I was almost mortified when I noticed this, coming back home from the PC parts store and having bought Noctua's NH-U12P instead of the 92mm NH-U9B due to niggling uncertainty (both cost about as much, so I wasn't going to dish out the same cash for 'less' gear). Luckily it was about some very small heatsinks, none of which would've served my purposes.

Nice review though, showed me at least how little is too little. Have been trying out the smaller heatsinks for increased air and working space around the CPU socket, but now went with the big one due to outrageous costs.

Nice roundup, thanks.
Also, excellent tip by using a 120mm fan on the Intel stock cooler.

Thank for you taking the time to do this review. From a viewpoint that embraces relatively minimalist case dimensions and collateral cooling for the MOSFET and voltage regulators, I appreciate this two-part investigation into top-down coolers.

That said, why weren't the Noctua NH-C12P results included? I suppose you had to draw the line at some point, but it's only 3mm taller with a standard 120mm fan than the NT06-E included in your review.

If I'm not mistaken, all mainstream graphics cards are around 111mm in height, and if you go with the latest Nvidia family, you can add about another 25.4mm of height to comfortably accommodate the 6-pin power connectors (plus their wires, bent gently in an L-shape) that shoot up perpendicular to the length of the cards. From my perspective, a low-profile cooler is anything that comes in below about 136.4mm. I admit, however, that that my perspective is fairly rare as a scratch case builder. And as such, I don't know what heights many 'low-profile' cases support.

And here I thought Larry had finally taken a break from his Sunday night review schedule...

If the Noctua fits in it, then the case isn't really small or low profile -- ditto the NT06 with fan. You'll recall the NT06 was meant to be used w/o fan in a Silverstone SU05/06.

Lots of "desktop", SFF or HTPC cases don't allow for full height PCI cards or anywhere near 136.4mm vertical space. Even if that much space was available, you'd have to strike 25mm off for fan intake clearance unless there's a good vent directly above.

Did you try fitting the fan to the NT06 between the fins and the base?

No, but this is not a viable option with most motherboards. The fan would ride too close to the surface to clear all components, particularly the NB heatsink.

It looks like it might work on your test board. Could also work with a thin fan (Yate Loon do one).

That's a good point about the intake clearance; I had not taken that into consideration. As it happens, the case I am building will not have any sort of vent above the drop down cooler, so I will be relying on the intake fan for fresh, cooler air.

edit- I added the wrong things together. With 25mm additional clearance above it, the NH-C12P (with 120x25mm fan) would need 139mm, still shorter than most of the best tower coolers.

I was thinking the exact same thought as Monkeh16.

maybe a thin and smaller fan? say a thin and slow 80mm?
that should solve any clearance problems.

it would be an interesting experiment, in any case.

Hardware Secrets recently reviewed the Silverstone NT06 and found that it was okay mounted on a horizontal motherboard, but abysmal with the motherboard vertical:Link (text below the charts)

I wonder how much this effect apply to the other coolers with similar layout...?

Cheers
Olle

Look through their test methodology - the case they use has a big vent on the side panel. With the case/mobo horizontal that makes it a natural exhaust point. That probably contributed significantly to their results.

First: I'm pretty sure they run the tests with the side panel off. Otherwise the noise reading (4" from the fan) would become virtually impossible.
With the side panel off any exhaust ways become irrelevant.

Second: If the side panel is in fact on during the tests, the side vent is positioned so that it will act as an intake to the CPU fan rather than an exhaust. That doesn't change with the positioning of the case.

Ergo: The significant change in cooling efficiency seems very valid.

Cheers
Olle

looks like you forgot about zalman VF2000 LED