NH-L9a-AM5

Lovely quiet one. In hindsight would have gone for black fan

I was shocked that something so small and quiet could actually cool my CPU, i am running a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and a RX7900XTX with no thermal issues in a Fractal Design Terra Case and using the default OC settings.... What more can I say

The best performance fans around, not cheap, but never let me down.

Works perfectly with my am5 nas server

Performs well but it is truly a pain to install as it requires little screws to be installed through the back of the motherboard, into the cooler while you hold it in place on the cpu. Then the screws need tightening through the use of a small allen key, meaning the force you can apply on the screws can be much greater than necessary, which could potentially damage the motherboard.

TL;DR - only buy if you have no more clearance for a bigger cooler, this is small cooler with a small thermal mass game your expectations - if it is your only option and you can only use a <37mm cooler, it’s great and definitely worth getting despite the tricky install - if you keep reading I have a few tips if you’re considering this cooler :) I’m gonna start off with this, if you haven’t gathered already, this isn’t a 1 start review, this is a great little cooler that really punches about its weight considering it’s such low profile with possibly the best thermals of any lp cooler even the full copper and thicker alternatives. Currently using it in a sub 5L case with great results, definitely with it (but with a few must dos) I’m putting this here purely for anyone scrolling through the lower-end reviews, which I’ve also read, I think people have missed a couple things when choosing this cooler and installing. If I were to leave a review about a week ago I’d give a pretty harsh rating, I was getting quite significantly thermal throttling but after a little bit of tinkering there are a few things I’d highly recommend: 1. The mounting mechanism is a pile of **** , it’s really REALLY fiddly and difficult, but that’s to expect with such a small cooler. Be really careful when installing making sure to tighten the screws as evenly as possible, it’s really easy to install without even mounting pressure 2. Spread the paste before hand, make sure to fully cover the IHS and the cold plate before installing it is a MUST 3. If you are running a restrictive side panel that is right next to the fan It’s definitely worth also getting Noctuas dedicated foam fan guide / shroud, it really helps lower the fan noise / frequency or pitch, with it I can run the fan at max fan speed while maintaining about 28 db about 30cm from the fan from around 30-35 before. It doesn’t sound that great from the numbers but it SIGNIFICANTLY reduces drone and is a much low pitch gentle hum which is easy to ignore and is much less intrusive 4. / honourable mention: It’s definitely worth undervolting, it’s really simple and can really help with temps, mind you, you might want to set a power limit manually since with PBO it’ll run your cou until it thermal throttles which is around 97C and not ideal. Currently with a 9600x and around -30mV is about the max to maintain stability and with it I can happily complete any stress test with no errors and with a lower throttle temp I’ll get 87C while maintaining about 5200Mhz

As others have said, it looks like it will be a bit of a pain to install. Unlike those others, though, I don't actually know, as - despite what is stated in the product description - it arrived without thermal paste and without mounting screws. As my case does not require a low profile cooler, I may just return this and order another.

Best of the best :)