? how does it perform on the nh-l9i?

 

[n13L5]

LP53 measured cooler only is 26mm. It is all copper, and generally performs 20% better than the L9i. It does have issues fitting a couple motherboards but is regarded the best cooler for the S4. I do sell it at my store in signature and have it in stock.

Most people attach NF-A9x14 by Zip ties, but I have designed a 3d printed mounting bracket that makes the install cleaner.

Hehe, yeah, I'm not much for Zip ties on fans, but I've never gone so far as printing a 3D bracket either

I like springs in case mounting holes don't align..


I just checked the Cryorig C7 CU - also copper, but it sports 4 HeatPipes instead of 2 on the L9i and LP53
That *should* make it more effective - after adding a good fan.
I remember Josh complaining, that something about the mounting hardware is always out of alignment, but for a one-off, I can deal with some extra effort, if it nets the strongest cooling performance.

And I'll check out your store link

 

[n13L5]

I just saw you wrote you ordered a silent wing, in 92mm ? which means a silent wing 2? how does it perform on the nh-l9i?

can't tell you about the L9i but the 140 mm silent wing 2's on Noctua's 140 mm top-down blower cooler work great.
I have 2 of them in my Ncase M1 - one on that cooler and the other to vent the case at low RPM. The system has a 1080 and a 6700k and it stays cool and quiet at all times. Even when I run that terribly un-optimized Star Citizen Alpha, there's no stress in noise or temps.

 

[rook]

I just checked the Cryorig C7 CU - also copper, but it sports 4 HeatPipes instead of 2 on the L9i and LP53
That *should* make it more effective - after adding a good fan.

I own both the LP53 and the Cryorig C7 cu and a few fans. Until I complete my case design, my pc is running as an open bench. I've used both of these to cool a delidded, lapped and undervolted 8700k & no matter what, the LP53 w/ the stock fan works the best... even over a Noctua B9... albeit it's louder. At 100% cpu usage, the Cryorig can't hang on, it just slowly climbs in temp. I have an ID-Cooling No 9215 on the way, thinking if I run it below max rpm, it'll be the best 92x15mm for a super low profile setup.

As others have noted though, the LP53 interferes on some itx mobos. I have the MSI z370-I and I can only mount the LP53 perpendicular to the ram unless I want to run only 1 ram stick. The Cryorig didn't have this problem for me.

Side note: The sticky'd cpu cooler roundup thread shows these two much closer to each other than I've seen from my testing. Maybe my results will differ in a more enclosed setup... we'll see.

Edit: Just thought about what you said. The Cryorig C7 only has two heatpipes, they just wind through the body differently. See here: https://grabcad.com/library/cryorig-c7-fins-1

Edit #2: Yep, don't mind me...4 heatpipes.

 

[Thehack]

I own both the LP53 and the Cryorig C7 cu and a few fans. Until I complete my case design, my pc is running as an open bench. I've used both of these to cool a delidded, lapped and undervolted 8700k & no matter what, the LP53 w/ the stock fan works the best... even over a Noctua B9... albeit it's louder. At 100% cpu usage, the Cryorig can't hang on, it just slowly climbs in temp. I have an ID-Cooling No 9215 on the way, thinking if I run it below max rpm, it'll be the best 92x15mm for a super low profile setup.

As others have noted though, the LP53 interferes on some itx mobos. I have the MSI z370-I and I can only mount the LP53 perpendicular to the ram unless I want to run only 1 ram stick. The Cryorig didn't have this problem for me.

Side note: The sticky'd cpu cooler roundup thread shows these two much closer to each other than I've seen from my testing. Maybe my results will differ in a more enclosed setup... we'll see.

Edit: Just thought about what you said. The Cryorig C7 only has two heatpipes, they just wind through the body differently. See here: https://grabcad.com/library/cryorig-c7-fins-1

The C7 has 4 heat pipes.

The Noctua nf-a9x14 is the best slim fan you you can get. The other fans don't come close, mainly because of their cheaper bearing designs. It is just unfortunate that the only color is brown.

 

[gunpalcyril]

What about the id-cooling is-40x? Anyone here got the chance to test it out?

 

[Thehack]

What about the id-cooling is-40x? Anyone here got the chance to test it out?

It is an updated version of the IS-40v3 so performance should be similar. Should be decent cooler if you replace the fan. At $25 though it makes a good budget cooler.