Which air cooler for a ryzen 9 5900x

[dirtyferret]

I imagine storage HDD arms are strong, perhaps strong enough to rip off heads if they touch the forbidden platter?

eh, it wasn't good. I redid it

 

[A Computer Guy]

eh, it wasn't good. I redid it

I would have expected "girthier than yours" but I digress back to the OP topic on girthy air coolers.

Stop tying price with performance.

E.g. longevity of Noctua's fans is legendary. I haven't had opportunity to try new Thermalrights, but looking how cheap they sell dual towers with two fans, I would be surprised if their craftmanship wasn't bottom of the barrel Pretty common are complaints about coming with SE coolers fans starting to rattle after not long, few weeks or month what fits my suspicion well.

Other thing you pay for when going Noctua is their customer service. Renowned and supporting almost all coolers they've ever made with kits for new sockets. TR does kits too, but I would like to know how it works in practice. They're for sale online, but from what I've seen pretty expensive when Noctua's is known for sending them for free at least during six-year warranty.

BTW these are two reasons why even most expensive Noctuas happen to be the cheapest in the long run :]

I used to baulk at the price of Noctua but now after having several installed now and experiencing them for some time I don't mind so much. My only compliant is the sheathing for the wiring never seems flexible and results in ugly bends.

 

[#22]

I used to baulk at the price of Noctua but now after having several installed now and experiencing them for some time I don't mind so much. My only compliant is the sheathing for the wiring never seems flexible and results in ugly bends.

That's why I think that man should look at prices of Noctuas from the perspective of potential longevity coming from quality and mounting kits. Especially if we talk people upgrading and reusing stuff. Let's look at their at least attractive cooler: U12S. Tiny so one not good at cooling, not good at silence. Add to this ancient fan (2009?) when Noctua has better ones for years. For the price it's just awful, because probably all of the competition would give you something better. But now let's imagine buyer who traditionally, every few years buys lowend, so typically low-power CPU. U12S will have no problems with cooling it doing it quieter than majority would ask for. This guy spent $65 ten years ago and it was the last time he spent on CPU cooler. Others needed to buy new one every other build thanks to no kits or replace broken fans, so for sure spent more. When maybe some other guy still rocks U12, Noctua's eighteen years old first cooler man can put on AM5 or 1700 using official mounting kit :>

Noctua's sheeting is not flexible, but seems more protective than typical kinda braided, especially given that such happen sometimes really poor, loose. So priorities For easthetic of cooler cables, too long or stiffer like Noctua, I remove excess to the cable management side and there tie it in the way locking whole in good looking position.

 

[dgianstefani]

U12A is peak air cooler.

Loses a couple of % to newer models but unmatched for quality.

Perfect RAM clearance too.

Relatively small compared to what some of the competitors have to create to compete.

 

[#22]

U12A is impressive for the size, but I wouldn't put it above D15. I also like U14S as their value option. And D12L when needed to keep it lower or as just better, but more expensive alternative to U12S being cheaper than U12A. If somebody really find these price differences significant, especially in the long run

And BTW I'm really intrigued by their newest roadmap showing Undisclosed project which, if I'm right, appeared here out of nowhere with just the latest map.

It may be whatever like new fan grills, but I hope that Noctua will attack with their compact <160mm dual tower everybody releases now. Imo that's what they need the most now. And to fill the space being likely between U12A and new D15. On the other hand I would bet it's just U14S successor.

 

[dgianstefani]

D15 is massive though.

 

[freeagent]

Every air cooler has its own set of drawbacks. I am not sure if there really is a peak air cooler.

But anything Noctua would not be on my list.. not because I am a fanboy, but because they are not innovating. They are resting on their laurels

Riding the coattails of their previous success, never to be had again

 

[dgianstefani]

Every air cooler has its own set of drawbacks. I am not sure if there really is a peak air cooler.

But anything Noctua would not be on my list.. not because I am a fanboy, but because they are not innovating. They are resting on their laurels

Riding the coattails of their previous success, never to be had again

???

The NF-A12x25, a 25 mm thick fan, six years on, still holds its own in performance and noise testing vs recently released 28 and 30mm thick 120mm fans in TPU testing and elsewhere. The LCP technology introduced by Noctua was copied by everyone else, worse.

They're not resting on their laurels. They take the time to release products as perfect as they can make them. Take the Chromax black variants of their heatsinks, its not a simple paint job, it's a bonded coating that doesn't degrade thermal performance, unlike some of their competition's products who willingly sacrifice thermal dissipation performance for aesthetics, by releasing products optimised for aesthetics over performance. Not both, as Noctua tries to do.

Or consider the U12A, which is significantly smaller and lighter than much of the competition at the performance bracket it resides in.

Yes, I'm aware of the somewhat meme status of Noctua's endlessly delayed timeline (D16/ next gen 140mm fan when). But it's a better approach than releasing updates for no good reason.

 

[freeagent]

Some rabidness came out, my bad

I mean honestly.. you can only do so much with air, so much with AIO.. CPU manufacturers need to do better

 

[GamerGuy]

9 months is an impressive result!

Okay, okay, the stock fans on my PA 120 SE is 14 months, beat that!!!

 

[Arco]

Don't bother getting a slight upgrade to your air cooler. Check if it is actually hurting your performance before pulling the trigger.

 

[freeagent]

I have PA120 and a 5900X, the extra 20w or so of capacity on the PS Evo is noticeable. And if he wants to slide a T30 into the center, it will literally just slide right in. Good luck doing that on a PA120 or PS120SE. FC140 is pretty good too. That is what I would choose after the Evo.

 

[#22]

Okay, okay, the stock fans on my PA 120 SE is 14 months, beat that!!!

You asked for it, so my contenders will be two Scythe's Kaze Flex Month or two ago started sixth year of everyday service with no sign of degradation :] Btw partially thanks to Scythe's LGA 1700 mounting kit. And btw not the best heatsink fans, but I don't care few degrees worse results when noise normalized. Lifehack: I will sacrifice them to run my cooler the same quiet lol And I like them for pleasant noise profile and being able to run inaudible speeds airflow and internals (like motor) wise what all happen to be my priorities.

I think there's no point talking longer about air cooler or a Ryzen 9 5900X, so let's talk Noctua

Every air cooler has its own set of drawbacks. I am not sure if there really is a peak air cooler.

But anything Noctua would not be on my list.. not because I am a fanboy, but because they are not innovating. They are resting on their laurels

Riding the coattails of their previous success, never to be had again

Noctua takes more time to design their products and it in fact shows a difference. Most of the fan/cooler testing is about simple noise normalized temperature benchmarks, so e.g. irritatingly whistling and rattling fan being quiet and performant wins. On the other hand you can see Noctua's difference in tests going deeper, checking e.g. vibrations; acoustic optimization; speed range; noise of internal components or even power draw. These are the details which make similarly performing fans better or worse and here Noctua tends to outshine competition. It all comes from build quality and so called fan optimization which takes this time here.

One thing about U12A potentially making it lacking: no fan much blowing under heatsink, so some penalty to CPU and VRM thermals when power hungry GPU below. I have never tried U12A, but notice such tendency with similar coolers. No problems with handling given Cinebench load alone, but short after adding GPU workout CPU thermals hurt more than they should and increasing case airflow doesn't help much, if any.

 

[GamerGuy]

Well, when the stock fans on my PA 120 SE die on me, I'd be getting Noctua fans for sure. Likewise, when my 360 AIO hits it 5th - 6th years of usage, I'd prolly look for the PA 120 (or its successor) as a replacement, will get a pair of Noctua fans for it as well. So far, I have no complaints regarding the Corsair fans (on my Tt AIO), stock fans for my SOLDAM XR-1 (which are a decade old), and the fans on my CM H500M case are all running just fine.

 

[#22]

Fans are generally rather long-lasting, just ones lower quality are more likely to fail or show wear sooner. Combining it with almost non-existing progress of cooling market makes imo not worth cutting corners here to the point of it being bad deal. Premium for good or even state of the art ones is nothing in the long run and it buys you ones serving you the best way for all of this time.

 

[azrael]

Thermalright Phantom Spirit (the successor of the peerless assassin)
7 Heatpipe monstrosity for 42€ that is on par with most 280mm AIOs.

Or just the Peerless Assassin (120 SE) which can be had dirt cheap in Denmark currently. Probably elsewhere as well.

Scratch that. Didn't notice the OP already was on a PA 120 SE. TBH, I'm quite surprised the PA 120 SE isn't up to the task. I cannot believe that cooler isn't sufficient.

 

[KrazyT]

About Noctua and their price, here is a pro tip :
In Europe and via Amazon you can buy used Noctua directly at Noctua's store
Ex (at times of writing) : a NH-D15 for 76 € (shipping includes) instead of 110 €.
Done it several times, and the items were as good as new.
Be sure to check.
Of course, i'm not related to Amazon nor Noctua

 

[freeagent]

Imo Noctua fans are quiet because they aren’t exactly the strongest. Their strong fans are definitely not quiet lol.

 

[P4-630]

Their strong fans are definitely not quiet lol.

Even the be quiet! fans I have aren't quiet either at somewhat higher speeds, but that's for all fans at higher speeds...

 

[#22]

About Noctua and their price, here is a pro tip :
In Europe and via Amazon you can buy used Noctua directly at Noctua's store
Ex (at times of writing) : a NH-D15 for 76 € (shipping includes) instead of 110 €.
Done it several times, and the items were as good as new.
Be sure to check.
Of course, i'm not related to Amazon nor Noctua

It reminded me another thing to be considered when looking at Noctua's prices: value on used market. You will sell easier and for more cooler known for legendary quality and getting mounting kits. Opposite to almost anything other giving doubts about state of the fan and being compatible with sockets from the time it was bought and if owner still has those kits.

Imo Noctua fans are quiet because they aren’t exactly the strongest. Their strong fans are definitely not quiet lol.

Noise normalized benchmarks show them doing great, so being strongest. Check good review of their old fan and finally get some respect to Noctua lol

https://www.hwcooling.net/en/noctua-nf-a14-pwm-relevant-even-after-a-decade-review/

For now maybe not many 140mm to compare with, but ones being here strong, value and noise normalized benchmarks are secondary in this context. On the other hand there's majority of renowned 120mm to compare with NF-A12x25 market still has problems competing with after five or six years.

 

[freeagent]

I am sorry, 60cfm just does not tickle me the right way. But lots of people love them so they can’t be that bad. Noise normalized testing does nothing for me

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

My 5900X is cool like a cucumber! I have yet to see 80C+. It spanks my 5800X, which was 80C+ easily!

 

[#22]

I am sorry, 60cfm just does not tickle me the right way. But lots of people love them so they can’t be that bad. Noise normalized testing does nothing for me

Do I understand correctly that you would like something moving more air for the price of even higher noise? They have Industrials, if I recall 2000 and 3000(rpm) models, maybe something like that from smaller ones too. My personal interest ends ~1000 :]

 

[freeagent]

Do I understand correctly that you would like something moving more air for the price of even higher noise? They have Industrials, if I recall 2000 and 3000(rpm) models, maybe something like that from smaller ones too. My personal interest ends ~1000 :]

I have a bunch of their iPPC fans, 3K.

Your interest ends at 1000rpm, that is fine, we are just two different types of users

 

[azrael]

FWIW I've tried Noctua (case fans) several times (because of their "legendary quality") and I've been burned every single time. If there's one brand I don't actively consider at the moment for anything it's Noctua. Just my 2 cents.