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Noctua Introduces NH-L9i Low-profile CPU Coolers for LGA1700 and NA-FD1 Fan Duct

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A: it's a press release. It's marketing. What do you expect?
B: they never claim that it can handle a 300W CPU, they claim to have cooled 160W (and likely in a rather ideal scenario), and 125W on the other chip, indicating that YMMV.
C: if you're familiar with Noctua then it's rather odd to be making claims that go directly against their established practices for rating their products.

a: yes agree.
b: I never said they claimed, I said this is not enough for that, yes they cited the 12900k in their tests which in my opinion was a mistake. This low profile cooler is not for the 12900k and yet they included in the tests to brag.
c: agreed, yes sometimes they go overboard but most of the time they are all right with their claims.
 
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Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz
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Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
Just 2 heatpipes?....
 
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Yes total power, cpu alone does 95% of that or more, there is no gpu on it, only the cpu.
It does not do 95% of that or more. The PSU uses 10% or more, the motherboards VRM uses 10% or so, the GPU idles at something like 20W or so (just go look at the TPU review of it). The motherboard uses some watts, and the same goes for the NVME drive etc.

The actual heat that the CPU alone pumps out is around 150W max for the 12600k unless manually overclocked.
 
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It does not do 95% of that or more. The PSU uses 10% or more, the motherboards VRM uses 10% or so, the GPU idles at something like 20W or so (just go look at the TPU review of it). The motherboard uses some watts, and the same goes for the NVME drive etc.

The actual heat that the CPU alone pumps out is around 150W max for the 12600k unless manually overclocked.

I'm not sure how the reviewer have done the test, usually system idle is around 30 to 60 watts. Anandtech does a good job on full power of the cpu and only the cpu.



My ryzen 5900x uses a 150w aio 240mm cooler and yet it cant cool down a 140 watts cpu. So reason I laughed noctua came up with a low profile cooler using a 12900k hehe, not even their top air cooler can do the job well on that 12900k.
 
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b: I never said they claimed, I said this is not enough for that, yes they cited the 12900k in their tests which in my opinion was a mistake. This low profile cooler is not for the 12900k and yet they included in the tests to brag.
They were specific about what conditions regarding 12900K they used. They didn't claim 300W or some insane overclocks which it probably indeed can't do. How does it make sense to hold it against them? This is clearly not a product for such use case, so... don't buy it if that's your use case. It's not that hard. You don't go complaining at all random third party replacements for BOX cooler that they can't handle 12900K@300W either, do you?
 
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I'm not sure how the reviewer have done the test, usually system idle is around 30 to 60 watts. Anandtech does a good job on full power of the cpu and only the cpu.

Yes, the 12900k can peak at 272 watts at a high AVX2 load. As you can see that peak is short lived and does not represent what the actual long term heat load is.
1636458842645.png

Even the worst case load that lasts for a second or so, the package power (and the heat load) is well below the 300W you have erroreously stated.

Can the mentioned noctua coolers keep this type of processor running at indefinite turbo? No. Have they stated such a thing to be possible? Also no.
 
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I'm not sure how the reviewer have done the test, usually system idle is around 30 to 60 watts. Anandtech does a good job on full power of the cpu and only the cpu.



My ryzen 5900x uses a 150w aio 240mm cooler and yet it cant cool down a 140 watts cpu. So reason I laughed noctua came up with a low profile cooler using a 12900k hehe, not even their top air cooler can do the job well on that 12900k.
It's running unlocked here, which isn't stock. Stock 12900k = 241W max. 150W for the 11600K. These are actual limits.

I already told you you can't compare different CPUs. Surprised how hot a 5900x runs if you need a 240mm AIO for only 150W though. That can't be right? I'd understand it if it was a 5800x but a 5900x should run cooler. 150W is nothing for a 12C CPU. I know Zen 3 runs hot but it shouldn't run that hot.
 
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They were specific about what conditions regarding 12900K they used. They didn't claim 300W or some insane overclocks which it probably indeed can't do. How does it make sense to hold it against them? This is clearly not a product for such use case, so... don't buy it if that's your use case. It's not that hard. You don't go complaining at all random third party replacements for BOX cooler that they can't handle 12900K@300W either, do you?

Yeah , not specific but they used it for bragging rights hehe, why didn't they use their top air cooler and compare both? They sent a wrong message, to me this backfired on them, testing low profile cpu cooler on top end cpu ehhe

Yes, the 12900k can peak at 272 watts at a high AVX2 load. As you can see that peak is short lived and does not represent what the actual long term heat load is.
View attachment 224495
Even the worst case load that lasts for a second or so, the package power (and the heat load) is well below the 300W you have erroreously stated.

Can the mentioned noctua coolers keep this type of processor running at indefinite turbo? No. Have they stated such a thing to be possible? Also no.

Default clocks full package 272w , close to 300 watts, yes is not 300 watts, my bad hehe
 
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It's running unlocked here, which isn't stock.
ADL is running at stock, there's no OC mentioned on AT.
Stock 12900k = 241W max.
That's not a hard limit, it never is! Your power usage will depend on the workload, cooling, motherboard (VRM & BIOS) as well as the actual Silicon quality, if you can call it that, of the chip.
 
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Yeah , not specific but they used it for bragging rights hehe, why didn't they use their top air cooler and compare both? They sent a wrong message, to me this backfired on them, testing low profile cpu cooler on top end cpu ehhe

Again, DIFFERENT USE CASE. In more ways than one actually.

"Top air cooler" won't even fit in many cases (as in PC cases) this is intended to fit in, so how would it even be relevant comparison?
 
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It's running unlocked here, which isn't stock. Stock 12900k = 241W max. 150W for the 11600K. These are actual limits.

I already told you you can't compare different CPUs. Surprised how hot a 5900x runs if you need a 240mm AIO for only 150W though. That can't be right? I'd understand it if it was a 5800x but a 5900x should run cooler. 150W is nothing for a 12C CPU. I know Zen 3 runs hot but it shouldn't run that hot.

The way i see is a 150 watts cooler supposed to be for a 150 watts cpu or lower, that is using the kiss rule. Intel states is a 125w which is not true 125, as we could see that 125w transformed into a 272w volcano beast ehhe

Again, DIFFERENT USE CASE. In more ways than one actually.

"Top air cooler" won't even fit in many cases (as in PC cases) this is intended to fit in, so how would it even be relevant comparison?

Yes right, so why did they use a 12900k in their tests? that is low profile cpu cooler, like i said before misdirection on their PR team.
 
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Default clocks full package 272w , close to 300 watts, yes is not 300 watts, my bad hehe
You stated that it was over 300 Watts. Please stop with your nonsense.

You also stated that 12600k consumes over 300 Watts. That is wrong by a factor of 2.


Check the tests on even a 12600, it hits 300 watts very easily
 
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You stated that it was over 300 Watts. Please stop with your nonsense.

You also stated that 12600k consumes over 300 Watts. That is wrong by a factor of 2.

It does on overclock, not default clocks. So I have not lied, it does use more than 300 watts overclocked. Why can't you accept the fact alder lake is a fail? anyway, this is not the topic.

Look, i hope you are not blind, I will post the 12600k once again, that is clear 319 watts.

 
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Yes right, so why did they use a 12900k in their tests? that is low profile cpu cooler, like i said before misdirection on their PR team.
Because they can. Or rather "the cooler can". At least with those parameters it's entirely believable. If so, then it wouldn't be false advertising, just sth that's not very relevant to you, or most ppl really, so makes more sense to just ignore that bit instead of making mountain out of molehill.
 
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It does on overclock, not default clocks. So I have not lied, it does use more than 300 watts overclocked. Why can't you accept the fact alder lake is a fail? anyway, this is not the topic.

Look, i hope you are not blind, I will post the 12600k once again, that is clear 319 watts.

And since when should cooler manufacturers comply with overclocked powerconsumptions?

And you again posted some bullshit wall socket power consumption numbers. THE PROCESSOR DOES NOT HAVE AN AC PLUG!

By that metric the said cooler cannot manage to cool even a puny 5600x or a stock 11400f.
 
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And since when should cooler manufacturers comply with overclocked powerconsumptions?

And you again posted some bullshit wall socket power consumption numbers. THE PROCESSOR DOES NOT HAVE AN AC PLUG!

You are losing focus here, please be focused. Anyway, like i said previously that is clear 319 watts, so i will say again, it used more than 300 watts. So I have not lied or made it up, why can't you accept that? It's so hard to see the image and not accept the truth?
 
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ADL is running at stock, there's no OC mentioned on AT.

That's not a hard limit, it never is! Your power usage will depend on the workload, cooling, motherboard (VRM) as well as the actual Silicon quality, if you can call it that, of the chip.
I'm ignoring PL4 here, which is the true hard limit. On average it runs at 241W in any long term workload. Intel CPUs follow their limits very close, unless you run them unlocked. What happens on worse silicon? They downclock harder.

Intel defines their turbo boost power limit as follows:
The maximum sustained (>1s) power dissipation of the processor as limited by current and/or temperature controls. Instantaneous power may exceed Maximum Turbo Power for short durations (<=10ms).

Transient load spikes are not important for cooling. It doesn't matter for cooling either that a 3090 has spikes upto 600W.
The way i see is a 150 watts cooler supposed to be for a 150 watts cpu or lower, that is using the kiss rule. Intel states is a 125w which is not true 125, as we could see that 125w transformed into a 272w volcano beast ehhe
I get that people like easy to compare numbers but unfortunately thermodynamics aren't that easy. Which AIO do you have because I can not imagine any AIO cooler would say they can only cool 150W.

Noctua has an excellent article on why using TDPs are stupid.


Especially point 2 is relevant to my point.
The second key problem is that the amount of heat that a cooler can dissipate can vary greatly from CPU to CPU. For example, the same cooler may be able to dissipate 250W on CPU A but only 150W on CPU B. In particular, CPUs with smaller chips (DIEs) and smaller integrated heat-spreaders (IHS) are much more difficult to cool than larger ones that emit the same amount of heat. In addition to these differences that are due to different heat flux densities, other aspects such as internal DIE configuration and placement on the processor package, as well as the maximum allowed temperature of the processors, also lead to significant variations from model to model. Assigning a general TDP rating to a CPU cooler can therefore end up being misleading as well.
 
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I've used the NH-L9a in a SFF Ryzen 3400G build and it barely kept up there. I think this will work well with the LGA1700 celerons, pentiums and maybe up to the cheapest i3 but anything more than that is a no.

Their claim of 160W is ridiculous at best.
 
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You are losing focus here, please be focused. Anyway, like i said previously that is clear 319 watts, so i will say again, it used more than 300 watts. So I have not lied or made it up, why can't you accept that? It's so hard to see the image and not accept the truth?
Yes, the ENTIRE COMPUTER used more than 300 Watts. The PROCESSOR did not.

The power supply has a efficiency of about 90% and the same for the VRM. Even if the GPU and mobo didn’t use a single Watt the PROCESSOR would still consume a maximum of 260 Watts overclocked.

You can probably make the 12600k go even to 500W if using liquid nitrogen though. VERY RELEVANT.
 
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They downclock harder
That depends, are you going to fix clocks on them to run them like a volcano?
Intel defines their turbo boost power limit as follows:
You do realize that with ADL you have unlimited turbo? Of course depending on cooling. For instance on a D15 running peak AVX2 loads ADL will run hotter, consume more energy & waste more energy (dissipate heat) as opposed to a 360mm AIO so as long as it remains under Tjmax.
Noctua has an excellent article on why using TDPs are stupid.
Yes TDP's are irrelevant today for all 3 brands, I'm including Nvidia here.
 
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I get that people like easy to compare numbers but unfortunately thermodynamics aren't that easy. Which AIO do you have because I can not imagine any AIO cooler would say they can only cool 150W.

It's a Masterliquid 240mm.

Review here https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/cooler-master-masterliquid-ml240r-rgb-review,10.html

"Today's tested cooler will work with any processor from low to high-end quad-core and six-core including up-to 150W. "

That aio cooler is good for up to 150w cpu. It works well if my rzyen is 140 watts or lower, if more, it cant keep it up.
 
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They at no point tried to verify that claim.

Usually a 240mm aio cooler is for up to 150 watts cpus and no more, a 360mm a bit more 200 watts, a 120mm for 100 watts or less.

Anyway, here is another article about it

"1. Cooler Master LC240E RGB - This is a cooler with 240mm radiator, dual MF120R RGB fans and a 130W TDP rating. You can get it on Amazon for around $70."

 
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Usually a 240mm aio cooler is for up to 150 watts cpus and no more, a 360mm a bit more 200 watts, a 120mm for 100 watts or less.
Said by who? There are plenty of 120mm AIOs in select GPUs that do 300+Watts (for real this time).
 
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Said by who? There are plenty of 120mm AIOs in select GPUs that do 300+Watts (for real this time).

With delta fans they can even do 500 watts ehhe, jokes aside, very high static pressure is king, so yes it depends on things but radiator wise a 240mm and normal fan is up to 150w. Anyway this is off topic.
 
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