Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile CPU Cooler

The cooler is designed to maximize fin density in the limited space around the CPU socket. It will not overhang the capacitors, RAM or VRM’s on the surrounding edges of your CPU socket. Looking at your motherboard, you will notice an area around your socket where you have no components. Guess what… this cooler will fill this space with a compact heat vacuum! It is designed *specifically to fit into this zone… completely. No interference.

Now if you are like me and notice that the base or contact portion of the cooler is not super shinny mirror finish, well Noctua explains why.

Why doesn’t the base of Noctua coolers have a polished, mirror like finish?

“As most of today’s PC enthusiasts use high-viscosity thermal compounds, the contact surface of Noctua coolers is optimised for use with this type of pastes. The micro-grooves at the contact surface ensure that high-viscosity thermal compounds are dispersed to a uniform thin layer across the whole contact area and that no air pockets remain between the cooler and the CPU. With a polished, mirror like surface, the risk of uneven dispersion is much higher. As too thick layers of thermal paste and air pockets drastically deteriorate heat transmission, the micro-grooves are is of vital importance to the overall cooling performance of Noctua coolers when used with today’s high-viscosity thermal pastes.”

As if the fan wasn’t already engineered for quiet, there is a resistive adapter that plugs in between the cooler and the fan header that will further slow the RPM’s on the cooler’s fan. This way, if you are running a CPU that is putting out well below the 65w output, then you can further reduce your noise profile, but still maintain your cooling. In the above pictures, I installed the cooler on an ASUS P8V77 V LK Socket 1155 motherboard, paired with an intel i3 3225 processor. The 3225 is a 3.3 GHz processor that uses the Intel HD4000 integrated video. It is a 55w processor, so it falls a full 10 watts below what this cooler is capable of. If you are looking at HTPC cooling solutions, chances are you have a small form factor rig where space is already at a premium, and you need to insure you can keep your processor cool, while remaining quiet. Serious HTPC builders are not going to be incorporating i7’s into the machine, as the need to control the fan noise (sound) will out weigh most CPU performance decisions. *Most* will not be using liquid cooling, as they take up precious space, and add additional expense and complexity. This leaves the builder looking for small, well made air coolers that wont interfere with the build, or add to the overall sound profile.