ALPENFOHN 84000000156 Ventirad for PC

Product Information

Not everyone building a small form factor PC has to deal with a two-inch limitation on their CPU cooler. If you have a bit more room and want improved cooling (or the ability to run slightly hotter CPUs), the Noctua NH-L12S is one of your strongest options.

If you consider that the Wraith Stealth also has RGB and comes free with an AMD CPU, the C7 RGB might seem like a bad deal. But there are two situations where we think the C7 RGB makes sense. Alpenföhn is a company which manufacturers cooling components for IT systems, which started its activity in 2008. The Alpenföhn line includes CPU coolers, fans and accesorries which include: thermal compound, storage cooling systems and fan mounting systems. The idle test consists of the CPU sitting idle at the desktop for 30 minutes, the temperature was measured at the end of the test. Best Value Low-Profile CPU Cooler: ID-Cooling IS-40X performs well and should cool most low- to mid-power CPUs at an excellent price.

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The NH-L12S takes the general design of low-profile CPU coolers like the NH-L9 but adds some much-needed room between the heatsink fans and the cold plate. This provides more room for airflow and helps bring temperatures down. It still can’t compete with a proper tower cooler, but the performance is noticeably better than sub-two-inch coolers. The sides of the box have a monochrome diagram of the cooler, which presents the overall dimensions of the heatsink. The basic technical specifications of both the heatsink and the included fan can also be found here. The built-in 92x92x15mm PWM fan has a 4-pin PWM connector and can be controlled via the motherboard. This allows a speed adjustment between 800 and 2800 rpm, allowing a minimum of 14 dB(A) and a maximum of 80.03 m³/h. The downside, of course, is fan noise: Corsair’s H60 hit 52 dBA, whereas most low-profile air coolers tended to stay around or below 40 dBA. So that’s a compromise you’ll have to make if you want the better temperatures an AIO can provide. Cryorig’s C7 RGB is one of the few compelling aftermarket low-profile CPU coolers with RGB, so it’s worth a look if you want some visual flair for your small form factor PC. But it’s more than just style over substance, as the C7 RGB is also an adequate performer adequate for most low-powered builds.

Alpenföhn have further innovated by attaching a 92-millimeter fan to the base of a high quality heatsink and in so doing have cut the overall height of the cooler to just 47 millimetres. This extraordinary design also has the added benefit of reducing fan noise. A Premium Heatsink made from high quality Materials However, let’s say you’re building in a case like the Lian Li Q58 (one of our favorite Mini-ITX cases). The Q58 only has enough room for a 2.6-inch tall CPU cooler, which isn’t enough for a tower cooler. In this situation, you’ll want either a low-profile cooler or an AIO to keep your CPU cool. This, conveniently, brings us to our next topic. Low-Profile Coolers vs. AIOs Für den nötigen Airflow wird der im Lieferumfang enthaltene 92mm PWM Lüfter auf der Unterseite des Kühlkörpers angebracht. Hierdurch wird nicht nur die Lautstärke in eng bemessenen Systemen reduziert, sondern eine maximale Höhe von lediglich 47mm realisiert.What is your opionion and experience about the two CPU cooler solutions? Which one has less noise? Which one has better TDP (also regarding to higher TDP with Zen 3 CPU‘s)? ID-Cooling’s IS-40X is one of the most affordable low-profile coolers on the market, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a capable option. It’s a solid performer and a safe choice provided you pair it with a suitable CPU. Best >2 Inch Low-Profile Cooler: Noctua NH-L12S uses its extra height to offer noticeably better cooling than its smaller cousins at a still-affordable price.

Best Low-Profile CPU Cooler Overall: Noctua NH-L9i / L9i17xx / L9a-AM4 has excellent compatibility and performs solidly for the size. This is a great example when a product comes to life from the collaboration of two companies to offer a great cooler for such a niche market. Make no mistake, this is not intend just for the DAN A4-SFX case, but for almost any SFF build. Given it’s amazing versatility, I mean you can even install 2 fans at the same time (1x 120 slim underneath and 1x regular 120 above if the case accepts it) and you get yourself something that has no match in this footprint. Thus it has a great design, it is really easy to install, and it has 6 heatpipes which is amazing for something this small. You may experience some hiccups with some motherboards but as long as you do your due diligence you shouldn’t have any big incompatibility." For both solutions I‘m planning to install two noctua case fans as exhaust at the bottom of the case. Das im Lieferumfang enthaltene Schraubmontagesystem wurde so konstruiert, dass eine maximale Kompatibilität auf mini-ITX Mainboards gewährleistet wird.The noise level was measured at three different distances from the fans (10cm, 20cm, 30cm.) the noise was measured with a margin of error of ± 2 db.