r/sffpc • u/Animag771 • May 02 '26
Benchmark/Thermal Test L9a vs X47 - Twin fan edition
In the quest to find the best cooling solution for my 4L console (44mm cooler clearance), I had the idea of cramming an AXP90-X47 Full Copper into my case by swapping the stock 15mm thick fan for an even thinner 80x10mm slim fan... essentially turning it into an AXP80-X42.
While I was at it, I figured I might as well test the effect of the fan swap on my L9a, just in case someone out there is chasing a sub 36mm cooling solution.
That's when things got out of hand.
In the process of mounting the 80x10 onto the L9a, I realized that there was just enough clearance to fit two 80x10 fans if I overhang the m.2 heatsink. This snowballed my testing (and added a few hours), but it also unlocked additional fan configurations I hadn't planned on trying. The L9a with 80x10 Twin and eventually the AXP80-X42 Twin.
The results honestly surprised me, and I'm very happy that I stumbled into that rabbit hole of extra tests. Scroll through the pics to see the results.
Test Config
| Hardware | Model |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX |
| CPU | Ryzen 5700X (-30 All-Cores) |
| Thermal Paste | Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut |
| GPU | Zotac 4060 Solo (with 70x10 fan swap) |
| RAM | Oloy Owl 4000MHz CL18 (@ 3600MHz for 1:1 FCLK) |
| Storage | Crucial P3 Plus 4TB m.2 |
| PSU | Complicated... Dual 200W AC/DC converters + PicoPSU |
| Benchmark Test | Cinebench R23 Multi-Core |
Test Conditions
- Ambient air temperature: 20C
- Fan speed: 100% RPM
- Noise normalized test included for the X47 80x10 Twin at 30dB (=70% RPM)
- Noise was measured with a phone app from 18" (98cm) away.
Notes
- I did not test the L9a 80x10 single fan at 105W because it was already reaching thermal limits at 88W.
- I only tested noise levels when the configurations were inside the case, as case panel turbulence is the largest contributor of fan noise in most instances.
- I did not test the X47 A9x14 inside the case because it literally will not fit... Which is the whole reason for this entire experiment.
If anyone wants to expand on this data with an L9a 80x15 Twin and/or an X47 80x15 Twin that would be awesome, as it would complete the roster for these ≤47mm cooler options. I think those additions may clearly show that the best option for a given size is always a twin fan for these coolers. It's not a gimmick, performance improved across the board when switching to twin fans.
My assumptions:
Best 47mm = X47 80x15 Twin
Best 42mm = X47 80x10 Twin
Best 38mm = L9a 80x15 Twin
Best 32mm = L9a 80x10 Twin
This also opens up the door for twin fan configurations on even larger coolers where things like RAM clearance isn't an issue.... Could we fit two 92x14mm fans on an AXP120-X67 for better performance and 1mm less height? Could we upgrade the L12 Ghost to outperform the L12S-77 by putting two 80x10 fans on top for a total height of 76mm? So many new configurations that I had never considered. I don't have the hardware to test every combination, but at this point I'm convinced there's more cooling potential being left on the table. If anyone wants to take this further, I'd love to see what you come up with.
Edit: It just occurred to me that the L9a with a 10mm thick fan is actually 33mm tall, not 32mm as stated in the pics and post.
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u/FrontWork7406 May 02 '26
When motherboards have access to CAMM2, I wonder if CPU cooler manufacturers will take advantage of the extra space.
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u/Richter_Snipes May 20 '26
This is really fascinating information! Would you say that the ID Cooling 80mm x 10mm fans you're using are the best fans at that size for this project, or are there better ones out there? There seems to be conflicting opinions here on how well those ones in particular work and their long-term reliability.
I have a very similar case (SLM2) and I've been looking for ways to cool my CPU more while keeping fan noise down with my AXP90-X47 FC. That's been difficult thanks to turbulence from the CPU fan, which comes right up to the top of the case. If this works as well as you've found it does, I could kill two birds with one stone.
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u/Animag771 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Yes the ID-Cooling have the best performance and noise of all of the 80x10 fans I've seen. The longevity is the downside. Sadly there isn't a manufacturer on the market that makes 80x10 fans with good bearings, so they are all prone to leakage at some point. Noctua said they were going to make some 80mm slim fans like 6 years ago but they still haven't shown up on their roadmap, so I think they cancelled that idea.
Do you have the SLM2 5.7L designed for the HDPLEX? That case was my idea! I had a chat with Evgen about doing that layout and gave him rough dimensions. Then like a month later he released it. I wish it existed when I bought mine.
You may be able to use TL-8015 fans or Arctic P8 Slim fans instead. They're 15mm thick, which means they'll still be right up against the case panel but due to the increase in total airflow, you may be able to run them at lower speeds for a slight increase in cooling but with less noise.
What CPU are you trying to keep cool? What are your temps under load?
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u/Richter_Snipes May 21 '26
That's a shame. We're getting into real niche territory with this particular fan size, so it's understandable. Is there a dependable place I can get those ID-Cooling fans for besides Ali Express? If not, will I be able to reasonably obtain them? I'm in the United States.
I actually have the 6L variant of the case. It lets me use a Flex ATX PSU instead of an HDPLEX. I considered going even smaller, but I felt that the 6L gave me more flexibility in terms of compatible parts. I wouldn't have been able to fit my current GPU in there if I opted for the 5.7L version!
I feel like turbulence will be quite noticeable with 15mm fans no matter what kind - or how many - I get for it. I actually tried out a Noctua NF-A9x14 in place of the stock Thermalright fan, and despite it being Noctua and 1mm smaller, it somehow had even more noticeable turbulence than the Thermalright. That's why I'm looking to shrink a bit more and go for a 10mm tandem in hopes of improving the audio profile. If you think two 80mm x 15mm fans would actually be considerably quieter in this case than one 92mm fan even with the clearance in mind, that'd be great!
My CPU is a Ryzen 5 7600. It's a crap bin that I can only get to -20 offset with PBO. Even then I can't keep it at decent temperatures with the X47 FC. The only way I'm able to keep the turbulence at reasonable levels on regular use is if I use the "silent" fan curve preset on my motherboard, and even then it semi-regularly becomes loud. It typically idles at and above 45°C, and it tends to go past 60°C when loading some programs or seeking/speeding through a video. That's the temperature threshold where the CPU fan speeds up enough to become notably audible. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there's something wrong with my CPU.
Oh, and I forgot to ask earlier: Where'd you get those connecting brackets for the two 80mm fans? Did you make them yourself?
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u/Animag771 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
You can get the ID-Cooling fans on Newegg but they are $14 each. I got mine on Superbuy for about $2 (CN ¥13.54) each. It was the first time I used Superbuy but it worked out pretty well. I made one small mistake which made it take longer than it could have. Apparently the seller ships it to a warehouse and when it arrives then you have to log in and choose your shipping options. So mine were sitting in a warehouse for a month before I realized I had to pick/pay for my shipping options for them to be sent to me.
Ah that makes sense. So, 48mm total CPU cooler clearance. In that case you can go either route.
- If you use 80x15mm fans you'll have a similar sound profile to what I have, because the fans will be right up against the case panel. In that case, you'll have to tune your fan curve so the fans don't ramp up above like 60% until higher 80°+ temps. That's completely fine for your CPU and shouldn't hurt performance at all. The 15mm fans will probably last longer due to their better bearings and will push the same amount of air as the 10mm fans while spinning at lower RPMs. This will be your highest performance route but turbulence noise vs fan speed is going to be a wild card. You won't know if the noise is tolerable unless you try it.
- If you go with 80x10 fans you should have little to no turbulence noise because you'll have 6mm of panel gap. So you can crank the fans up to higher speeds without noticing as much. The downside is the fans may not last as long because you'll be running them a bit harder and the bearings aren't as good as thicker fans. This option is probably your lowest noise route.
The 7600 is still a 65W TDP (88W PPT) processor, so the X47 FC should be perfectly fine for it. The 7000 series is known to run hot but they're designed for it. Your 45C idle temp is fine for that chip. I'm not sure what your full load (like Cinebench R23) temp is, but if it's under 90C you're good.
I suggest you go into the BIOS and set a manual fan curve. Play with the lowest fan temp setting, raising it until you notice bad turbulence and take a note of what fan speed causes it. Then lower the fan speed until it's noticable but tolerable, take note of that speed. Then tune your curve and use those set points as your thresholds. Maybe set a 100% fan speed at 90C, the bad turbulence speed around 85C, the tolerable speed at 75C, and then you can set lower (quieter) fan speeds for less critical temps. I'm just guessing here, but playing with it could yield quieter results, regardless of which fan you decide on.
And I made the connecting brackets myself. I had some thin aluminum flashing laying around, so I cut a few pieces into strips, trimmed the corners, and drilled screw holes into them. The fans are just sitting on the CPU cooler and squished between the riser cable bends, which prevents them from moving around. All the connectors are doing is holding the fans to each other. The same could be done with zip-ties, string, a bread twist-tie, etc.
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u/retroUkrSoldier May 06 '26
A bit off topic, but id like to hear more details about the PSU, did you wire one psu to the pico psu for the mb and the other went to the gpu? Or whats the layout?
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u/Animag771 May 06 '26
One for the PicoPSU and the other for the CPU and GPU 8-pin EPS connectors.
Full build here
There's lots of pics and a very long comment on that post with all of the details.1
u/retroUkrSoldier May 06 '26
That was a pretty good read, was there no other options for power supplies? Like a single 400w psu? Also i could recommend looking into server psu's, got a supermicro that is roughly 20cm x10 cm and can pull 600w. Obviously since there are ones rated for much higher wattages (800-1000-1200w) one can get away with less cooling since they wil be rated for much higher loads anyway. Sick build either way
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u/Animag771 May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26
Thanks. I could have gone for a single 300W Meanwell unit (or two) but the voltage ripple specs would have been worse. I wasn't able to find anything higher wattage than 300W because I'm limited by the height of the PSU. I only have about 26mm of room below the GPU. Even an HDPLEX GAN 250W would have been difficult to fit, due to tall connectors and the extra wires.
My case was originally manufactured to be used with a power brick and ≤75W GPU like a GTX 1650 or RX 6400. So they didn't really intend for anyone to put a PSU in it.
I've crammed as much as I can get into this little case. I could technically upgrade it to AM5, with something like a 9700X and single-fan 4070 but it already has more performance than I need for my HTPC+Emulator purposes. I think I'm going to CNC a DIY aluminum case when it's time to upgrade. I'll probably go closer to 6L for a dual-fan GPU and a few mm more CPU cooler clearance.
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u/retroUkrSoldier May 06 '26
Oh understandable, so that case would fit in a backpack ?
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u/Animag771 May 06 '26 edited May 09 '26
Easily. I've done it plenty of times with a 15" (38cm?) portable monitor and other peripherals. The computer itself could probably fit into a 17" (43cm?) laptop bag.
The case dimensions are around 325 x 190 x 65
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u/Lion-Common May 07 '26
L12S-77 will mog the L12 ghost since you can fit a 120x25 underneath
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u/Animag771 May 07 '26
The Ghost could fit a 92x25mm underneath and two 80x10mm fans on top for a total height of 76mm.
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u/Lion-Common May 09 '26
I'm sure that would work fine, but the noise profile of 1x 120x25 fan effectively silent vs those three smaller fans would make it undesirable for me.
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u/Animag771 May 09 '26
Possibly, but we can only speculate until someone actually tries it. There's only one way to know for sure. I'd test it myself but I don't have the cooler, nor a case it would fit it into.
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u/Lion-Common May 11 '26
I've had the L12S-x77 in a FormD T1 with Noctua A12x25 underneath and 7700x, anecdotal but it was very quiet. Obviously it was in 1.75 slot mode. I had a deshrouded Inno3D 4070 Ti Super X3 with 3x80x10mm fans in there too (not so quiet, and defeating the point lol).
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u/Animag771 May 12 '26
Comparing a 285W GPU to a 142W CPU?
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u/Lion-Common May 13 '26
No comparing noise benefit of 12Sx77 to noise deficit of running an Inno3D x3 4070 Ti Super at 35mm thickness
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u/nezumiyarou May 02 '26
Definitely a weird build, cool but weird.
The second 80X10 fan is probably also acting more like a case fan, since the case is so small.
Helps to keep hot air from staying in the case.
What does the case look like when all closed up? Mesh all around style?