Question Will the Noctua NHD-15 fit the 011 Dynamic Mid Tower Case?

[Iver Hicarte]

Do I have enough clearance on my Lian Li 011 Dynamic case for the NHD-15? I have a Zotac 3070 Twin Edge GPU and a Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 RAM which are installed at the 2nd and 4th DIMM slot, motherboard is the ASUS B550F Gaming ATX motherboard. PcPartPicker says that the case and the cooler do not fit therefore it’s not compatible, but I checked Noctua’s official website and they said that the NHD15 fits the 011 Dynamic case since it’s on their list of compatible cases for the NHD-15. I don’t know who to believe so I asked here.

Thanks!

 

[Aeacus]

Easy, let's check the raw official data.

PC case specs: https://lian-li.com/product/pc-o11-dynamic/
NH-D15 specs: https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15/specification

NH-D15 without fans, is 160mm tall. Add the fans and it reaches 165mm.
O11 Dynamic has CPU cooler clearance of 155mm.

So, NH-D15 does not fit into O11 Dynamic.

Small nitpick: that Lian-Li PC case is named O11 (o 11) not 011 (zero 11).

but I checked Noctua’s official website and they said that the NHD15 fits the 011 Dynamic case

You sure you checked the right case? 🤔 Since i just checked and it is clearly marked as "insufficient clearance" for all versions of NH-D15,
link: https://ncc.noctua.at/cases/model/Lian-Li-PC-O11-Dynamic-903

 

[Phaaze88]

You sure that was for the original Dynamic?
Lian Li 011 Dynamic: up to 155mm.
Dynamic Mini: up to 170mm.
Dynamic Evo: up to 167mm.
Dynamic XL(Evo): also up to 167mm.

NH-D15: 165mm. The front fan can be raised ~10mm more. The purpose is for memory clearance, but of course, it increases the cooler's total height.
NH-D15S: 160mm

Weird... on the product page, the D15(and Chromax) is listed as 165mm tall, but for some reason, it's listed at 168mm in the Compatibility Centre section???
Probably a typo.

 

[Aeacus]

but for some reason, it's listed at 168mm in the Compatibility Centre section???
Probably a typo.

It is bad business when CPU cooler touches the side panel. So, some buffer is also included. That, and Noctua can't make sure that PC case manufacturers actually post accurate CPU cooler clearance, with 0 tolerance. Could very well be that it is +/- 1mm, whereby having more clearance than CPU cooler is, is better.

If you get down to it, 3mm is so tiny space, barely visible. 1mm even more so.

 

[Phaaze88]

It is bad business when CPU cooler touches the side panel. So, some buffer is also included. That, and Noctua can't make sure that PC case manufacturers actually post accurate CPU cooler clearance, with 0 tolerance. Could very well be that it is +/- 1mm, whereby having more clearance than CPU cooler is, is better.

If you get down to it, 3mm is so tiny space, barely visible. 1mm even more so.

No buffer was included; the heights of the D15S, U14S, D12L, U12A, and several others listed in the Compatibility Centre match the specified height in their product page? As far as I can tell, it's just the D15 with that oddity - even the U14S, which is like half a D15, is specified as 165mm in both its product page and the Compatibility Centre.

 

[Iver Hicarte]

Easy, let's check the raw official data.

PC case specs: https://lian-li.com/product/pc-o11-dynamic/
NH-D15 specs: https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15/specification

NH-D15 without fans, is 160mm tall. Add the fans and it reaches 165mm.
O11 Dynamic has CPU cooler clearance of 155mm.

So, NH-D15 does not fit into O11 Dynamic.

Small nitpick: that Lian-Li PC case is named O11 (o 11) not 011 (zero 11).


You sure you checked the right case? 🤔 Since i just checked and it is clearly marked as "insufficient clearance" for all versions of NH-D15,
link: https://ncc.noctua.at/cases/model/Lian-Li-PC-O11-Dynamic-903

That’s the issue with my case. It has so many other editions and revisions that sometimes it can be a bit confusing to discern which one is the one.

 

[geofelt]

Can you provide a link to the Lian-Li O11 Dynamic case that you have?
Perhaps post a photo?
Can you measure approximately how much height you have for a good air cooler?
What is the cpu that you want to cool?

From what I read, the best noctua cooler that fits 155mm would be the NH-D12L at 145mm which is still an excellent cooler:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d12l-chromax-black/specification

 

[Iver Hicarte]

Can you provide a link to the Lian-Li O11 Dynamic case that you have?
Perhaps post a photo?
Can you measure approximately how much height you have for a good air cooler?
What is the cpu that you want to cool?

From what I read, the best noctua cooler that fits 155mm would be the NH-D12L at 145mm which is still an excellent cooler:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d12l-chromax-black/specification

This is the one I have: https://lian-li.com/product/pc-o11-dynamic/

 

[Aeacus]

This is the one I have: https://lian-li.com/product/pc-o11-dynamic/

The one i linked in my 1st reply.

For good air cooler, king of air cooler fits just fine. Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE;
Also, it's a lot cheaper than Noctua.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($33.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: Zotac GAMING Twin Edge GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $33.90

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-30 06:43 EDT-0400

R7 5700X3D is a placeholder to make pcpp compatibility check work.