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Review on πŸ’¨ Noctua NH-L9a-AM4: Premium Low-Profile CPU Cooler for AMD AM4 (Brown) - Unmatched Cooling Performance for AM4 Processors by Erik Snyder

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Used in Silverstone MILO Series ML03B

I had a Silverstone MILO Series ML03B case that I bought 6 years ago and swapped CPU/motherboard for an ASUS B450M PLUS GAMING motherboard and an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AE exchanged the combination. I thought I was in great shape until I ran into an issue with the crossbar on the top of the case that connects the front and back. It is used to allow the components to fit onto the case. Crossbar support didn't delete the ghost cooler at 1600 so I removed it and replaced it with this one. Before ordering I checked CPU compatibility with Noctua and found the following: Noctua keeps both a motherboard and CPU compatibility list on their website and the CPU compatible list is broken down into the following 6 categories: 1) Best Turbo/ Overclock headroom 2) Average turbo headroom overclocking3) Low turbo/overclocking headroom4) Compatible with no turbo/overclocking headroom5) Compatible with some limitations (see comment) )6) Incompatible (see comment) At the time of writing this This article lists 26 AM4 processors in two categories as the following way: 1) Compatible non-turbo/overclocked (total 19): Athlon 200GE/220GE/240GE, Ryzen 3 1200/1300X/ 2200G/3200G, Ryzen 5 1400/1500X/ 1600/2400G/2600/3400G/3600/3600X , Ryzen 7 1700/2700/3700X/3800X2) Compatibility with some limitations (7 in total): Ryzen 5 1600X/2600X, (recommended only with good case ventilation) Ryzen 7 1700X/1800X ( recommended only for good r case ventilation) Ryzen 7 2700X (recommended Xia only with good ventilation of the case. Set the TDP limit in UEFI/BIOS to the officially advertised TDP value for your SKU/CPU model. May drop below base clock at constant 100% CPU usage) Ryzen 9 3900X/3950X (Probably, but sustained clock speed will be below base clock) Hope this helps you and others. If you have a specific motherboard compatibility issue I would search the Noctua website for this cooler and its motherboard compatibility list. Obviously, my Ryzen 5 1600 shouldn't be a problem, and it isn't. This is a system I don't plan on overclocking and I have 2 8cm Noctua fans installed on one side and can add 2 more if needed, but at the moment it's not necessary. I have an Antec VERIS AV cooler that sits on top of the MILO case and draws air in from the bottom and exhausts it from the back so ventilation isn't an issue.

Pros
  • New to my collection
Cons
  • confused