Noctua L9a cooling a Ryzen 9 5900X

I am wondering if anyone here knows anything about cooling a 5900X with the low profile Noctua L9a cooler.

I am looking on fitting the CPU into a Sliger Console and would like to know if anyone might have some insight into properly cooling the CPU in the case, and if the black version has any difference in cooling versus the other “default” noctua color scheme.

I would also like to note that I am not looking into overclocking at all, just looking to run a 5900X stock without significant thermal throttling.

Thank you in advance.

Depends on what loads are you gonna put on your system. I don’t think the L9a will do a decent job even when gaming if paired with a 5900x. I have a 3700x with an L9x65 and with OCCT is getting up there with the temps, so much so that I even had to undervolt it a bit to keep the temps a bit cooler.
Noctua says that the black paint doesen’t make a difference so I’d believe them on that. Also I think there are some videos on the difference between them online, iirc.
I have a Silverstone RVZ03 that’s console style and can accomodate larger coolers, but it’s kinda poorly made.
Maybe you should consider a more “standard” layout case if you’re going with a 5900x.

I mean it will work, air flow will matter a ton with low profile coolers (how much fresh air it can get and how much air can be moved away after passing fins. Ambient temps would play a role too.

In Noctua’s own testing on the d15s, I think, the black did better. If I remember it was only about 1° or so, but still.

So… Yes and no?

Your best chance of cooling a 5900X with an L9a would be to lap the cpu, use liquid metal and undervolt the it. Don’t some motherboard have an Eco mode or am I misremembering and the Eco mode was a Ryzen Pro 3900 deal only?

I’d look more at likes of BeQuiets BK002 - bit more piping to assist, that bigg of a chip

If you get an l9a and the temperatures are really high, you could replace the NF-A9x14 HS-PWM with a thicker 92x92x25mm fan. It should still fit with ~5mm to spare. Based on my experience with the l9a, fan static pressure is quite important and most 92mm fans are a downgrade from the astounding 2.11 mm/H2O of the NF-A9x14 HS-PWM. I think the NF-A9 PWM might yield better clocks or better temperatures.

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