[SOLVED] What Kind of CPU Cooler Does this AM4 Motherboard Take? Baffled!

[Nathaniel_9]

Hi there! I recently purchased an HP Omen 30L desktop PC. The CPU runs a bit hot under load, so I purchased a Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 cooler for it. The PC has kind of a generic non-retail motherboard, but it is indeed socket AM4, as confirmed by the user manual specifications and the fact that it has an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. To my knowledge, typical AM4 CPU cooler mounting screws are arranged in a rectangular fashion, but the screw holes on this board are in a square arrangement. In fact, the arrangement looks more like an LGA, which is baffling. Does anyone know what style cooler this motherboard accepts? I was under the impression that all mounting systems were dictated by the motherboard socket, but I must be wrong!

Here is the product specifications page for the PC should anyone be interested. Thanks in advance!
https://support.hp.com/us-en/produc...0a/33802663/model/34128633/document/c06613573

 

[CountMike]

Hi there! I recently purchased an HP Omen 30L desktop PC. The CPU runs a bit hot under load, so I purchased a Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 cooler for it. The PC has kind of a generic non-retail motherboard, but it is indeed socket AM4, as confirmed by the user manual specifications and the fact that it has an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. To my knowledge, typical AM4 CPU cooler mounting screws are arranged in a rectangular fashion, but the screw holes on this board are in a square arrangement. In fact, the arrangement looks more like an LGA, which is baffling. Does anyone know what style cooler this motherboard accepts? I was under the impression that all mounting systems were dictated by the motherboard socket, but I must be wrong!

Here is the product specifications page for the PC should anyone be interested. Thanks in advance!
https://support.hp.com/us-en/produc...0a/33802663/model/34128633/document/c06613573

Normal AM4 socket retention holes form a rectangle, this one looks square. probably unique to HP.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

Normal AM4 socket retention holes form a rectangle, this one looks square. probably unique to HP.

I have been trying to squeeze useful information from HP support. No luck so far.

 

[CountMike]

I have been trying to squeeze useful information from HP support. No luck so far.

And you probably will not. Can you measure center to center of holes ?

 

[Nathaniel_9]

And you probably will not. Can you measure center to center of holes ?

The dimensions are approximately 75x75mm. Does this look like an LGA cooler on an AM4 socket board? How many different retention hole arrangements are there?

 

[madmatt30]

Have you actually tried the bracket for size that comes with the noctua??

The square socket mounts seem to have been a thing from hp since 2016, they have their own coolers manufacfured so created a universal cooler mount for themselves.

Good for them, not so good for the consumer.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

Have you actually tried the bracket for size that comes with the noctua??

The square socket mounts seem to have been a thing from hp since 2016, they have their own coolers manufacfured so created a universal cooler mount for themselves.

Good for them, not so good for the consumer.

How do you know this information? Are you saying no LGA or AM4 coolers will fit on this motherboard? If so, FML.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

This is the heatsink and fan I ordered:
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-l9...am4-_-13C-0005-001J7-_-Product&quicklink=true

This is the LGA variant that I hope would work, but I have no solid evidence that it would.
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-l9...L9i-_-9SIAADYA5G8110-_-Product&quicklink=true

 

[madmatt30]

This is the heatsink and fan I ordered:
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-l9...am4-_-13C-0005-001J7-_-Product&quicklink=true

This is the LGA variant that I hope would work, but I have no solid evidence that it would.
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-l9...L9i-_-9SIAADYA5G8110-_-Product&quicklink=true

Sidnr realis the noctua came in either amd or intel variations rather than with universal fittings.


Ive been googling too, there are loads of posts similar to yours but Ive not found anyone actually posting a result of an intel backplate and cooler mount actually installed.

Intel is absolutely 75 x75mm square on the screwholes.
The issue is I dont know if the actual socket height on an hp board is the same.

Meaning you could undoubtatly fit the intel mounting mechanism from an aftermarket cooler to the board BUT the cooler itself may sit too tight to the cpu hs or indeed not tight enough.

 

[madmatt30]

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Gaming-Desktops/omen-cpu-fan-upgrade-problems/td-p/6715157

Johhnyno5 on that thread states he uswd the intel socket 1151 mounting on 2 aftermarket coolers so..... Depends if you want to chance on him telling the truth.

In all honesty the noctua you ordered isnt that good you know? Not for $50 anyway.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Gaming-Desktops/omen-cpu-fan-upgrade-problems/td-p/6715157

Johhnyno5 on that thread atatea he uaed the intel socket 1151 mounting on 2 aftermarket t coolers so..... Depend if you want to chance on him telling the truth.

In all honesty the noctua you ordered isnt that good you know? Not for $50 anyway.

My assumption would be that for the sake of convenience and liability, when choosing a universal mounting system, they would simply choose one existing system over all the others. Creating a mounting system that departs from all know AMX/LGAX mounting systems doesn't make sense to me as it would require a unique manufacturing process for both the coolers and the motherboards. What's efficient about that? The reason they would use a universal mounting system is so that all their coolers can be interchangeable. I want to believe they simply chose the LGA 115X platform and called it a day.

Honestly, I would've gotten a larger cooler, but this case is a bit small. In fact, the board is a micro-ATX. I just wanted a good quality cooler that would keep me below 80C at stock speeds. Oh, to answer your question, no did not bother trying to install the Noctua bracket that came with the cooler. No reason as simple visualization of the part confirms that it wouldn't fit.

I've already replaced the video card, soon the RAM, likely the PSU...might as well replace board, CPU, and case while I'm at it. I should have known getting a pre-built computer would be a pain in the ass.

 

[madmatt30]

My assumption would be that for the sake of convenience and liability, when choosing a universal mounting system, they would simply choose one existing system over all the others. Creating a mounting system that departs from all know AMX/LGAX mounting systems doesn't make sense to me as it would require a unique manufacturing process for both the coolers and the motherboards. What's efficient about that? The reason they would use a universal mounting system is so that all their coolers can be interchangeable. I want to believe they simply chose the LGA 115X platform and called it a day.

Honestly, I would've gotten a larger cooler, but this case is a bit small. In fact, the board is a micro-ATX. I just wanted a good quality cooler that would keep me below 80C at stock speeds. Oh, to answer your question, no did not bother trying to install the Noctua bracket that came with the cooler. No reason as simple visualization of the part confirms that it wouldn't fit.

I've already replaced the video card, soon the RAM, likely the PSU...might as well replace board, CPU, and case while I'm at it. I should have known getting a pre-built computer would be a pain in the ass.

The noctua will do that, I just think for $50 its overexpensive personally.

I agree it makes sense they'd use a standard too, it does look like an intel mounting.

The issue is you'll likely need to take the board out to get to the backplate because the noctua screws on through the board from the rear.

It also doesnt use a custom backplate, both those coolers mentioned do, you wouls be safer with an intel compatible cooler rhat comes with its own backplate imo.

 

[CountMike]

My assumption would be that for the sake of convenience and liability, when choosing a universal mounting system, they would simply choose one existing system over all the others. Creating a mounting system that departs from all know AMX/LGAX mounting systems doesn't make sense to me as it would require a unique manufacturing process for both the coolers and the motherboards. What's efficient about that? The reason they would use a universal mounting system is so that all their coolers can be interchangeable. I want to believe they simply chose the LGA 115X platform and called it a day.

Honestly, I would've gotten a larger cooler, but this case is a bit small. In fact, the board is a micro-ATX. I just wanted a good quality cooler that would keep me below 80C at stock speeds. Oh, to answer your question, no did not bother trying to install the Noctua bracket that came with the cooler. No reason as simple visualization of the part confirms that it wouldn't fit.

I've already replaced the video card, soon the RAM, likely the PSU...might as well replace board, CPU, and case while I'm at it. I should have known getting a pre-built computer would be a pain in the ass.

That is one of main reasons people prefer putting together own systems or buying finished ones made from off the shelf parts over brand name systems. You'll probably find that PSU, connectors and mounting holes are non standard. They would do anything just to make you buy their overpriced parts.
Last HP I had, had cooler screwed straight to chassis instead of backplate.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

And they called this PC "upgradeable." What a joke. As a static piece of hardware, this PC is a pretty decent value. But beyond that, it just goes downhill really quickly.

I have a power supply from a previous build as well as an RTX 2070 Super and a couple of SSDs. I can strip the CPU, wifi card, M.2 card and RAM, so the only thing I will really need is a new motherboard and case to put together a decent custom build. I'll sell what remains and try to be content with whatever loss that turns out to be. I will never buy a pre-built computer ever again.

In any case, I have a Hyper 212 EVO from my previous build and I will let you guys know if it fits this board.

 

[Nathaniel_9]

UPDATE:

I have opted to divert my attention and resources to creating a custom build using parts on hand with a few new components. I concluded that it's not worth it to invest any more time or resources on this pre-built PC. Here are the specs on the new build, which hopefully will be completed today. Parts in green are new, red parts from a previous build, and blue parts taken from the pre-built HP Omen 30L.

Corsair Carbide 275R midtower case
850W Corsair CX850M PSU
MSI MEG X570 Unify AM4 mobo
3.6Ghz AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core CPU
Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 CPU heatsink and fan
32 Gb G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 9 DDR 4 3200 (dual channel) RAM
8Gb MSI Ventus OC GeForce RTX 2070 Super video card
256Gb Western Digital PC SN520 M.2 NVMe SSD
500Gb Samsung 850 EVO SATA III SSD
1 Tb Mushkin Enhanced Reactor SATA III SSD

Parts left over from the Omen will be sold online.