Cooling Top Down Cooler Shootout?

[IntoxicatedPuma]

I'm using the L9i fan on my testing here, it's better than others at the same RPM but many other coolers fan will go to 3000rpm, so they end up with lower temps (and louder fan noise)

 

[zovc]

And T vs K at same clocks should be interesting... supposedly they should perform the same but I haven't actually seen it tested. Maybe one of the T or K series binned for more efficiency?

I'm very interested in testing T versus K, if I can get my hands on comparable hardware.

 

[BeerNsoup]

I've stumbled across a decent amount comments on other forums saying that top down coolers perform better when the fan is flipped, pushing air away from the cpu rather than at it. Any chance of including this? Sorry to keep thinking of more possible inclusions. I know this is a pretty big undertaking. I'm very curious to see the ar-05 vs l9i results!

 

[Kmpkt]

I'm going to do an entire second piece using whatever the winner of the shoot out is with fans flipped both ways and a variety of ducts etc. to see if there are tricks to optimize the airflow and cooling. I will ideally do them on both a test bench and in an S4 Mini.

 

[BeerNsoup]

Any update on this? Very interested in the results for this shootout .

 

[Kmpkt]

LP53 seems to have gone missing in shipping. Trying to get refund and replacement

 

[zovc]

Yuck. That's bad news.

 

[Kmpkt]

Yeah. Thing is I feel like given its unique place amongst coolers at the moment, I can't even do this piece without it. Pretty choked since I ordered it in mid-February.

 

[BeerNsoup]

Yeah. Thing is I feel like given its unique place amongst coolers at the moment, I can't even do this piece without it. Pretty choked since I ordered it in mid-February.

Being one of the larger ones it'll undoubtedly be the (or one of the) top performers once a decent fan is attached. Also given the cooler you are planning on making it's probably your main competition.

Personally I'm most interested in the 36/37mm coolers as the case I am building will have it's height based off the 51.5mm width of the hdplex 300W dc board (I'll route holes for the cpu fan to avoid turbulence from being too close to the case walls). Have you seen the jonesbo hp-400? Seems like a solid heat sink + poor fan. This roundup is already pretty full though. Very much looking forward to the results, thank you for doing it.

 

[Kmpkt]

Yeah. Right now I'm probably going to narrow it down to the LP53, AR05, L9i, Cryorig C7 and Arctic Freezer 11 LP. I was originally going to add some other stuff in but am now realizing that I'm probably just going to waste time testing a bunch of crap no one wants to use anyhow.

 

[BeerNsoup]

I stumbled across the jonesbo hp-400 due to the post inquiring about what to offer in NA... and found this thread https://hardforum.com/threads/jonsbo-makes-some-great-low-profile-coolers.1856049/. Apparently it's a pretty solid performer with a fan replacement. Seems a lot of the options I come across offer some improvement here and there on the heatsink but come bundled with a pretty poor fan. One thing I wonder about is the engine 27 with a fan above it blowing cool air onto it. @Josh | NFC did that in his round up a while back on the zalman cnps2x with good results. The engine 27s design seems like it would benefit a lot from that, despite being a relatively poor performer on it's own.

edit: you're probably right to target a few though. I'm probably in the minority with extreme height limitations on what I'm looking for while most are probably thinking the S4's height limitation is as restrictive as they'll go. Just so many coolers floating around suffering from bad fans that I'm curious to see tested with a fan upgrade . I'm also very curious about the results from having the fan direction switched.

 

[Broxin]

Yeah. Right now I'm probably going to narrow it down to the LP53, AR05, L9i, Cryorig C7 and Arctic Freezer 11 LP. I was originally going to add some other stuff in but am now realizing that I'm probably just going to waste time testing a bunch of crap no one wants to use anyhow.

The people will buy whatever you review as the best
When will your experiment start?
Any winners yet?

 

[Kmpkt]

I finally have everything and just need the time to run the test. Hoping to get this done in the next couple of weeks.

 

[KoelerdenJoe]

Theorycraft:
Thermolab ITX30 Low Profile with NB-BlackSilent Pro 80mm or Noctua NF-A8 PWM

Original Height 30mm (100W TDP) with NB 35mm , with Noctua 45mm ?
On mini itx 1151, AM4 or Socket 2066 (X299) MB

 

[Kmpkt]

Don't have the Thermolab ITX30 : (

I do however have a full copper Deepcool HTPC 200 which is pretty much the same thing. I will be dropping it into the shootout just to see how a full copper 80mm cooler holds up against the big boys. I also have one of those nice 80mm x 15mm NB fans to try with it.

 

[Kmpkt]

Okay so the list is looking like this now. Let me know if you guys think there are any gaping holes in my selections:

- Intel Stock Cooler w/ copper core
- Noctua L9i
- Thermolab LP53 (would test with NF-A9x14)
- Cryorig C7
- Zalman CNPS2X
- Arctic CP11
- Silverstone AR06
- ID Cooling IS40 V3
- Deepcool HTPC 200 Aluminum (80mm)
- Deepcool HTPC 200 All Copper (80mm)
- Prolimatech Samuel 17

The last three are to act as controls of a sort to see what slightly larger and smaller heatsinks look like in comparison to the 92mm selection. I consider the Samuel to be one of the better low profile 120mm solutions while the HTPC-200 is a reasonable cooler in the 80mm space (not much to choose from. At this point just waiting for a loaner of the new Mini-ITX Open Benchtable to arrive so I can run all of the tests. Thanks to @Trouffman for volunteering the prototype to me to a little while.

 

[zovc]

Maybe the Scythe Big Shuriken 2? I say that not knowing if it's somewhat redundant with any of the others--I think it's similar in design to the Prolimatech Samuel 17?

Either way, this is exciting!

 

[Kmpkt]

I'm only including the Samuel 17 because I already have it, so I figure it will provide an interesting control for analysis. At some point I might try to do a low profile 50-70mm roundup as I think that is another interesting area. Due to the fairly significant cost of buying coolers etc. I'll probably leave that one for the spring.

 

[Broxin]

I had written down some stuff i wanted to try out next, maybe you thought about them allready?

Cooltek itx30.
Cooltek LP53.
Zalman CNPS2X, With the scythe slim fan on it.
Inter-tech 88885216 T-318 1HE, with any fan on it.
Titan ttc-nc25/HS.
Noctua NF-A9x14 Fan

I just reviewed some gpus and wanted to review some cpu cooler next, but will gladly wait until you finished your test.

I did include audio recordings and db measurements into my review, but have to wrap it all up nicely in the next days.

I think recordings would be nice to have of those cpu coolers you are testing, especially if you review has many of them it would benefit the readers

Thanks

 

[Stevo_]

Had an ITX30 that I sort of reviewed in my S4 build thread on this forum, suffice to say very disappointing could not keep my 3770K(77W) cool, tried several TIM apps and fans. Nowhere near as good as the L9i I eventually purchased.