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You can get foam tapes, for example 7mmx7mm from home hardware supply stores. They are to prevent drafts in Windows/doors. I would think they would be good, you could stick it to the case panel or the GPU easily enough.
No need to undervolt the 1700, works great with an L9a, no need for a fanduct either. That said, I still made a fanduct for mine but I just like to tinker! I have 2 hard drives under my PSU too, I don't think the extra 92mm fan will make much difference for you as you have a blower style GPU.
I think I would just stick with the l9i, especially if you make a fan duct to pull cold air in from outside the case. You can make simple ones with plastic sheet and foam tape or people have 3d printed them.
So your saying the black ridge is better than the l9a with a fan duct? Do you have the IO shield in place on the back of you computer? Sorry for all the questions, there are just so many factors that can affect performance!
I really want to know how much better the black ridge with a noctua...
Slightly confused, with the black ridge and a9x14 the temp is 8° better than the l9i? I assume this is in the case, with no fan ducton the l9i? Also is this with the Io shield in place?
I'm struggling to justify purchasing this to replace my l9a with custom shroud. That said, 7-8° is pretty good but that's compared to an l9i without a shroud? It looks damn slick though, thanks for the benchmarks, good work!
I wouldn't bother with this option:
Noctua NH-L9i with the stock 92mm exhausting out of the case
It just doesn't work well as the case heats up, I've tried it with my l9a and fan duct.
Maybe the chip he tested wasn't pushing enough heat to properly show the difference between the coolers. Also he didn't test it with a Noctua fan, related to that it may be much quieter at a given fanspeed. Lastly this cooler shouldn't have any turbulence noise. Looking forward to some more reviews.
Take the bottom screws out of the side panel and pop open the top of the side panel while gaming. That's what I do, drops the turbulence noise way down.