Conclusion
Performance
The NH-L9a-AM4 CPU cooler performed well at stock CPU speeds, keeping the processor cool and stable throughout all runs. Further, the cooler was virtually noise-less. However, its compact size and small fan limited its use to stock processor speeds only. The unit just doesn't have sufficient cooling capacity to keep up with any level of enthusiast grade overclocking. With that said, the cooler would be perfect for a base system build where you wanted to show off the internals or for a micro-system build where noise production trumps overclocking prowess.
Pricing
As of March 01, the Noctua NH-L9a-AMD CPU cooler was available at Amazon.com for $39.90 with Prime shipping, as well as Newegg.com for $39.90.
NH-L9a-AMD CPU Cooler
Conclusion
The NH-L9a-AMD CPU cooler lives up to Noctua's design ethos, embodying a decent performing cooler with a minimal noise footprint. The cooler uses Noctua's standard nickel-plated copper and aluminum hybrid design to great effect with embedded heat pipes designed to wick the heat away from its copper core across the aluminum radiator. Its horizontal design gives it a minimal footprint while its u-shaped embedded heat pipes allows it to maintain its small footprint for massive board compatibility. However, its small design limits its performance potential with it able to cool a Ryzen 7 processor well at stock speed only. The one Achille's heel for the cooler is its mounting design. Mounting the cooler requires board removal from your case as well as two hands to secure the cooler in place while you screw in the mounting posts through the board's bottom.
Strengths
- Performance under stock CPU operating conditions
- Build and machining quality of the cooler
- Size compatibility with any motherboard configurations
- Fan noise in tested configuration
- Radiator fin density – 16 FPI versus 11 FPI found on most other Noctua air cooler
- Manual quality
Weaknesses
- Hard to use bottom-up cooler mounting mechanism
- Small fan limits performance to stock-only use
Hi Morry, thanks for the
Hi Morry, thanks for the great write up. Do you have any experience with any of the Wraith coolers? Just wondering how this compares for performance and noise.
I have a 2400G for my HTPC and the wraith stealth cooler makes too much noise, I have it turned down to 15% fan speed to make it quiet enough.
Have not had any experience
Have not had any experience with the wraith cooler unfortunately. This one is much quieter than most other coolers I've tested. As far as the noise output reported by vendors, the numbers themselves may be acurrate, but how they measure them (ie, equipment used and distance to source) probably varies greatly. That would even be true between sites. For example, I use an audio app on my cell phone to measure from a 3ft distance. For all of my reviews, the sound measurements would be consistant and comparable, but probably not between my reviews and those of Sebastian (b/c he uses different gear for measurement).
In any case, this cooler, or any Noctua cooler for that matter, will be much quieter than the wraith cooler.
How much would a typical CASE
How much would a typical CASE raise the temperature?
It seems the testing was done without a case?
Assuming 25degC average that means the CPU would be roughly 68degC under load… while that leaves about 12degC (80degC is max recommended for sustained usage I believe) I suspect you would be hitting 80degC in a small case with so-so air flow.
That’s fine still for both cooling and noise (22dB is silent) though overclocking may not be feasible due to temp in some situations.
If you are looking to
If you are looking to overclock, I would not recommend using this cooler. As far as your initial question goes, it really depends on case airflow. Assuming you have decent front to back airflow (ie, fans mounted in front grill and in rear panel), you should see temps on par or may 5C higher. However, the "stress" temps reported are under extreme use scenarios. I wsa using the stress tool in AIDA64, which puts the CPU under 100% load across all cores. During normal gaming and use sitruations, you would not see anywhere near that load…