When Noctua release their new low-profile CPU cooler and asked us to test it out I really had to give it some good thought, after all its was made for small enclosures like HTPCs and the lower powered CPUs that they usually run.
Also they included a link for the TDP (Thermal Design Power) guidelines here.
The NH-L9i is a low-profile quiet cooler designed for use in small form factor cases and HTPC environments. While it provides first rate performance in its class, it is not suitable for overclocking and should be used with care on CPUs with more than 65W TDP (Thermal Design Power).
So that put me in a tight spot, as they say 65watts or less for either Intel Sandy or Ivy bridge cores.
They also add that anything more can be used but only with good case ventilation, and for the Ivy core you want to disable Intel Turbo Mode as well.
1) Our recommendations are based on an ambient temperature of 25°C or less. If your ambient temperature is significantly higher (30°C or more), we don’t recommend running the NH-L9i on 77W Ivy Bridge or 95W Sandy Bridge CPUs. For all other setups, please ensure good case ventilation when ambient temperature is 30°C or more.
2) Our recommendations assume that the cooler is installed in a typically equipped, properly ventilated HTPC system. If you are using particularly hot components inside your system, it may be necessary to use stronger case ventilation to ensure sufficient CPU cooling performance.
My HTPC rig is equipped with an Intel i7 3770K (Ivy Bridge CPU rated at 77 watts) and have an overclock from the stock 3,5Ghz to 4,2Ghz. Needless to say I was a bit skeptical how this would hold up against my massive Noctua NH-D14.
The Noctua NH-L9 comes in two flavors; the L9i for Intel socket LGA115x, and the L9A for AMD (sockets AM2(+)/AM3(+)/FM1/FM2). Also note that the AMD version is a bit bigger as that socket has a larger “keep out zone”. That doesn’t stop some motherboard manufacturers to ignore those guidelines so you best check your mainboard’s clearance to make sure it fits.
When I got the box I was once again reminded how small this cooler is. A total height of ONLY 37mm (1,46 inches) and a total footprint of 95mm by 95mm, which complieswith Intel’s LGA115x “keep out zone”. You shouldn’t have any issues with fitting tall RAM modules with large heatsinks, which you should if you want a cool and quiet Home Theater PC.
And if this cooler isn’t silent enough for you, then you can always use the included LNA (low noise adapter) to slow the fan down from 2500rpm to 1800rpm, which is near silent. Doing so of course decreases the cooling performance. Remember that the 92mm fan is only 14mm thick, so you can upgrade to a taller 25mm fan if needed (Noctua provides extra mounting hardware if you want to do this upgrade).
So a quick look at and in the packaging, as usual its colored in Noctua’s signature white and brown color combination, giving a lot of information about the product straight from the box itself.
Inside we find the instruction manual (but really if you need that please let someone else install the cooler for you), the cooler itself, a Low Noise fan Adapter (LNA), four thumb screws for holding it down and Noctua’s NT-H1 TIM (Thermal Interface Material) so everything you need is in the box.
Looking at the cooler we can see it has a nice flat, but not polished, machined base. I took off the fan to have a better look at the cooling ribs, themselves having a pair of U-shaped heatpipes going from the main base through the base of the fins, further securing them in place.
Overall you have a pretty good surface area, and the usage of some extra heatpipes to distribute even more heat away from the CPU is a great idea. It looks and feels like proper quality as we are used from Noctua.
Installing the cooler is peanuts. Apply a rice-grain-sized glob of the included thermal paste on the center of the CPU (I’m not going into discussion on how to apply TIM as everyone seem to have their own idea or preference to it, this method works for me just fine).
Align the holes of the cooler to the motherboard and screw in the thumb screws in a cross pattern tightening it slowly (a bit like a car’s rim). A normal Phillips screwdriver can be used, but don’t over-tighten or you might destroy the thread on the cooler. They should be nice and snug when tighened with fingers.
Plug in the fan cable in the CPU FAN outlet of your motherboard and you’re done!
Testing
I removed my big Noctua NH-D14 cooler and cleaned the CPU and the cooler base with some denatured alcohol KET 96% to remove any grease or old TIM before fitting the NH-L9i. Turbo mode was disabled in the motherboard BIOS to let the CPU run at stock speed.
I switched on the PC and took a quick look at the temperatures, then left it running to warm up and settle in. This comprised of me browsing the web and watching stuff on YouTube.
Testing the L9i meant using 100% fan speed in my case to get maximum ventilation as recommended. I was probably just fine with standard speed but wanted to get the best out of it as I was running a higher wattage CPU than recommended.
NH-L9i idle (42 C) vs Load (64 C)
For temperatures I used Core Temp to give be a better idea on what it’s doing per core. For a quick graph I used the load tests I used Speccy, for load testing I let the pc run Prime95 In-place large FFT`s Torture test for a minimum of 30 minutes using for maximum heat and power consumption.
I recorded a temperature of 42°C idle just letting the PC sit for 10 minutes with full case ventilation.
After about 50 minutes I managed to score a temperature of 64°C.
Needless to say I was well impressed with this score taking into account that it really is just a flipping small cooler.
When I saw how well this low-profile cooler handled those temps I decided to go for broke and overclock. I restarted the PC, went into the BIOS and enabled the overclock again, letting it ramp to 4224Mhz.
After settling in, we recorded a temperature of 45°C at idle, with the overclock and fans running at 100%, and again the same parameters as used for the non-overclocked CPU for Prime95.
Mind you I put that idle score next to my NH-D14 and noticed that my big cooler Idle temperatures at 40°C in the exact same circumstances only 5 degrees off.
Next the same testing for load as with the non overclocked situation running prime for 40 minutes, here you could see that the small cooler had some difficulty dissipating all that heat, I did try and put the fans to standard mode to see if it would matter but temperatures rose by a few degrees so I just let it run at 100%.
NH-D14 overclocked idle (40 C) vs load (68 C)
But it clocked in at 81° Celsius. Now that is high, but not at the Tj. max of 105°c. Intel’s Ivy Bridge has a built-in protection that switches of the CPU at 130°C to prevent catastrophic overheating, not that you even want to get close to that. Still, information for peace of mind.
NH-L9i overclocked idle (45 C) vs load (81 C)
Where the NH-L9i has a max of 81°C, my NH-D14 had a max temp of 68°c and kept it there, even if I throttled the case fans down a bit to normal levels, so size does matter in soaking up excess heat.
On the other hand the NH-D14 won’t fit large sized RAM and it doesn’t even fit all cases as it’s that big, but it is GOOD!
Now this test was just a fluke to see how serious I needed to take Noctua’s recommendations and TDP guidelines. I wouldn’t want to run a processor at those temperatures all day and night but I have no problem with it. Still I need to point out that I would not run it this way as the 100% fan speed drives me insane, so I take the quiet (but still overclocked) road.
If your CPU is not overclocked and is in a good ventilated case then you can get by just fine with this cooler, even if you don’t run the fan full blast.
This small cooler packs all essential technologies of our awardwinning high-end models into a highly compact package in order to give you the best possible quiet cooling experience for HTPCs and small form factor builds. I’m confident that you will be able to sense some of the research, attention and care we’ve put into making this product.
Enjoy your NH-L9!
Their confidence is well placed, again they managed to perform even when I thought it wouldn’t! Quality as usual, great performance, stylish, well thought of design, complete package, and a 6 year (!!!) warranty even on the fan.
This really is a great quality low profile cpu cooler!