Noctua's NH-L9i has been on the market for a long time, and it works reasonably well as a Mini-ITX cooler that's compatible with a lot of motherboards. The issue with it, however, is that it only performs "reasonably" well, and many users would like a little more cooling oomph for their Mini-ITX systems, as the motherboards are capable of supporting very powerful CPUs.
Fortunately, Noctua heard its customers' cries, which is why today it announced the NH-L9x65, which is basically a larger and more powerful variant of its original Mini-ITX cooler.
The NH-A9x65's heatsink stands 51 mm tall and features a total of four nickel-plated copper heatpipes in order to spread the heat from the CPU surface through the aluminum fin array. It is then cooled by an NF-A9x14 fan, which raises the cooler's height to 65 mm.
Despite the increased height, the cooler has kept its 95 x 95 mm footprint, which helps it keep its compatibility with many motherboards. It also ensures full compatibility with all RAM modules and PCI-Express devices.
The fan on this unit can spin at up to 2500 RPM, but it can be limited to 1800 RPM with a low-noise adapter. At these speeds, it will make up to either 23.6 dBA or 14.8 dBA of noise, and push either 33.8 CFM or 24.0 CFM, respectively.
Noctua recommends that you do not overclock with this cooler, and that you use CPUs with TDPs no higher than 84 W.
Pricing for the unit sits at $52.90 MSRP, and it should be arriving to retailers any time now.
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