Air cooler for mini-itx Ryzen?

1_rick

Supreme [H]ardness
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I was re-cabling the back side of my case this weekend and let some magic smoke out--the SATA port for the CPU water pump partially melted. Fortunately I saw it after just a couple of seconds and shut the thing down, and nothing else seems to have been damaged. I ran out to Fry's and picked up a Thermaltake Silent Frio 14, and it seems to be working pretty well, keeping the computer reasonably cool and pretty quiet. (right now, with a handful of tabs across three browsers, the CPU temp is hovering around 36C. In games it might go up to the 50s, and I don't normally run things that would really stress the CPU beyond stuff like Prime95 tests. I'm almost certainly going to replace the CPU with something like a 3600X after the reviews come out, but I want to see how the various chips tend to handle overclocking so I can try to get a fairly fast one.

The problem: I'm using a Corsair 280X case and a mini-ITX motherboard, and the TT 14 is a 165mm fan, and the case has only 145mm clearance. Nice job, right? So I'd like to get something smaller that will be capable of cooling my 1600X or a 6- or 8-core Ryzen 3000 while also being as quiet as possible. (If I wind up doing video transcoding and it gets loud for a bit, that's OK, but for gaming I'd like to keep the temps reasonable and, again, as quiet as possible.)

I have about 90mm of width available, so a really big cooler is right out.

Suggestions?
 
Scythe Mugen 5 or Scythe Fuma. Your case is fairly large for an ITX build, so the Fuma would be easily viable.

[H] did a review of the Mugen 5
 
I remember the Mugen had a review here. Oddly, it is down "oops, our website is temporarily down for maintenance" this morning. The L12S could possibly work, if it can clear tall RAM (Corsair Dominator something-or-other, about 1.5" high). It says it's not suitable for >95W, which puts it at the edge of my thermal envelope; the larger L9 looks like it might be a better idea--oops, it actually has a lower TDP limit than the L9a. Go figure.

The Fuma exceeds the case's spec by 4mm height; I don't know if it would really fit or not. My concern is more for RAM clearance, though. I'll try to take a picture and upload it later, because as I said, I'm constrained in the x-y dimensions by the MB as much as the height by the case.

I appreciate both replies.
 
I remember the Mugen had a review here. Oddly, it is down "oops, our website is temporarily down for maintenance" this morning. The L12S could possibly work, if it can clear tall RAM (Corsair Dominator something-or-other, about 1.5" high). It says it's not suitable for >95W, which puts it at the edge of my thermal envelope; the larger L9 looks like it might be a better idea--oops, it actually has a lower TDP limit than the L9a. Go figure.

The Fuma exceeds the case's spec by 4mm height; I don't know if it would really fit or not. My concern is more for RAM clearance, though. I'll try to take a picture and upload it later, because as I said, I'm constrained in the x-y dimensions by the MB as much as the height by the case.

I appreciate both replies.
Did you look at the Fuma 2?

its a little bit shorter and also has one side modified for RAM clearance:

http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/cpu-cooler/fuma2.html

Fuma-2-Ram-Conf.jpg
 
I'll look at all the latest links a bit later. In the meantime, here's pictures for size reference.

The Fuma 2 looks like it has potential as long as it doesn't touch the side of the RAM.

IMG_20190703_155639.jpg IMG_20190703_155627.jpg IMG_20190703_155639.jpg IMG_20190703_155627.jpg IMG_20190703_155622.jpg IMG_20190703_155619.jpg IMG_20190703_155619.jpg
 
The Dark Rock TF looks nice, although the black color contrasts with my case. If a downdraft-style cooler would fit I would certainly consider it.
 
Aww, the TF's motherboard check page says "Usability of RAM slots limited" :( It says the Dark Rock 4, pro 4, and slim should fit, though. Think I'll ping 'em on Twitter and ask them about the TF and the height of my RAM.
 
Aww, the TF's motherboard check page says "Usability of RAM slots limited" :( It says the Dark Rock 4, pro 4, and slim should fit, though. Think I'll ping 'em on Twitter and ask them about the TF and the height of my RAM.
looks pretty good here
https://www.bequiet.com/admin/[email protected]&omitPreview=true&.jpg

https://legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/be-quiet-Dark-Rock-TF-30.jpg

https://www.performancepsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/P1210090-1024x769.jpg

You just can't use RAM with really big heatsinks and would need to remove the CPU cooler, to install/uninstall RAM.

the problem I see in that last pic is that it extends out over the RAM. Some of the smallest cases may not have room past the RAM, like that.
 
You said you have 145mm clearance. Height wise? Mugen is 155 tall, and fuma is similar
 
You said you have 145mm clearance. Height wise? Mugen is 155 tall, and fuma is similar

Corsair's case website says 145mm. The Silent Frio 14 I bought is 160mm high and it's approximately 10mm too tall to put the side glass on, so 155mm wouldn't work.
 
looks pretty good here
https://www.bequiet.com/admin/[email protected]&omitPreview=true&.jpg

https://legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/be-quiet-Dark-Rock-TF-30.jpg

https://www.performancepsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/P1210090-1024x769.jpg

You just can't use RAM with really big heatsinks and would need to remove the CPU cooler, to install/uninstall RAM.

the problem I see in that last pic is that it extends out over the RAM. Some of the smallest cases may not have room past the RAM, like that.

I'm using some Corsair Vengeance RGB, it's about 50mm high (measured from the motherboard surface to the top of the heatsink. If I had to take off the fan to replace the RAM, that would be OK--but I don't see myself doing that unless I got a new motherboard.
 
The Dark Rock TF has a claimed 220W TDP cooling power. A Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 shouldn't come anywhere near that, which means, I guess, that I could leave off the lower fan and gain an entire inch of vertical clearance. As long as the lower curve of the heatpipes don't impinge on the side of the RAM, that should work (see the Tweaktown picture above.)

Come to think of it I have a couple of 120x15mm fans; one of those would probably fit, although it would look out of place (if you could see it.)
 
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Looks to be 170mm in a Fractal Design Core 500... which I'm not sure I believe heh. I don't think I want a big tower cooler in there though.
 
Looks to be 170mm in a Fractal Design Core 500... which I'm not sure I believe heh. I don't think I want a big tower cooler in there though.
Heh. Well, that's just about anything!

The Big Shuriken is a nice cooler----for space limited cases (but not super limited). The Scythe Choten TUF is taller, but still fairly compact. and performs a little better. Still a downdraft design, if that's what you want. I wouldn't feel bad about the Big Shuriken though, its nice. There's also the Reeven Brontes, which is similar and that brand is part of Scythe, now.

I think the Shadow Rock LP is too expensive and too limited, for what it is. Noctua has a couple of mid size down draft coolers. But they are expensive. I think the Choten is a good balance of size/price/performance.

I think Cryorig folded or is maybe being bought or something. Their site is up but their stuff has been out of stock for a long time. A bummer, because they also had the shortest tower cooler with a 120mm fan. There's a couple of good cases which it was great for.
 
I agree. In that size, Big Shuriken 3 is tough to beat. The Kaze Flex are nice fans, too.
 
Noctua - NH-L12S

Just posting to share experiences. I just tried to install the NH-L12S on a Gigabyte Auros Pro Wifi B450 ITX board using Gskill Trident Z RGB RAM with a hieght of 44mm. Noctua said it would fit - answered in Amazon, and also on their website stating there is 48mm clearance under the cooler.

Yeah, it fits! You'll have to uninstall the heat sink before removing the first bank. I got it in after installing,but just barely, but could not get it out. I seriously doubt you could get enough force on the RAM stick to pull out a low profile stick either. Just beware that you may have to installl your RAM before you install the cooler - nowhere does it say that on the Noc site - and you will probably have to remove the sink befiore removing RAM.

Also, it overs up COMPLETELY both RAM banks - so say goodbye to your RGB build. In fact, it just about covers the entire board! lol And, this ain't no pretty cooler, either.
WP_20200304_21_20_45_Pro.jpg
 
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I think it's a very pretty cooler. Fins For The Win!

Much prefer to view fins than rgb ram sticks.
 
I think it's a very pretty cooler. Fins For The Win!

Much prefer to view fins than rgb ram sticks.
Trident RGB RAM is pretty nice looking. You won't see the fins at all. They will be covered up with this fan on top. It's going to look like a HUGE FAN and nothing more. I guess that's kinda cool though. I have a white ATX/ITX case.

FAN:

51wd2IQqBvL._AC_SL1000_.jpg
 
I still have a Mugen 5 running perfectly in my backup i7-870 system. Bought in part because of [H]'s review.
I can;t use that fan either.Complete junk. I sent it back. Flimsy carriage,fan wobbles in the carriage. Same for the F140 case fans. They are asking a premium price for those fans and they are built like 5 buck crap fans. I'm not playing that marketing game,so i just sent them back. I'm probably going to use Noctua fans.
 
I can;t use that fan either.Complete junk. I sent it back. Flimsy carriage,fan wobbles in the carriage. Same for the F140 case fans. They are asking a premium price for those fans and they are built like 5 buck crap fans. I'm not playing that marketing game,so i just sent them back. I'm probably going to use Noctua fans.

This one is like 10 years old and still perfect... I like the Noctua fans in my current system but $20-$30 per fan is kind of crazy.
 
This one is like 10 years old and still perfect... I like the Noctua fans in my current system but $20-$30 per fan is kind of crazy.
Did you mean to link something? I can't use the Mugen. It's too tall. My case only allows for 150mm of clearance, which negates 99% of 120mm fan tower coolers.
 
Did you mean to link something? I can't use the Mugen. It's too tall. My case only allows for 150mm of clearance, which negates 99% of 120mm fan tower coolers.

Nah, I was just responding to the guy that mentioned the Mugen 5 as it brought back some memories.
 
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