[SOLVED] Noctua NH-L9i RAM clearance

[Griffyn]

I'm looking into possibly doing a Mini ITX build in the DAN A4-SFX, and I've seen a lot of people recommend the Noctua NH-L9i as a great cooler, but I'm not sure if it will fit with the RAM I have in a Mini ITX system. I'm going to use an older CPU and RAM I have, so the RAM is the Corsair Vengeance DDR3, not the low profile. Is there anybody that's worked in the DAN A4 or with the Noctua NH-L9i that knows if those 3 parts will all fit together? Thanks!

 

[punkncat]

I JUST installed one of these two days ago. The issue more than likely will not come out of height. The issue comes of width. I have some Vengeance RGB that will not fit into the slot without it being pushed (sideways) on the slot due to hitting the metal part of the cooler. The other issue revolves around the CPU power cable. Pay attention to which way you align that in reference to the width.

 

[Udyr]

I'm looking into possibly doing a Mini ITX build in the DAN A4-SFX, and I've seen a lot of people recommend the Noctua NH-L9i as a great cooler, but I'm not sure if it will fit with the RAM I have in a Mini ITX system. I'm going to use an older CPU and RAM I have, so the RAM is the Corsair Vengeance DDR3, not the low profile. Is there anybody that's worked in the DAN A4 or with the Noctua NH-L9i that knows if those 3 parts will all fit together? Thanks!

Check this review:
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5135/noctua_nh_l9i_low_profile_cpu_cooler_review/index.html

TL-DR:
Once the NH-L9i is securely mounted, I stepped back to see that this cooler is in no way going to encroach on any of your memory choices, nor will it block any of the slots. The same can be said for this cooler not encroaching on the PCI-e slots either, so even with a Mini-ITX system, there is no need to worry about that happening.

 

[punkncat]

I am honestly considering returning mine.

I purchased it with the intention of using it with a super small case. It IS undersized for the 11600K I am using it on, but for that use case I didn't think it would matter. It is being used to stream media and light gaming right now with future plans for a different case and water cooling when/if I can ever buy a GPU again.

I have run into a couple of issue. The first I mention above. I am using an MSI Z590I which has large heat sinks. If I align the cooler the way suggested in the above linked article both open sides of the fins are blocked by the RAM and VRM cooler. If I turn it 90* it is open but blows onto the memory VRM heatsink, and directly across the "M.2 stack" this mobo has. It also DOES have issue with wide RAM, like RGB and WILL push on wide RAM in the slot closest to the CPU.
Basically as it stands it only mounts one way without issue and blows CPU temp air across my M.2. While gaming, once the system gets heat soaked it has issue with the M.2 dropping out or lagging.

IMO this is one of those darned if you do and darned if you don't situation. Either you are left with clearance issues with the small case, OR you are left with this blowing hot air across your VRM/RAM/M.2 on an ITX build.

 

[geofelt]

Noctua has extensive info on motherboard, cpu, and case compatibility.
https://noctua.at/en/products/cpu-cooler-retail/nh-l9i/cpucomp
If you do not find a part listed, Noctua will respond to an email.
Considering the compactness of the cooler, I find it hard to imagine that you would have any problem with fit.
Heat, perhaps.