Performance
Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 has been tested on the AMD Ryzen platform which contains the 1700X processor and BIOSTAR X370GTN motherboard with the latest BIOS.
Due to constant issues with motherboards and thermal sensors presented results can be a bit different on other motherboards or even BIOS releases. Also diagnostic software is often showing different values than the direct read from BIOS.
In our tests, mixed load means that PC was working in PCMark10 which acts like a typical home and office workload. PCMark base on popular applications and less demanding games so is showing what you can expect during normal work.
High CPU load results base on AIDA64 stability test while full load has been tested in Prime95.
I think it’s clear as there are no unusual tests and most users can perform similar tests at home.
The NH-L9a-AM4 performs good considering its small size. Even though it’s small, it handles eight cores of Ryzen 1700X processor without issues. If we wish then is still some headroom for overclocking but I wouldn’t count on much. I guess that you can expect about 3.8GHz as it doesn’t need high voltage. 4GHz will be out of range.
Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 is using quite small fan which spins up to 2500 RPM. Even though it seems a lot comparing to higher series coolers, it’s still not making much noise. Of course above 1500 RPM you will hear the fan but it’s still acceptable and most users shouldn’t complain.
Used NF-A9x14 PWM fan is offering high airflow and is not generating much noise. Looks like a perfect balance. It’s also trying to keep low speed if it’s not required. Of course how fast the fan spins depends also on the motherboard and BIOS settings or additional software. In this case everything was on automatic settings.
I guess that the NH-L9a-AM4 will be even more interesting option when Zen based APUs will be released. Considering how it’s acting on the highest series CPU, I assume that on lower TDP processors it will be nearly silent. Even if you decide on the highest Ryzen processors then the NH-L9a-AM4 is interesting option, especially when you wish to build small but well performing PC.
