Ultimate Low Profile CPU Coolers ft. Big Shuriken 3 

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

Best USFF cooler roundup I've seen, great job!

Your thoroughness earned your subscription on this one nice work

I've built 3 systems so far (Dan A4, Ghost S1, and NCase M1), and thank you so much for these extremely informative videos!

This is the video i've been waiting for. Great!

Not a single word of praise for the Raijintek Pallas that without fanfare almost always stood on the 4th place, with very honorable results.

Man I needed this. How does youtube know? Subbed

Ever consider testing the Thermalright AXP-100 full copper? Seen a Dan build or two using it (though the pipes were bent to fit). Should fit in a Ghost though I believe. Don't know if it's available on Amazon or Newegg though. :T

Ohhh yes! I've been looking forward to another SFF cooler showdown :D

Have an NH-L12 but put the 15mm Noctua fan underneath like a lot of ppl are doing in the S1 community. Gives L12S results but still fits in the case

Great Video, exactly what I searched for a while. I was not sure whether to take the Shuriken or one of the Noctua's but now will definately go for the Shuriken. I also read that the Noctua's are hard to put on the CPU and like you also mentioned they require Low Profile RAM.

thanks for all your great content. much appreciated

Another very informative high quality video from Optimum Tech . 100K+ subs is not far away.

Been hooked on your videos I do sooo want a pc again. It's been years.

good job for the great quality of the content, very informative. 1 suggestion, what about setting the test to a set temperature for all coolers and check which one is able to keep that temperature making the least noise (controlling the fan speed with a temperature based fan curve) it would be intresting to see a comparison with l12 and l12s using the same 12mm fan on top to see if there is a difference in the cooling ability of the heatsink, and btw when tested with their original fans (90mm for the l12 and 12mm for the l12s) it would be nice to have both fans set at the same speed. [eventhough i'm not sure how many people would be intrested in these l12/l12s tests] btw thank you for this video, very appreciated

I believe you could get the Scythe into an S1 case if you swap to a slightly smaller width 13mm fan. I believe Raijintek makes slim 120mm fans in that width. Itll save you a couple milimeters...but isnt ideal since youre buying another fan. That said...when it comes to ITX air coolers....sometimes choices are hard to come by. And we all know it can be tough getting a heatsink that's somewhat robust, cools well, and still fits your motherboard, case, and gives ram clearance. So in the past I've had to do a fan swap in order to keep the heatsink I like.

Exactly what I was hoping for

I was kind of hoping that the heights of each cooler would also be listed, but otherwise pretty awesome comparison!

The RVZ03 is gonna be the perfect case for the L12s as you can mount the 15mm fan on top of the cooler (85mm) despite the case only supporting 83mm height there is a little bit more space.

plz review the BeQuiet! Shadow Rock LP

Option for 120x25mm thick fans are great since 3000rpm fans can be used

I'd love to see the Gemenii M5 by cooler master. Could be a serious contender.

The big question would have been how the Shuriken 3 performed with the thin 120mm Noctua fan that comes on the L12s... I really wnated to see if it made any difference vs the stock scythe fan.

I know this video is a little older, but I ended up buying a Big Shiruken 3 for my NR200P and decided on a NF-A12x25 based on your tests. Thank you! First time building a new PC in a decade, your videos have been extremely helpful and greatly appreciated.

i have a cryorig c1 in my ncase that i built in 2016...works a dream looking to upgrade all the internals and keep the case might just clean up the cooler and reuse it for my next build

YEEESSSS THANK YOU!!!!

Phanteks PH-TC12LS or Phanteks PH-TC12LS_RGB would be a really cool addition (Really want to see it in stock configuration vs shuriken 3 with NF-A12x25, and with the L12-S noctua slim cooler on so it could fit the 70mm envelope) Non-RGB and RGB variants are available on amazon, and the RGB one is also available on Newegg.

Thank you for this review! It has been super useful! Definitly looking to get the Shuriken 3.

Please try bending the L12S for the Ghost S1 to see how will it perform, as well as memory height compatibility after lowering it. I'd love to have that information for my future build!

I'm so glad that I have the NH L12S, the RAM restriction is the only downside

I am kinda impressed by the scythe. I have a much higher profile cooler from the one mentioned here right now, the Kabuto 2. My cooler lost some function with the fact that it came with a low pressure 1200 rpm fan that did not do the large structure justice.

Mby do a update on this topic for 2020. Keep up the good work!

Cool comparison video. I do have one question though: I can see both types of heat pipe & fin stack coolers working perfectly (full size like the Hyper 212 EVO and low profile like the GeminII M5), when used on a test bench where the motherboard is laying horizontally, and the fin stacks are above the CPU. That being said, I can't understand how these coolers work in actual builds where they are attached to a motherboard mounted vertically in a case, especially for the low profile ones! In that situation, the fluid inside the heat pipes would just move down to the lowest point of the heat pipe when cool. When the fluid inside heats up and evaporates, it rises and there is nothing stopping it from moving up in the heat pipe towards the CPU, rather than towards the heat dissipating fin stacks. When this happens, you now have vapor locked heat pipes against the CPU that are only going to get cooled down from passing air, rather than from the intended fin stack section. I'm not trying to say these are garbage, because they clearly work. I found this video because I want a low profile heat pipe cooler in my build, so I'm not bashing them. I'm just genuinely curious about how these actually work when mounted in a case. If anybody can provide a little insight, it would be greatly appreciated!

You should try the wider and older 140mm Raijintek Pallas. I have one and it works wonders on my 2700x. I want to see how it compares to the newer 120 version.

You can order the Alpenföhn Black Ridge from OCUK and ship to Australia pretty affordably, might be worth getting one and testing a few configurations to see how it stacks up?

Thank you so much for this, i'm gonna go the air cooling route for my gf's build and am so excited to see how everything runs!

I run the L9x65 with a 25mm NF-A9. Huge reduction in noise over the 14mm. It does make it a bit taller, of course, but still shorter than the BS3 with the 25mm fan. Would love to see this combo get more coverage.

I needed this comparison like a week ago, I hate you lol thanks for the video!

Thank you, very informative video!

Keep up the wonderful videos

I wish you would try Be Quiet Shadow Rock LP. Been using it in my ncase m1 for years, and is very solid. 75.4mm thick (25mm fan)

How about the Shadow Rock LP from Be Quiet? Great video as always Optimum Tech!

I would add the Be Quiet SHADOW ROCK LP to the mix.

Great video. Also put maximum temps

Such nice vid! What screw are you using to adapt the noctua fan on heatsink ?

at 5:23 i wish you woulda listed the sm560 and also listed the cpu height clearance in each case, as well as posted this as a standalone link to a chart.

Thanks! realy! I was deciding between a Noctua L9i vs Noctua L12S

Also there is the NH-14 top fan and bottom fan

The Scythe Fuma rev. B in the Cerberus would be interesting against the C14s

Just found this video. This is super helpful, and I'm sure this took you forever, so thanks for the hard work man! Btw what is the case at 0:10?

I have recently got a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro WiFi ITX board, and am planning to move it to a new case soon. I was hoping to use the supplyed AMD fan but got a nasty supprise when it did not fit the board (the new X570 VRM heatsinks conspire to prevent me mounting the heatsink with out uncliping the fan surround). Thus I am now worried that I may not beable to fit the Noctua L12S on this ITX build. It got me thinking "Do the new generation of ITX X570 boards work with most of the low profile coolers?" as these motherboards seem to come with very large VRM heatsinks and built-in faceplates.

Great vid. Would this keep a 2700x under control in an rvz03?

Bump the rpm on pallas120 and it may beat or equal the top dogs... He was ~450rpm lower. Nice review!

Can you please do an updated version of best low profile coolers?

What's the chance of you doing a detailed video on bending the NH L12S to fit the ghost? I'm considering getting an S1 to transfer my setup out of an lz7, for the increased GPU clearance.. and not having to buy another CPU cooler would be another reason to do the swap

What sucks is most SFF type cpu coolers are $40 and over that give good performance. The C7 was the bang for the buck one, however for some reason the prices spiked to the $100s in the US at least and is very hard to find. You can't even find the mounting adapter to AM4 for them either.

Is the Alpenföhn Black Ridge unavailable to you? The QC problems should be fixed by now

I bought the copper C7 on a whim and it's pretty cool

Needed this

I wonder, will you pick up the HG Computers - Osmi mini ITX case? It's been a while since they released that case, but no good reviewer looked in to it.

Another option is putting a 25mm thick fan on the Noctua L9. In my experience that significantly helps temperatures.

Every time I see that MSI RTX2070 Aero ITX, I'm reminded how impossible it is to find one for sale that isn't price gouged in America especially one going for $1,200+.

Should also try the "Alpenföhn Silvretta" it's 45mm tall

You should get your hands on the T318 from dynatron, which i think is the best sff cooler. And the alpenphöhn black ridge :)

Nice video helped me a lot. But I have a question. For 2700x inside rvz03 or SG13 also tall ram gskill flare which low profile cooler will work better?

Please test Reeven BRONTES - RC-1001b, there's a big lack of reviews of this cooler, and is one of few that would fit perfectly into most sffpc chassis.

You should try a slimmer 120 like the 15mm Noctua with the big shuriken to put it into the Louqe. as the fan on the scythe is actually 17mm

Would be great to see a vid for a small form factor build that will adequately cool a 10900K

Can you test Thermolab LP53? or the LP30? There hasn't been a new review about it with more up to date hardware.

Looking forward to the Ryzen 3600 what it will do with temps.

Came here after watching your nr200 video. By the way what toolbox is that with the assortment of screws heads ?

Is the Pallas 120 worth it over the Big Shuriken 3 on top of an R5 3600? Probably gonna use eloop fans because they look so good

you should review the older pallas 140mm. I owe it and it works wonders in my qbx cooling my 2700x

Great video! you are the man ! Boss.. itx King

Nice video keep it up 👍

What are the chances you could do a review of the Prolimatech Samuel 17 cooler? Not from Concentrate(S4 mini creator) did a cooler round up recently and recommended it

Can you review the raijintek Pallas 120 at some point? I'm planning to pair that cooler with an r5 3600 when the Evolv Shift Air Launches at some point & my decision is between Big Shuriken 3 and Pallas 120.

How about the Scythe cooler with Noctua low profile 120mm fan?

TT Core V1 and the Noctua NH-L12-S, would it be a good combo?

opinion on the kolink rocket? seems like a cheaper alternative to the dancase

I'd see about buying off Ebay /printing out a 120mm adapter for C7. Total height with a 25mm thick fan should still fit into the Ghost.

Slightly unrelated question: If I were to move the NH-L12S' fan to the top so that it would be a top-flowing heatsink, how would the performance differ?

I think the NH-L12S the fan was upside-down and became down draft.. do you test as it is?

Could you try to fit the big shuriken 3 in the ghost s1? I hear that swapping the fan with a noctua a12x15 slim fan might make it fit

For Australia, the ID Cooling IS 50 is pretty cheap. 57mm high. You can get it from PLE, but it's actually cheaper to buy it from them on eBay, unless you're picking up in store.

Have you tried the thermalright AXP 90 Full copper it looks to be a great option as apposed to the c7 copper at a lower price point but I can't find any good reviews on it. I even saw some comments in a forum that said at 47mm it beat the black ridge.

Have you heard of/ tried Alpenföhn Black Ridge? Kind of like NH-L12, but it is 47mm high.

As always, great video! I have a Lian Li q21 which is according to cpu cooler height max is 70mm, Do you recommend the Noctua LH-L12S? this is my first time to do the smallest ITX I can avail. Would like to pair it with i7 9700 or i9 9900. If you are familiar with this case, please recommend me a good fit GPU 2060 - 2070. thanks

Alpenfohn Black Ridge,please test.

How about Cooler Master GeminII M5 LED?

I'm gonna try the noctua nh-l9x65 for the Dell 9020 SFF, Is there any other better coolers that will work with the dell 9020 SFF?

I think it would of been good to see if there was any differences in VRM temps between each cooler, has this been tested previously?

What about the dancase CPU cooler which they made specifically the the dancase A4? Is it out yet? When is comes out will it be the best air cooler option for the dancase A4?

It's interesting to see the Cryorig C7 and the C7 cu performing so similar to one another. They claim it performs up to 15% cooler. I personally have the C7 cu in my Fractal Design Node 202 and it barely cools my 7700k and that's after I have undervolted it as well.

so what you recommend ? nuctua or shuriken 3 ?

Wonders, would these coolers have the same perfomance levels in a normal use scenario aka on a non delidded CPU and normal (non liquid metal) thermal paste?

Would you recommend noctua l9 with 25mm fan for Dan Case A4?

Is Noctua L9i really my best/silent cpu cooler for Dan a4? Getting the new Dan a4 v4 case next week and still checking the low cooler profile market, but seems Noctua is the way to go...

What about Shadow Rock LP and Deepcool Gabriel? Both appear respectable.

I am considering a build in a Core V1 case, so I have about 140mm for cooler clearance, and I want to give it about a 5 mm tolerance, so I’m looking for a 135mm cooler or lower. What do you think about the Pure Rock Slim by Be Quiet? I will be using a Ryzen 2600 or 2700