Wish your Alder Lake stock cooler was quieter? You can reduce its noise levels with a...

[midian182]

Cutting corners: Users of Intel's Laminar RM1 stock cooler, do you look on in envy at the sleeker, Laminar RH1 Cooler and wish your stubby little piece of hardware was as quiet and as tall as the one boxed with i9-12900/i9-12900F processors? It seems you can get your wish, kind of, by simply using a piece of paper.

A modder has made a slight alteration to his Laminar RM1 stock cooler using a very cheap and straightforward method, and although it doesn't lower temperatures, it has a noticeable effect on sound levels.

In his blog documenting the experience, Patrick Bene notes how the RH1 cooler (below) bundled with the 12th-gen i9-12900/i9-12900F processors has a blue cowl around it, unlike the RM1 that comes with the non-K versions of Alder Lake's i7, i5, and i3 chips. So, he decided to see what would happen if he added a cylindrical piece of paper to his stock i5 cooler.

A paper cowl won't turn the Laminar RM1 into this, but it will be quieter

Bene experimented with different cowl heights, ranging from under an inch to over three inches, producing interesting results. Adding a 1-inch cone reduced noise levels the most, but it increased the maximum CPU temperature from 80 degrees centigrade to 85 C. Adding another 0.4-inches kept the noise down but the temperature was still higher, at 82 C. It turned out that the 1.7-inch cowl was the sweet spot, offering the same temps as the unmodified stock cooler while dropping noise levels by 6dB.

PC Gamer notes that one of the caveats with this mod is that the VRMs around the CPU could experience reduced airflow and potentially run hotter, though the airflow around the bottom of the cooler should mean you'll be okay.

It's certainly true that you could just buy a low-price, third-party Alder Lake cooler that's probably better than Intel's offering, but for those who want something a bit quieter and without spending a penny, your homemade paper cowl might do the trick.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93982-modder-reduced-intel-alder-lake-stock-cooler-sounds.html

 

[HotToz]

It is a CPU cooler not a VRM cooler. Designers should not considering using the CPU cooler to cool the VRM. Otherwise CPU watercooling or AIO will become useless.

 

[Dimitriid]

It is a CPU cooler not a VRM cooler. Designers should not considering using the CPU cooler to cool the VRM. Otherwise CPU watercooling or AIO will become useless.

It's not a third party cooler, it's the one intel develops. As in you know, the guys that designed some of the most power intensive CPUs to date that require an absurd level of cooling for VRM to begin with.

I say that if you are the one behind the entire platform specification, like intel is, then you kinda should consider VRM cooling yes so I have to disagree.

If is anyone else's cooler when that becomes the user's problem to account for no direct VRM airflow if they use AIOs and such and thus require either specialized mobos with active vrm cooling or very specific case configurations that can provide the same. But remember that intel sells chips to a hell of a lot more people that just enthusiasts and in fact, the people that would use the stock cooler the most are integrators doing stuff like corporate offices pcs where yes they probably kinda do need a cooler that addresses VRM along with CPU cooling.

 

[Sausagemeat]

It’s a cheap Intel cooler that you effectively get for free or very little. You can buy considerably better coolers for $15-$20. If you need to save $15-$20 then great! But personally I’m left wondering why you’re buying a Alder lake CPU if $15-$20 is significant to you.

 

[Godel]

Here's the guy's original blog with a picture.

https://pubby.games/papermod.html

 

[AlaskaGuy]

It’s a cheap Intel cooler that you effectively get for free or very little. You can buy considerably better coolers for $15-$20. If you need to save $15-$20 then great! But personally I’m left wondering why you’re buying a Alder lake CPU if $15-$20 is significant to you.

This ^^

 

[ZedRM]

This mod is kinda janky and jerry-rigged, but if it works, it works..

It’s a cheap Intel cooler that you effectively get for free or very little. You can buy considerably better coolers for $15-$20. If you need to save $15-$20 then great! But personally I’m left wondering why you’re buying a Alder lake CPU if $15-$20 is significant to you.

Some people live on a lean budget. $15 - $20 is make-or-break for some people. They get right to the bleeding edge of what is affordable. So they make do with what comes with the CPU. No it's not ideal, but it works and will get the job done for the time being. This is not a difficult concept to understand.

 

[KIAg1978]

It’s a cheap Intel cooler that you effectively get for free or very little. You can buy considerably better coolers for $15-$20. If you need to save $15-$20 then great! But personally I’m left wondering why you’re buying a Alder lake CPU if $15-$20 is significant to you.

I agree 120% ,if you are buying alder Lake now and your problem is 100$ for a better cooler you are probably not a conscious consumer, you are probably a marketing victim!!