Is this cooler as good as my present one?

Soldato
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28dB is in use on cooler vs 14dB is just an open air. I agree Mugen is better. Darck Rock Slim, is not direct rival to U12A. While both are about same size Dark Rock Slim being 52x130x161mm, it only has only 4 heatpipes while NH-U12A is 58x125x158mm and has 6x heatpipes. So while same basic size NH-U12A has 50% more heatpipe area to transfer heat from base to fins.

more heatpipes dont always mean better cooling, nor does the heatsink size. in this case noctua has a good contact design and its fin density is quite high. in theory you could have a huge cooler with 20 heatpipes but fins stacks at over half to rivals and it would perform worse .

dark rock slim is the U12A competitor ... its a small factor heatsink designed to be used on boards with full 4 or 8 dimm slots populated and to cool flagship CPUs or offer a silent system .
fact its cheaper will stand out more for bequiet , can also add a second fan in and you'll have the same cooling potential via airflow and static pressure

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £78.68 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £98.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

would love to see these two in dual fan usage cooling 8700k/9900k/9900x overclocked !!!
 
Soldato
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Sorry, but saying 4x heatpipes perform like 6x 7x heatpipes is like saying a 4 cylinder engine will perform as well as a 6 cyliner engine of similar design. It's just not going to happen. Dark Rock Slim is not in the same league as NH-U12A, and adding a second fan isn't going to improve it's performance to that of NH-U12A. Dark Rcok Pro with it's 6 heatpipes might be as good a comparison, but review link below has U12A besting Dark Rock 4 by 6c delta, and Dark Rock Pro is a step up from Dark Rock Slim with be quiet! showing Pro as 200w TDP and Slim as 180w TDP .. but I haven't been able to find any data saying what TDP rating is even calculated. Appears to be based only on heatpipe size and numbers.
https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/cooling/noctua-nh-u12a-review/2/

But all of this is side-tracking thread topic. OP is trying to find a smaller cooler to fit his Ryzen 2700 which is rated at 65w TDP, so any of these will cool it just fine. Even something like Cryorig H7 or Alpenfohn Matterhorn Pure. Both would give much better RAM clearance with front of H7 being only about 45mm to front of fan from center CPU and Matterhorn Pure being 61.5mm.
 
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Soldato
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dark rock slim is the U12A competitor
Only in appearance.
It lacks both heatpipes and fin stack to compete NH-U12A or Mugen 5.
It's completely normal weight heatsink.
Can't find fan specs from BeQuiet's site, but average 120mm fan likely weights ~140gram, meaning heatsink itself very likely weights below 500 grams.
Mugen 5 is 750 grams.
NH-U12A 10 grams more.

That difference will certainly show in major difference in surface area.
Which is very densely packed in NH-U12A, while Mugen 5 uses mid dense fin spacing with notably bigger fins.

Even Cryorig H7 weights 577 grams.
Making it good bang per buck heatsink at its basic model price.
With also full dual channel mobo memory clearance.

but I haven't been able to find any data saying what TDP rating is even calculated.
It comes likely from MIASS.
http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/miass.htm

So better to use (erroneously named) common sense and compare heatsink weights, heatpipe counts and design.
 
Soldato
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u12a performs better but slightly louder, but thats with dual fans and bigger heatsink, dual fanned Slim should almost match

Don't forget the U12A comes with low-noise adapters, so when discussing noise there are two different "stock" performance/noise setups available, not just the one. And it's not something that can safely be ignored in this case (despite Eteknix doing so) because interestingly other reviewers have already found that the U12A performs practically the same with the included low-noise adapters, as the heatsink's effectiveness is nearly 100% saturated around 1000-1200 RPM with those NF-A12 fans. In Hardware Scientist's testing it basically gains only a 1-1.5C degree drop going from 33 DBA to 41 DBA at 2000 RPM.


@ 4:00

If Eteknix had bothered to use both stock configurations in their U12A review (they didn't) and then included that result in the Slim review, then it would show it still out-performing the Slim by a good margin but also doing so around the same noise level or quieter. Eteknix showed a difference of 9C favouring the U12A in max overclocked temps, with a difference of 6 DBA favouring the Slim in max acoustics. From that, and the results from using the Low Noise adapters in the video above, we can see how the U12A could easily have shaved up to 8 DBA off, making it quieter than the Slim, while still being 7-8C cooler, in that particular Eteknix testing setup. Not saying that it would have happened but we can see how it could.

Using the NF-A12 fans at 1200-2000 RPM seems pretty pointless with this cooler. They will probably shine more at max RPM with bigger heatsinks or radiators. Noctua needn't have used the full 2000 RPM version of these fans but I guess they were chasing their own claim as much as possible - "140mm cooler performance in a 120mm package", and the extra 1-2C gained helped a bit. Or they just couldn't produce slower versions in time for the cooler release schedule.


while NH-U12A is 58x125x158mm and has 6x heatpipes. So while same basic size NH-U12A has 50% more heatpipe area to transfer heat from base to fins.

Slight correction - it actually has 7x heatpipes. I've seen that Eteknix didn't count them properly if that's what you were basing it on.
 
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Soldato
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Both of you make good points. My bad on the 6x heatpipe .. and I can't blameEteknix, I just didn't count correctly. :o

NH-U12A is a little beast the likes I haven't seen sense Thermalright marketed their Ultra 120 Extreme (63.4x132x160.5mm w/ 6x 6mm heatpipes) which was after their Ultima 90 (55x115x139mm w/ 6x 6mm heatpipes).

The only bad part of NH-U12A is it's extremely high pricing.

From what I've seen of cooler TDP rating it seems to be based only on heatpipe count and heatpipe size. For example Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Power is rated has 6x 8mm heatpipes is rated 360w while coolers and Silver Arrow varients 8x 6mm heatpipes with 2x 2500rpm high performance fans is rated 320w, while similar cooler with 1x 1800rpm fan is also rated 320w. Others with 6x 6mm heatpipes are rated 240w TDP. Maybe cooler heatpipes have actually been tested to determine their TDP ?? But it's all guessing. :p
 
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You may try to move the outside positioned fan slightly higher, allowing extra few millimetres for the ram. Done on mine. Tight, as was nearly touching the glass side window.
 
Soldato
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Years ago I did extensive testing of single tower and twin tower with 1x vs 2x fans, and found the difference be be negliable at full speed but 2-3c cooler at low speeds. Pretty sure it's because fans have progressively lower pressure ratings as speeds reduce .. that combined with fin and heatpipe resistance to airflow results in lower airflow with single fanvs 2x stacked fans. Stacking fans with air straighter between them greatly increases their pressure rating / ability to overcome resistance to airflow. ;)
 
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Years ago I did extensive testing of single tower and twin tower with 1x vs 2x fans, and found the difference be be negliable at full speed but 2-3c cooler at low speeds. Pretty sure it's because fans have progressively lower pressure ratings as speeds reduce .. that combined with fin and heatpipe resistance to airflow results in lower airflow with single fanvs 2x stacked fans. Stacking fans with air straighter between them greatly increases their pressure rating / ability to overcome resistance to airflow. ;)
Very interesting.
Considering the size of those towers, many heatpipes and countless fin, at full speed one fan should be enough, as I don't think under normal circumstances or average overclock a CPU can push them to the limit. I believe the main reason for 2 fans setup is to allow it to run as quiet as possible, as I never had the fans at fun speed, unless under test. And temperatures, even under stress sits at mid 40's, ignoring the delta of the X series, indicating 20C more than the actual temperature.
 
Soldato
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Reviews that have tested coolers with 1x vs 2x fans got similar results so I feel they are legitimate. Don't understand your ' ignoring the delta of the X sereies, indicating 20c more than the actual ..' ??
 
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Reviews that have tested coolers with 1x vs 2x fans got similar results so I feel they are legitimate. Don't understand your ' ignoring the delta of the X sereies, indicating 20c more than the actual ..' ??
My bad. Wrong wording. Offset temperature.
As soon some more intense process starts, the temperature shoots to mid 60's, but in fact it's mid 40's. It's some feature of the X, something about "allowing a consistent fan policy" according to AMD.
 
Soldato
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My bad. Wrong wording. Offset temperature.
As soon some more intense process starts, the temperature shoots to mid 60's, but in fact it's mid 40's. It's some feature of the X, something about "allowing a consistent fan policy" according to AMD.
Thanks, I understand what you are saying but like you don't understand what AMD is on about "allowing a constant fan policy' temp change either. In my experiences low to mid 60s' is pretty common when running intense processes. :p
 
Soldato
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You may try to move the outside positioned fan slightly higher, allowing extra few millimetres for the ram. Done on mine. Tight, as was nearly touching the glass side window.
Oh the ram fits fine,but swapping the ram with the fan in place is a no go
I must say that it is likely to be only a temporary measure as after i am happy with whichever ram i decide to keep i will be putting the DRP2 back on
Still not decided on which to go for,am leaning towards a cheaper one as it will be sort of temporary
 
Soldato
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Ok as a test i disconnected the front fan from power and stress tested it with cpu-z ,all cores @ 100% for 15 mins Temps maxed out @ 50 oC
and is idling @ 40 oC
Think i will save myself hassle and money ;) by taking the fan out for as long as it takes to decide on the ram
Was not expecting the temps to be as low as this tbh
 
Soldato
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There are 2 fans,i just removed the 120mm front fan.There is still a 135mm middle fan in place and the 230mm side fan which is practically touching the hs anyway
onto the testing now
the Gskill 3600 has booted to windows @3200 cas14 ,same as the 8pac 3600.Will be testing with memtest shortly
 
Soldato
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Makes sense, they are moving enough air through cooler so that front cooler fan isn't doing much anyway. Just out of curiosity, how much lower are temps with front cooler fan installed?
 
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