Noctua NH-L9a-AM4, Premium Low-Profile CPU Cooler for AMD AM4 (Brown)

Will it fit?This is obviously a very low profile cooler. But please do check out the dimensions. It fit even on my mini-ITX motherboard (that's TINY), but do have some oversight with how things are spaced on your motherboard. The heatsink is short, but fairly spread out.Temperature talk/overclocking:Firstly, let me address something at least I was concerned with while I was researching this. YES, you can lightly overclock your APU while using this, just test stuff out until you find something that works. And please do be careful, your computer is a sacred baby, go easy on it. Anyway, for example, I overclocked my Ryzen 3200g CPU to 4000mhz, and my GPU to 1500mhz. At least in games I play (GMOD at 1080p full settings, Payday 2 1080p medium), I get 60fps while also staying around 55 degrees Celcius. That's about 30 degrees BELOW what would be considered ALMOST dangerous for an APU.But what about idle/light workloads for non-gamers? IdleNoise and the noise adapter:The fan is much more quiet than any stock AMD cooler, and although it can be made even more quiet with the noise adapter, that's because the adapter slows the fan down. In essence, the adapter WILL affect cooling performance, but most often that's not even necessary. The fan is very quiet and cool on idle or with light workspace stuff.Installation:Installation is easily the only "flaw" this cooler had in my case (even then I still gave it five stars). To install it, I recommend taking the fan off the heatsink, place the heatsink upside down atop a well balanced, sturdy cylindrical object. Apply thermal paste to your CPU (or APU ; ) ), then with your motherboard upside down, line up the heatsink holes with the holes on your motherboard. Keep your motherboard pressed down and balanced on the heatsink. Then take that metal plate included and put the PLASTIC side on your motherboard's bottom. Keep it balanced, and lightly screw it in the with "cross" method. Once the heatsink is secure, flip your motherboard. Not which direction the fan blows the air. You can screw the fan back into the heatsink so that it will blow the majority of air where you want it to.Now, clearly, that's much more complicated, and arguably more risky than a standard installation. But with patience, top-of-the-line thermal paste, and some luck, it will be so worth it.Appearance:People say Noctua fans are ugly, but there's a charming, almost nostalgic look to the fan. It will hardly match any color scheme at all (for instance, mine is red and black, and this fan looks like the nerdy kid at a party), but there's an eccentric, signature feel to that.Extras:You get some extra fan screws and a cool little metal Noctua pin. This looks quite nice and adds character to a PC case. Mine is proudly located above my Ryzen 3 and Vega Graphics stickers.

Keeps my HTPC cool, keeping quiet, and installation was a breeze

This well built tiny cooler does an amazing job at keeping my Ryzen 5 4600G at an awesome 40 C at idle. Just at silent mode it is great, at Normal mode which turns the fan speed up, cools it down to 37.5 C at idle. I can see the fan spin, but it is dead silent. This is in a mini ITX case with not too much room to spare. Wonderful product. I highly recommend it. Oh, and did I mention that this is SO EASY TO INSTALL? Backplate and 4 screws after applying thermal paste and then snug it up with a screwdriver for even pressure. A walk in the park.

It works that’s all that matters I wasn’t looking for a flashy cooler just low profile and effective.

If you’re looking to build in a super compact case, this fan won’t disappoint! In fact, it’s in a class of its own size wise and may be your only option if you have extremely low head room. It’s whisper quiet once setup and provides adequate, although not trend setting cooling.My daughter was excited to build her first PC with me and wanted to go for a Mac Mini look because they have those at school, and she thinks they look cool.This unit was easy to install, although, having to flip the motherboard over and go in with the screws from the opposite side from what I’m accustomed to threw me a little bit of a curve ball.Once setup, temps were in the 40s and lower 50s, which isn’t great, but it’s within the range of acceptable. Setting the performance to power saver mode brought temps down to upper 30s and 40s which is a good range to be in if you’re looking to extend the life of your CPU and keep electrostatic levels down.***Pros***• Extremely small and compact• Whisper quiet• Unbeatable life-span estimated arrival 150,000 hours***Cons***• A tad pricey for what it is, but there’s really nothing to compare it with at the moment• Only provides adequate cooling under normal operation. I wouldn’t dream of overclocking with this