Noctua NH-D9L assembly help. Po3-630 Should I replace the paste when it comes?

hello everyone.

i just installed D9L and was wondering since it was my first time applying Thermal Paste, did I overdid it? I used 5 drop system (bigger one in the middle around 5-6 mm diameter, and on the each corner around around 3 mm diameter). When I lowered D9L to processor I heard that squish sound. Did I do too much?

And I was wondering did I install the cooling on the wrong side? Basically meaning that the vents are turning in the wrong direction.

While gaming I see only a difference around 15-20 C and while Idle when turning PC on around 25-30 C. I used MSI Afterburner to see that.

I used Thermal Paste that comes with the Noctua altho I ordered the Grizzly Kryonaut. Should I replace the paste when it comes?

IMG_2154.jpeg

this is how it looks (I didn’t install the back plate on the motherboard since Predator doesn’t have the possibility to remove back panel so I found screws to screw the 2 holding plates anf screwed them in already existing holes.

IMG_2155.jpeg

this is temperature now on CoD World at War at all maxed out and 1080p after playing for 10 minutes.

IMG_2135.jpeg

And this is the temperature with the stock cooler after playing all maxed out on 1080p after around 10 minutes.

Does it all look good? Did I do something wrong?:)

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

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EmPred3000

it seems like my CPU is now more under load than with stock cooler and still having lower temps

GotBanned

Excessive thermal paste is rarely a problem. It will just get squeezed out and can make a mess. But if you have too little of it, temps tend to rise too high.

By the looks of it I think all is good. That is, if the fan is blowing air towards back of the case. Hard to tell from the pictures.

Enjoy your cooler and quieter system and game on!

EmPred3000

Thanks! Great to hear that.

I did notice that my PC is quite a lot more silent now.
The fans.. so basically fans housing has one side that is open and one side that has couple plastic lines to connect the housing. The side that connects the housing (so not the open side) is facing the back of the case. So I think that should be correct but will have to check it out.

Thanks

chugzilla

congrats !!@!! just match it up to the rear acer fan, if its like that then u r good haha, or remember label to the back is the right direction for air flow, and thats a unique cooler, i went with 2 fans on the outside with a push-pull configuration, instead of one in the center, but as long as it works thats great, and yes i get 15-20C lower temps on mine, the NH-U12A, so thats good and idle temps im at 25C, then when gaming im 38-48C, it all depends on ambient room temps, ive been experimenting with everything i can, regarding fan speeds and temps and having the most fans possible in my case etc, your original cooler fan if you can try mounting it up top as exhaust to pull hot air out also, i used the nh1 paste then ordered nh2 both seem about the same, i even have some mx-6 from arctic, i haven't used yet and even thought of trying the pads, but i have learned the last 6 months ambient room temps matter more than anything else, its summer here so my central air is on and now im getting 38-42 on cpu and 48-50 on gpu, whereas when in the winter with my central heat on its 46-48 cpu and 53-54 gpu, so yeah it matters, i even took off the front panel and side panel while gaming and that dropped the temps a few more degrees with the central air on, but i am in a basement here in NY so that helps alot also, because its cooler already haha, i average about 60F in summer and 68F in the winter down here with the room temps.

EmPred3000

Thank you so much haha.

Wow your temps are freaking amazing. On idle I am getting around 55 C and when gaming around 70 C.

With stock cooler I was at 80C when idle. Really strange.

Good idea with another fan I will look into it to install it on top. But you have a lot of fans. I literally have one on fron for intake, 2 on gpu under, 1 for cpu and one on the back for exit. So I will look into adding more fans. Thank you so much and enjoy the gaming on those low temps!

chugzilla

well, the only other thing you can do is a get a 2 fan cooler similar to mine, and that will cool even better, unless 1 or 2 fans can be added to yours and adding an exhaust to the top rack will help also, and if ya look closely, u can see i removed the hhd caddy and the gpu bracket, that freed up alot of air flow that was being blocked by BS lol and YW anytime, welcome to the club and yeah the 3000 series cases limit the user quite a bit unfortunately, so there isn't much u can do, unless it can be returned to get a 5000 like mine, or just throw it all in a newer case, that will hold more fans, its all about air flow and ambient room temps.

EmPred3000

I am currently maxing out the possibilities of 3000 case and po3-630 motherboard. But looking on the long run I think I will have to buy a new case and motherboard at some point to fit better graphics card and to be able to get better cooling and intels 13th/14th gen processors.

Just a question. If I would add two fans on top for exhaust, where do I plug the connectors of the fans on my motherboard? How would they work and get the power?

chugzilla

well, on my MB i have 6 fan power connectors, im not sure how many you have, but as u see i have 7 fans, so my noctua came with a y splitter, so thats powering the 2 fans for the cooler and they go in the stock cooler power pin, and for the argb my MB has 4 connections for them, so i had to get a cooler master argb splitter from 1 to 5 so i use that for the argb and i have the extras plugged into port 4 for that, and yeah, i always tell ev1 i can, dont get a nitro or 3000 series, they limit you in so many ways, i did alot of research before buying my 5000 and i have upgraded alot to get it where its performing great, but thats with most prebuilts, my new one will be built based on the new cooler master HAF cases they are Amazing, but im in no rush this pc kicks you know what now so im happy.

GotBanned

Since OPs case is so small, and there is no real place to add another fan on the top, I would leave it as it is now. Push pull would be nice, but then again the space is so cramped and would only benefit few degrees. Naturally ambient temps also matter, so results are not directly comparable.

To make the PC even more quieter the rear exhaust fan can be replaced with 92mm Noctua. You can replace the one in the front as well (intake), but that is a bit of a pain to do.

OP, do you use HDD? If not, remove the HDD shelf that is blocking some of the air intake from the front. It is attached to the case with few screws and rivets (under the rubber foot) that must be drilled out.

If you are using tempered glass side panel, try a metal one and see if it will have any effect on the temps.

chugzilla

i hear ya bro, ^^^^^ best bet is to get a new case and be done with it, ugh@ the 3000 cases and lack of upgradability Yanno, acer needs a new case design or just put all models in a 5000-7000 variant.

EmPred3000

Thank you both for your answers.

The 3000 case is very small which I kind of like but the temps tend to be pretty high.

I will look into it how many connectors I have.

I have a glass panel on the front and I was thinking about removing it since I don’t really understand how does that intake fan manage to get air inside being so closed off. If I find the way I might replace the intake one as well. But I ordered Noctua exhaust fan and will be mounting it this week.

Stock coolers are hella loud, trying to get the temps and noise down as much as possible.

On the side I have a metal side panel.

And no I am not using HDD, I installed second m.2 SSD. I will try to remove that HDD shelf today and will come back if I have some more question. Thank you

chugzilla

yeah, i removed my front panel and the temps went down 2-3C when i was experimenting lol, but for me in my air-conditioned basement, removing the glass side panel did even more for cooling haha, then when im not gaming i slide it back on heh, so yeah good luck and keep us posted and since you have extra fans or will, fit one or 2 up top for exhaust to see if it helps any, i have no idea how many you can fit up there, and yeah its a shame they didn't have an extra space in the front for another fan, and those fans are smaller also not 120mm or 140mm but like 96mm i think i read.

billsey

Chug's system isn't a PO3, it's a PO5 and the case is quite a bit larger. You can't really compare the two systems… 15-20C improvement is about right for the NH-D9L mod, so you are doing good as you are.

EmPred3000

Yup that’s true. Thanks.

I am having trouble removing the HDD shelf. I screwed everything out, but I think it is made permanent with some small round bolts from the underneath. I think I need to drill them out to remove the HDD shelf.

I looked inside and it’s crazy how much airflow is being blocked by that HDD shelf. I think I will drill that out these days. But the fron rubber stand covers one side of those bolt, so I will probably f** that stand.

It’s complicated but I am having first time upgrading and taking care of my PC :D

chugzilla

yeah, ya have to drill them out like we all did and its easy, just use a metal drill bit that's about the size of the dimple hole in the rivet, then it will come out easily and im not sure if your 3000 has a huge GPU bracket blocking air flow like mine did, but that can be removed also and i bought a cooler master argb bracket that mounts underneath my 3070 and works great, in this picture you can see with both removed, now there is nothing blocking air flow from the front fans.

EmPred3000

I have to look how big the GPU bracket is but I am going to drill the HDD thing out today, have to buy metal drill bit today. I would say that HDD holder is blocking around 75% of the intake air from the front. It’s crazy.

You can basically just remove the HDD holder and just lay the HDD flat on the bottom of the PC case if you need to use the HDD as long as you don’t move the case and bang it won’t damage the HDD.

How did you install new intake fan on the front? My 3000 has a glass front and that fan is behind the glass (which I think is dumb since that glass is basically kind of blocking air from reaching the intake fan).

Do you know how can I remove the glass panel and switch the fan out for a more powerful one?

You’re a big help, thank you so much

chugzilla

well, i have a 5000 case, so it came with 2 front fans, and i did experiment with removing the front panel, i played a game for an hour or so, and it went down about 2-3C nothing great like i thought it might, removing my glass side panel brings the temps down about the same as removing the front, so when playing one of my games, Days Gone on max settings having both the front panel and glass side panel off reduces my temps about 5-6C BUT only when running my central air, I'm down in my basement and the ambient temps down here are about 62F, so what that told me is that front panel pulls in pretty good air when on, it's not as bad as i once thought or read about, i think removing the GPU bracket and HDD caddy do more, but when I'm gaming in the warm summer months like i am now, i leave the side glass panel off, for reduced temps, and removing your front panel should be similar to mine, i had one screw on the bottom of my 5000 case, then it pops right off with a screw driver or butter knife lol, i think the problem with the 3000 series besides it having a smaller case, is that all 3 fans it comes with are 96mm instead of how the 5000 has 2x140mm in the front and all the rest are 120mm, so maybe you need to try a new case, were you can get more fans and reduced temps down the road, and yeah, you can replace the stock fans with higher rpm fans by anyone, and yw and ty and gl keep me posted and if ya need more help just ask away !!@!!

EmPred3000

So I just removed that HDD holder. I managed to drill out everything I need to. And it feels already much better and quieter than it did.

I couldn’t believe how much intake air is actually not being transferred properly to the whole case and to the exhaust.

That glass panel on the front of the PC where the intake fan is seems to be glued to the PC so I will leave that for now but once I get bored again I will def find a reason to do it. Currently having too much fun working on PC😁

chugzilla

well, try and see if there is any info in the owner's manual, i think i remember someone else saying here it's held in by clips, and that's awesome, and yeah i said the same thing, why do they have the hdd cage and cpu bracket blocking air flow haha, well on the 5000 series it has a giant gpu bracket blocking the upper fan you dont, and yes i did all my upgrades etc, it is fun learning and replacing things heh, how's that new cooler doing? did ya look at Noctuas site to see if more fans can be added for additional cooling?

well i just did for ya and the answer is yes !!@!!

Dual fan ready

The NH-D9L includes an extra set of fan mounting clips for users who want to achieve even better cooling performance by adding a second, optional NF-A9 to the front fin stack. Using the y-cable supplied with the NF-A9 PWM retail fan, both fans can be connected to one CPU fan header.

https://noctua.at/en/nf-a9-pwm

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