The arrangement of the main elements of the processors Ryzen encourages Noctua to slightly review the placement of its heatsinks.
Specialist in PC cooling, the Austrian company Noctua has built a solid reputation for excellence and seriousness. A reputation that should not be tarnished by the brand’s latest announcement, quite the contrary.
Small accessories, big consequences
Thus, on the occasion of Computex 2023, Noctua presented a series of four sets of “bars” for mounting AMD AM5 processors, the (NM-AMB12, NM-AMB13, NM-AMB14 and NM-AMB15.
© HardwareLuxx
Called “offset mounting bars”, the products in question vary in size and shape depending on the heatsink they are designed for, but the idea remains the same. It is therefore a question of taking into account the organization of the Ryzen AM5 chips with, in particular, the positioning on one side of the processor of the two particularly heat-intensive CCDs.
As Noctua shows, but we were able to verify this during our various Ryzen 7000 tests, the temperature difference at the die level can easily reach 6 ° C between the part where the CCDs are and the other side of the processor. .
© Noctua
The classic positioning of heatsinks, all brands combined, does not take this differential into account, but as you can imagine, the use of offset mounting bars from Noctua should make it possible to remedy this.
Up to 20°C gain
We hope to soon have the opportunity to check the values put forward by Noctua, which explains that depending on the processor and the heatsink selected, the gains can reach up to 3.1 ° C (Ryzen 9 7950X) and are at least 1, 3°C (Ryzen 7 7700X with an NH-L12S).
© HardwareLuxx
Noctua does not stop there, and the brand insists on the importance of “uncapping” its Ryzen. Indeed, very criticized on this level, AMD has implemented a questionable integrated heat spreader (integrated heat sink, or IHS) on its Ryzen 7000. Removing it makes it easy to gain several degrees, but the maneuver can be tricky . Noctua has therefore imagined a complete and as simple as possible kit to carry out the operation without stress. A prototype was presented at Computex with gains of 13.2 to 17°C!
Better, associating the uncapping kit and the positioning bars with the Ryzen 7000 saves a total of 15.5 ° C on a Ryzen 9 7950X (190 W) and downright 19.3 ° C on a Ryzen 5 7600X (125 W ). Noctua confirms that the offset mounting bars will be available in June at $3.90 on its site and will even be integrated into the brand’s coolers at the end of the year. It remains to know the date of availability and the price of the uncapping kit to give our Ryzen 7000 a fresh start.
Sources: Noctua press release, HardwareLuxx
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