Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4

[testman78]

Introduction

For the launch of AMD's latest AM4 Ryzen CPU, Austrian manufacturer Noctua is re-launching one of their award-winning models as special edition AM4 version.I believe that the name of the cooler at hand may be a bit familiar to all of those out there that like, support and use Noctua products. And if I have to be fair, you're quite right,this is an enhanced version of the all popular, small yet effective CPU cooler Noctua NH-L9x65 and its name is Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4.Before I begin I just want to make a slight clarification from the very start as this is a cooler with the purpose of being effective at cooling a CPU installed inside what we call HTPC (home theater PC) and SFF (small form factor) cases. Usually, those types of machines do not generate that much amount of heat, nor do they need to as their main goal is to be used mostly as multimedia devices. Of course, multiple other applications are possible as at today's market the HTPC gaming is becoming more and more popular.



Specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The outer shell of the Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is the recognizable maroon and white color scheme we see on every Noctua product and the front of the box gives us our first impressions of the cooler.On the front we have the product name up the left side and on the top. Below the name they describe the cooler as an L Type low profile cooler, this is especially nice if you are looking at multiple Noctua coolers next to each other because you can tell quickly what sets each apart. Then down below are a few of the coolers features. On the top right front corner there is an award badge in gold.



On the back of the package there are multiple languages written as well as precise technical specifications regarding the product inside the box.



The right side of the box lists the heatsink's and fan's specifications in an easy-to-follow format and mentions the scope of delivery.



The other side of the box is where we find a more in-depth take on the features of the cooler from a breakdown on the NF-A9x14 PWM fan to socket compatibilities through the SecuFirm 2 standards.



On top are the product name, the features, and Noctua's logo, but not much else.



Inside the box we first have the accessories box right on top.



Then below that the heatsink is held into place with cardboard all around it.



The AMD4 box has brackets specific to manufacture chipset along with that it include the installation instructions.You get a screwdriver, a full stick of thermal paste and a fan cable with resister inline to slow the fan down. You also get screws,two fan clips, and a metal case badge. Everything I cover a Noctua heatsink I am impressed with the quality of their case badge. What I don't mention enough is that they include a full stick of thermal paste. Most manufactures just pre apply it or include a small amount but Noctua includes the same amount as what you get when you buy one of their thermal pastes. Not counting shipping, getting this on its own is like 7 bucks, a nice addition to your heatsink purchase.




A Closer Look

Right out of the box the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is still clearly a Noctua cooler. Not only is the light brown and dark brown color combination of the coolers fan a dead giveaway, but also the heatsink itself has the same thick fin design that we see with all Noctua coolers.



As I mentioned in the beginning of the article this small piece of metal can be used mainly in the business of HTPC/SFF where ITX motherboards are common. Due to its limited cooling performance above certain TDP of the CPUs that is, not because you cannot install it elsewhere. Noctua recommends using a well ventilated case, especially for some CPUs out there.



Beginning with "it is compact" and ending with "it is small". Those are the things I can say about the heat sink. And a few other really, but man this this is small. Design-wise it reminds me of a snake circling around its prey.NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 has physical dimensions of Height (without fan) 51 mm x Width (without fan) 95 mm x Depth (without fan) 95 mm. All of this comes in at 340 g (without fan) and 413 g with the included fan installed.The cooling heat sink block has 50 aluminum fins and at the side you will find Noctua's logo.



Some companies use a thin gage metal and then up the fin density but Noctua's coolers always have the same density and gage. This gives the heatsinks a stronger construction and the larger gaps between fins make for good airflow.The fan certainly looks nice and provides perfect coverage of the entire fin array, no more, no less.



With the fan removed, we can see the whole cooling block is packed tight with durable fins, giving us impressive surface area to take heat away from those rather thick heat pipes and help keep things as cool as possible.Fan clips on the side allow quick and easy installation/removal of the fan too, handy for quickly cleaning and maintaining the cooler.



The NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 uses a total of four heatpipes to pull heat up into the taller heatsink. The four pipes are sandwiched between the contact surface and the base of the fins. Each side of the cooler has two pipes coming out and up into the top half of the cooler at an angle to spread the heat out. Here we can also see that on one end the heatsink also has the Noctua logo embossed into it.With the cooler flipped over we can get a better look at the mounting system as well as the bottom surface. We can see just how much space the universal mounting design takes up, this ends up being a good portion of the additional height of the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 . The bottom contacts surface falls into the middle ground for an ideal setup.The finish is slightly machined but still better than a lot of other coolers as well.On the base, you'll find a large and beautifully finished contact plate, which is quite thick overall and I'm sure this will help greatly with the overall cooling performance and heat transfer.



The fan included with the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is the NF-A9x14 PWM.This fan is unique in the Noctua product line because of its thin design.The fan comes equipped with a black braided cable and a PWM header, although you can also add the low noise adapter to limit the maximum RPM of the fan, as well as reduce the overall acoustics.



It is 92x92x14 meaning it is a 92mm fan but 14mm's thick. For perspective a normal 92mm fan is 25mm's thick.NF-A9x14 PWM is equipped with a frame that features AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) and Noctua's proprietary Stepped Inlet Design and Inner Surface Microstructures, both of which further refine the fan's performance/noise efficiency. The fan propeller features Flow Acceleration Channels that increase the airflow output, reduce the noise output and at the same time keep performance to a maximum.



For the movement of this fan, Noctua has used SSO2 bearing type, that most of the company's users are familiar with and it offers a long lifespan of about 150.000 h or more. PWM technology used here is designed by Noctua.NE-FD1 PWM IC that integrates Smooth Commutation Drive (SCD) technology all leading to the fan operating quietly at low speeds and overall it has better torque distribution.




Installation

As always, first thing to do is to check the Intel installation manual, read the instructions carefully and pick up the right accessories for the actual socket. Noctua is famous for their easy installation kit and even if you wanted to make a mistake, it’s a really tough job to mess up here.First put the NM-APS4 plastic spacers onto the screw threads of the backplate, then fix the mounting bars using the four long screws.For the short NM-AMB4 mounting bars, make sure that the curved sides are pointing inwards. For the long NM-AMB5 mounting bars,make sure that the curved sides are pointing outwards.If there are residual traces of thermal paste or thermal pads on your CPU,clean them off first.Then press a small drop (4-5mm diameter) of the supplied NT-H1 thermal compound onto the centre of the heatspreader.Gently tighten the screws until they stop, but don’t use excessive force.



Then put the heatsink onto the CPU and screw it to the screw threads of the mounting bars. Note that you can reach through the blades of the fan using the supplied screw driver. There is thus no need to take off the fan for installation.All in all the installation was very easy.It all comes down to a couple of simple steps and if you don’t know how to install a cooler on a motherboards, please refer to the manual as it is informative enough and even contains photos which you can use as a guide.




Memory Clearance

As you can see from the picture below, with the heatsink installed on the motherboard the cooler is not blocking any of the DRAM slots and can be used even with memories with taller heat spreaders. Clearly as Noctua states there is vast amount of space between the cooler and the first PCIe slot, which is excellent result and provides 100% compatibility with no interference at all.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

Processor:AMD Ryzen 7 1700
Motherboard:ASUS Crosshair VI Hero
Memory: 16GB Mushkin
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 6970
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Chassis:dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5



Software:

CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
CineBench



I am testing the performance as follows:

Ambient temperatures are kept at 23C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
Load temperatures are obtained after running OCCT Linpack test for 30 minutes.
To measure noise levels i disable the two front in-take fans, rear exhaust and GPU fan.

On the following pages you'll have the opportunity to read what Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is capable of.


Temperature

Obviously, with a cooler this size you are not going to break any overcloking temperature records - well, maybe for the wrong reasons, but I put the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 through the thermal testing knowing that it was going to get a bit toasty. Don't let that sway you away from it. You have to consider the intended design purpose. You wouldn't buy a small push mower to cut 10 acres of grass. Certainly not - you would get a large tractor that was made for that type of use. And as Noctua clearly states, this cooler is targeted toward the small form factor and HTPC systems where you need a small, compact, yet effective cooler.



So our idle temps for stock and overclock are well within reason, and it is no surprise that our load temps for stock and overclock are at the high end.I have to say that I was expecting the overclocked temp to bounce off of the thermal limit of 100 C, but we actually stayed a few degress below that. And again, you have to consider that this cooler would not likely see that type of load in an HTPC.


Noise Level

The NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 might not be a top performer but it is near-silent. While it isn't the quietest cooler tested, it still only tops out at 44 dBA and stays below 35 dBA at idle and low loads.




Conclusion

The coolers I have tested from Noctua have so far been made for the high thermal loads you see with overclocking. They are by nature massive and capable of moving large volumes of air, and of course they stand out on any motherboard. While large coolers are impressive and fun to show off, for small form factor builds you need a cooler that can get the job done in a small space. And that is just what the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 does. The engineering that went into the entire package for the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is remarkable, from literally the box and internal packaging, to the installation hardware, cooler, and fan.The low profile NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is small and compact. With this cooler, Noctua is targeting the Small Form Factor and HTPC builders who want a dependable, capable cooler that can fit in the small chunk of real estate usually found in these systems.installation process quick and easy. Large coolers can block or partially block access to fan headers and RAM slots, but the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 provides 100% RAM and PCIe compatibility on AM4-based ITX mainboards - not many coolers can brag about that. You can use the tallest RAM available and still access all of your fan headers.As far as performance goes, things got a little toasty in my testing, which was expected. But my testing is really outside the boundaries of what this cooler would normally be subjected. My testing did show that this little cooler that can almost fit in the palm of your hand still kept an overclocked Ryzen 1700 a few degrees below 80 C. While that is a bit on the high side, I hesitate to list the cooling performance as a Con, because if you use the cooler within the design intention, which is small form factor cases and HTPC environments, then you will have no problems. It does a fine job of cooling. If you try to cool an overclocked gaming system, well, Noctua has a variety of coolers that are better choices.As for the acoustics, the Noctua NF-A9x14 fan is quite even at full speed. The case fans drowned out any sound from the Noctua fan. The LNA (low noise adapter) lowers the fan RPM to reduce noise, but honestly, this cooler is really quiet, so the LNA didn't make much difference.



The whole package that this compact and cute cooler provides is awesome and is right where it needs to be in terms of performance/price ratio. Although there may be competitive coolers that provide better or similar performance, the fact that this is a Noctua one deserves recognition and attention.Noctua has you covered for any size cooler you may need.Are you looking to build a small system based on an ITX motherboard?With a six-year warranty, the Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 retails for EUR 44.90/USD 52.90 and would be right at home in your HTPC build.