Eight Low-Profile CPU Coolers For Your Compact PC, Reviewed

[Crashman]

Excellent article.

The ITX board used in the review is atypical with its CPU layout, though. Most ITX board place the CPU right next to the PCIe.

Most? I count two from my closet:

It would be nice if the review included a measurement of how far each heatsink extends beyond the Intel "square" that is drawn on the PCB to see if they would block the PCIe slot on a traditional ITX board.

Maybe, but I've never counted on that square to be consistent. So I put the width, depth and offset. Most of these coolers can be rotated to fit most of those boards by covering the RAM and PWM rather than the slot.

 

[rwpritchett]

Most? I count two from my closet:

To be fair, manufacturers are starting to have better layouts with 1150. For 1155 socket ITX boards, I count 10 out of 14 ITX boards on Newegg with the CPU crammed next to the PCIe. For AMD, it's 2 out of 4. Gigabyte and MSI still have the bad layout with 1150 ITX boards though. 🙁

More ITX or other tiny form factor articles please. I love these.

 

[wussupi83]

Glad to see Zalman take a good spot. Even more glad to see they got rid of their stupid Allen wrench head screws that their own tool strips out after 2 installs on my 9900max. The heatsink performs great. The mounting screws suck.

 

[caamsa]

How about a replacement for my AMD E-350D APU? I imagine none of these heat sinks will work on it.

 

[Crashman]

How about a replacement for my AMD E-350D APU? I imagine none of these heat sinks will work on it.

When you already have a custom-fit cooler, your best option is usually to find a fan of the same size and figure out how to mount it to the original sink.

 

[rwinches]

Considering the CM GeminII M4 only weighs 7.36 Oz it may not have performed well here.
That said it too like the Zalman has direct contact heat pipes so it would have been nice to see how it ranked.
Here is an extensive review of the CM GII M4
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1278-page1.html

 

[balister]

I'm surprised you didn't include Noctua's true gem(s) for SFF cooling, the NH-L9i (intel) and NH-L9a (amd). At 1.5" in height (37mm) for heatsink and fan, you have an extremely small profile while also cooling effectively for only $50.

 

[squirrelboy]

can we PLEASE have measurements in mm or cm, and weight in kg? please. Can't you see that the imperial system just does not make sense?
Sure a decimal system isn't optimal either, base-12 would have been the most useful, but at least it's consistent...

 

[Crashman]

can we PLEASE have measurements in mm or cm, and weight in kg? please. Can't you see that the imperial system just does not make sense?
Sure a decimal system isn't optimal either, base-12 would have been the most useful, but at least it's consistent...

It's the reality of living in the USA. Furniture is measured in inches, so you pick a case to fit it in inches, and that leads to cooler height in inches. Fan frames have been standardized in millimeters, as have system temperatures. And if you give most US citizens a cooler weight in grams, they'll need a slide rule to figure out what that means.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

How about one with the other in brackets? Because frankly I haven't got a clue what an ounce is without using Google.

E.g. 120mm (4.7").

 

[Crashman]

How about one with the other in brackets? Because frankly I haven't got a clue what an ounce is without using Google.

E.g. 120mm (4.7").

Perhaps if you can get the boss to spring for a digital scale to prevent rounding errors

The US is the land of 12-ounce cans of beer and 20-ounce bottles of other beverages, except milk that typically comes in gallons, half gallons, and cups. But the one-cup container says "half pint" just to confuse people who can't do fractions 😛

 

[RedJaron]

Crash, any chance we'll see some cooling numbers from these inside actual SFF cases? Maybe use the three smallest cases from the ITX SBM ( including the slimline bonus build? ) I know that'd require extra time, but it'd be incredibly useful to the SFF builders.

 

[Crashman]

Crash, any chance we'll see some cooling numbers from these inside actual SFF cases? Maybe use the three smallest cases from the ITX SBM ( including the slimline bonus build? ) I know that'd require extra time, but it'd be incredibly useful to the SFF builders.

I don't see how anything I use would be representative of anything but what I used, concerning a compact case. For example, SilverStone has a nice case with a fan blowing down from the top that would fit most of these cooler (probably all of them), but most cases lack that feature.

 

[balister]

How about one with the other in brackets? Because frankly I haven't got a clue what an ounce is without using Google.

E.g. 120mm (4.7").

Surprisingly, the conversions are similar and relatively easy to remember (because the numbers are close)

1 inch = 25.4 mm
1 ounce = 28.4 g (1kg = 35.2 ounces or 2.2 pounds)

so quick rules of thumb (yes, this is off slightly, but it's relatively close)

100 mm (or 10 cm) ~ 4 inch
100g ~ 1/5th of a pound

 

[ECA]

I made a suggestion to some companies about case CLEANING..but no one wants it..
SO..
THESE ARE GREAT, if you can keep your case CLEAN.. WHO wants to CLEAN THE DUST out of these? considering the air flow, it will all be UNDER the fins..

My comment to a CLOSE BOX with a FORCED fan INPUT and OUTPUT...is that a vacumme cleaner?

 

[Stevemeister]

I was looking at the Zalman Low Profile Cooler for my son's computer before this article was published and on the basis of the rating went and bought it. I can testify it works really well and is very quiet installed on an AMD Phenom II 965 - certainly way quieter than the stock cooler that made the computer sound like a jet engine once the CPU was loaded up.

 

[Crashman]

After all, Noctua is much higher than any other. how many real SFF case can it fit?

None of these can fit today's "real" SFF cases, because "real" Shuttle Form Factor has its own cooler. All of these will fit a "real SFF" case if you remove the factory cooler though.

As for gaming cube cases made popular by Shuttle, you can go fairly big, usually just under 5". That's still too short for tower coolers though. The medium-compact cubes that came after give you around 4". And slim cases usually give you around 3".

Getting to the intent of your original question, it fits over half the Mini ITX cases I've tested.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Huh. I though SFF stood for Small Form Factor, not Shuttle Form Factor. You learn something every day (well, some days).

 

[Crashman]

Huh. I though SFF stood for Small Form Factor, not Shuttle Form Factor. You learn something every day (well, some days).

It's been misappropriated. And other than that, "small" is not a form factor. Form factors have fixed dimensions

In fact, the definition of "form factor" is "a standardized set of dimensions".

 

[Crashman]

in the market, no player now follows "a standardized set of dimensions". We have to check tons of information before we purchase anything. A Cube Case may house any of the coolers tested. But a "mini" one might take in half of them.

That's a red herring. Every standard component follows a standard set of dimensions, including form factors that include Mini ITX, Micro ATX and ATX. Those form factors tell manufacturers where to put the standoffs, where to put the slots, the size and placement of the I/O shield, etc.

So like I said, "small" is not a form factor. On the other hand Mini ITX is, and everyone who produces a Mini ITX case followed the Mini ITX form factor's fixed set of dimensions for the slot, standoffs, and I/O shield.

 

[Alec Bramlett]

everytime I saw the word "janus", I had a freudian slip. ugh

 

[nazgron]

It is sad that tomshardware did this benchmark in open air which pretty much never happens in RL cases. Low profile hsfs are meant to be used in htpc & compact cases which are usually air tight.

 

[Crashman]

It is sad that tomshardware did this benchmark in open air which pretty much never happens in RL cases. Low profile hsfs are meant to be used in htpc & compact cases which are usually air tight.

To begin with, no they are not. And to end with, the best case for this type of cooler is a SilverStone model that has an intake over the CPU, but that specific case performs unlike any other case which means it would set unrealistic expectations.

In other words, the best case for THIS roundup was no case at all. There simply isn't a "typical semi-compact" case that performs similarly to most other semi-compact cases.

 

[ArdentlyCore]

Does anyone know the different between the 8900 Quiet and the 8900 Extreme? Is the extreme the newer (better?) version? I'm building an M8 system and I think this is the choice I'll for for, cooling on a budget... Thoughts?

 

[ArdentlyCore]

I'm installing the backplate of the Zalman cnps 8900 extreme, but there seems to be another backplate that's already on the motherboard that's interfering with the placement of the new one. Am I missing something? Should I remove this previously installed backplate? I didn't use the double sided sticky tape and loading block because the directions said socket 1155 didn't need it, though it said nothing about socket 1150 I'm using with the i7 4770k, Haswell core. Help!?!?! Feel free to PM me!