SilverStone AR04 vs. NT07-115x vs NT08-115XP Low-Profile CPU Coolers

[Cam P]

I recently bought the Noctua NH-L9i but its a little too tall for a second drive bay to fit in my case (which is a Diesel Engine V2 Modern Edition).

This picture indicates the NT07-115X and AR04 coolers are thin enough as my drive bay goes over my ram.

I figure the NT08-115XP will just perfectly fit - but I'll be sure to measure it out first.

So which one do you reckon will perform better with a non-overclocked i5-6600K?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220121
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ3X87092
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220065

 

[g-unit1111]

It's going to be a tight fit no matter what cooler you use. I have a Noctua NH-L9i and it's on a mini ITX Zotac Z77 board. This is a picture from my own personal ITX build and you can see how tight of a fit it is, and those coolers are fairly strong choices but don't expect it to be easy:

 

[Cam P]

It's going to be a tight fit no matter what cooler you use. I have a Noctua NH-L9i and it's on a mini ITX Zotac Z77 board. This is a picture from my own personal ITX build and you can see how tight of a fit it is, and those coolers are fairly strong choices but don't expect it to be easy:

As I said the NH-L9i is too tall for my application

 

[g-unit1111]

As I said the NH-L9i is too tall for my application

What kind of case are you going to be using?

 

[Cam P]

As I said the NH-L9i is too tall for my application

What kind of case are you going to be using?

As I said, a Diesel Engine V2 Modern Edition. Its from a small manufacturer in England:
forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=300062&page=3

 

[g-unit1111]

As I said, a Diesel Engine V2 Modern Edition. Its from a small manufacturer in England:
forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=300062&page=3

Wow I love that case and I can see where clearance issues would be a problem. But looking at that build the OP didn't use any mechanical drives - just a Samsung M2 drive. I would have to see pictures of the potential problem before I could recommend a cooler, because the Silverstone cooler is going to have similar dimensions to the Noctua cooler. The AR04 is probably going to be your best bet of any of those but it's such a tight fit either way I can't see how a drive bay would work in that situation.

 

[Cam P]

As I said, a Diesel Engine V2 Modern Edition. Its from a small manufacturer in England:
forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=300062&page=3

Wow I love that case and I can see where clearance issues would be a problem. But looking at that build the OP didn't use any mechanical drives - just a Samsung M2 drive. I would have to see pictures of the potential problem before I could recommend a cooler, because the Silverstone cooler is going to have similar dimensions to the Noctua cooler. The AR04 is probably going to be your best bet of any of those but it's such a tight fit either way I can't see how a drive bay would work in that situation.

I read some of the reviews, and here's my conclusion:
If I can get the AR04 to fit on my motherboard and in my case, then get that because it looks like it will perform better.
But since the AR04 is designed for thin-itx motherboards, it might interfere with capacitors on my motherboard. So otherwise I'll get the NT07-115X. The NT08-115XP has too low of a CFM to be adequate.