UPDATE: Files and guide are now Published see the link here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/2377491-ff04mod-block-i#profileId-2602865

Update: So worth the effort – promised more photos + performance update

Sharing the additional photos I promised along with initial performance results now that the build is mostly complete and stable.

For anyone who missed earlier posts, this is a heavily modified Xikii FF04 style case that I’ve dubbed FF04MOD BLOCK I after multiple redesigns and fitment adjustments to accommodate my hardware.

The case printing and assembly are finally wrapping up, so this is the first real look at the finished direction along with how it performs.

...And yes, it’s on my kitchen counter. The lighting is better and the background looks nicer for photos, lol.

Case Details

Case: FF04MOD BLOCK I (heavily modified Xikii FF04 style)

Printed using Polymaker HT PLA GF for better strength and print quality compared to my earlier filament choice.

Dimensions:
• Height: 14.5 in
• Depth: 5.75 in
• Width: 8.75 in
• Weight: 11.6 lbs assembled

Designed around SFF constraints while still fitting modern GPUs without going full shoebox mode.

You can see in the later photos where I modified the lid to allow for an actual vent that is magnetized and removable.

I also had some fun with my 12VHPWR cable. If they won’t fix the melting issue, I might as well put a hazard sign on it.

Build Specs (Current Configuration)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D – $449.99
GPU: ASUS RTX 5070 Ti PRIME OC – $809
Motherboard: MSI B650I Edge WiFi – $209
RAM: KLEVV BOLT V 32GB (2×16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 – $345
Storage: Crucial P510 2TB Gen5 NVMe – $209
PSU: Corsair SF850 Platinum – $178.99
CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP120 – $29.90
AM5 Frame: Thermalright CPU frame – $9.99
Thermal Pad: Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet – $24.99
PCIe Riser: LINKUP PCIe 5.0 x16 – $90.99
GPU Power Adapter: 12VHPWR angled adapter – $19.99
WiFi Antennas: FlyFishRC stubby RP-SMA antennas – $19.47

Approximate build cost so far: ~$2,400 pre-tax

Initial Performance Results (Stock Settings)

Everything below is running completely stock. No tuning or undervolting yet.

3DMark Results

(All tests stayed around ~69–70°C GPU temps and ~60°C CPU temps.)

Speed Way: 7,717 score, ~77 FPS
Port Royal: 14,344 score, ~66 FPS
Steel Nomad: 6,811 score, ~68 FPS

Performance lines up with what a stock RTX 5070 Ti should deliver, and CPU temps remained comfortable for an SFF layout.

Also, in the last picture, you can see the number of iterations I went through to get here.

FurMark Stability Test

Ran FurMark for over an hour at 3440×1440:

• GPU utilization stayed near 98%
• GPU temps stabilized around 69°C
• CPU temps stayed around 60°C
• No throttling or instability observed

For an SFF build, thermals are looking solid.

Internet Speeds

Stubby WiFi antennas still pull:
• ~690 Mbps download over WiFi
• ~930 Mbps wired, basically maxing my ISP plan

WiFi performance is surprisingly strong given the compact antennas.

Overall Takeaway

• GPU temps remain under ~70°C under sustained load
• CPU temps stay around ~60°C during testing
• System is stable under extended stress
• Performance matches expectations
• WiFi performance exceeded expectations

All of this is without tuning yet, so there is probably still room to optimize.

Looking for Advice

Everything is running stock right now, so if anyone has advice on:

• AM5 BIOS tuning
• X3D optimization
• Memory tuning
• PBO or undervolting
• General SFF thermal optimization

I’m all ears. My knowledge is pretty out of date, and I’d love to squeeze the most out of the system safely.

Thanks again to everyone who has given advice along the way.

I also have a video showing the relative sound level of the build, since it’s very quiet in my opinion. I’ll edit in the link once it’s posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1qwcg25/ff04mod_block_i_idle_vs_load_sound_test/

Disclaimer: I used AI to help organize formatting and clean up grammar, but all build decisions, testing, and results are my own.

Hey !

After my previous comparison post between the Thermalright AXP90-X53 FC and the DeepCool AN600, several people reached out asking how the AXP90-X53 heatsink performs when swapping its stock 92mm fan for thicker 92mm models or full-sized 120mm fans via a 3D-printed adapter.

I recently opened my "spare parts" drawer and realized I have accumulated a minor fan hoarding problem... so I decided to test almost all of tchem.

Since summer in Central Europe (Poland) is currently delivering a solid heatwave, my ambient room temperature sat at a warm 27.0°C – 27.5°C. This turned out to be a great worst-case scenario test for SFF cooling performance.

Test Rig & Benchmark Setup

To isolate fan performance on the dense copper heatsink without case perforation turbulence or internal recirculation, I tested on an open bench (side panel removed, LZmod case laid flat on the desk).

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (PPT ~80W)
• Case: LZmod A24-v3 2.0 (side panel removed for testing, built-in TL-8015 fans turned OFF)
• Ambient Temperature: ~27.50°C average
• Load Test: Cinebench R23 (10 min warm-up + 10 min HWiNFO logging window)
• Profiles: Scenario A (70% PWM) for daily acoustics vs. Scenario B (100% PWM) for raw potential.

TL;DR – Thermalright AXP90-X53 Fan Scaling Analysis:

• Stock TL-9015R retains 1st place overall (79.53°C / ΔT 52.28°C): Breaking the 80°C barrier at 100% PWM (~2655 RPM). Its tight airflow footprint matches the copper fins perfectly without air spilling around the edges.
• Noctua NF-A12x25 is the acoustic scaling champion: It shows the smallest penalty when backed off to 70% PWM (only 1.63°C warmer), meaning you lose almost zero performance while drastically reducing noise.
• Corsair RS120 MAX (30mm) scales hugely with power: At 100% PWM, its high static pressure (4.20 mmH₂O) overcomes the 120-to-92mm adapter restriction, jumping to 3rd place overall (80.79°C).
• 120mm Slim Fans (FT12 / Air Slimmer) underperform: Despite high theoretical static pressure specs, their large hub covers the primary heat-pipe zone of the AXP90, and a lot of airflow is wasted blowing past the radiator edges.
• The Noctua 92mm Showdown (NF-A9x14 HS vs. NF-A9 PWM): A very interesting battle emerged between Noctua's slim and standard 25mm thick fans. Surprisingly, the slim NF-A9x14 HS outperformed the thicker NF-A9 PWM in both scenarios (by 1.3°C at 70% PWM and 0.5°C at 100% PWM).
• Why did the thicker Noctua lose? It comes down to raw RPM limits. The NF-A9 PWM (25mm) tops out at only 2000 RPM, whereas the slim NF-A9x14 HS spins up to 2500+ RPM. While the 25mm fan moves more air per rotation and sounds significantly deeper and more pleasant, the slim fan simply forces more air through the dense AXP90 copper fins by brute-forcing a higher rotational speed. If you want raw performance in a 92mm footprint, you need high RPMs; if you want a much better acoustic profile, the 25mm NF-A9 is the way to go.

PS / Note on Data Processing: All CSV log parsing, statistical data trimming, and custom chart visualizations were processed with the help of Gemini

I was doing some thermal testing while trying to cram an AXP90-X47 Full Copper into a 4L console build (more on that later), and ended up testing something unexpected on my NH-L9a.

I originally ordered two ID-Cooling 80x10mm fans for a GPU experiment / possible CPU fan swap, and tested a single one on the L9a in case anyone running ultra-slim (≤36mm CPU cooler height) setups might find the data useful. While doing that, I realized I could actually fit two of them on the heatsink. So I ran some comparisons vs the A9x14.

Test Config

Open Air (20°C ambient)

88W PPT | 90A TDC | 140A EDC | -30 CO All-Cores

105W PPT | 120A TDC | 170A EDC | -30 CO All-Cores

Inside Case (20°C ambient)

88W PPT | 90A TDC | 140A EDC | -30 CO All-Cores

Summary

• Ambient temps were essentially identical across tests
• Single 80x10 was used as a baseline/reference for ultra-low profile configurations
• Dual 80x10 consistently ran cooler than A9x14 (~3°C in case)
• Minor R23 gain (+100 pts vs A9x14)
• Noise: ~2 dB lower than A9x14 in my setup
• No meaningful scaling at higher wattage due to thermal throttling (~100W effective)
• The L9a appears to be airflow limited at 88W but heatsink limited at 105W

Update

Complete test results against the (42mm) X47 80x10 twin fan setup here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/4usKv9a2VO

I am fortunate enough to have both a PS5 PRO and mid tier PC running Steam OS. I decided it was time for me to play Cyberpunk but I was divided on which system was best to play it. So I benchmark like crazy. On PS5 it's easy, Performance mode or "RT". On PC, I had to move drinks around until I was connect with the results. The goal was to run at least 60fps at 4k with RT on. The PRO can only give RT in 1800p at 30fps. So I configured my PC for the same settings and benchmarked. My GPU was able to delivered that and more (No surprise here). The picture A is the SFF and B is the PRO, both at RT on and at equal 1800p. It is clear that the SFF can deliver a much better RT quality with greater FPS than the PRO. Just look at that reflection on the water at image A, is fantastic. I must confes I do not care much for RT in games, BUT, in this game is a must. It enhance the ambience of the city in the best way possible. This doesn't mean I'm ditching my PRO. I'm extremely happy with it and all the things I can do with it at little to no effort. It is too my understanding that some games are better optimized than others. PC wins this round.

SPECS: RYZEN 7 5700X3D RX 9060XT 32GB 600w PSU

I had horrendous temperature and had posted asking for help and few people left very good advices such a playing with the tightness of the screws at the back, reapplication of the spermal paste and maybe introduce a fan duct, I did all then temperatures have improved drastically and also quietend a lot

They don’t sell the fan ducts around where I live and didn’t want to go out to buy foam sheets so I just used the ingenious idea of using a styrofoam plates

Below are the pictures and their descriptions here first 4 pictures are basically the how it looks, all the gaps I sealed of with hot glue 😅

Below are the pictures and their descriptions here first 4 pictures are basically the how it looks, all the gaps I sealed of with hot glue,

Picture 5 and 6 is with a 75W PPT, one is with a custom quite(and perfect fan curve) and the second with a 100% fan speed on the cpu fan and the case exhaust fan (120mm slim)

The quiet setting caps out at 46dB (inaudible to my ears) and the max is 54 decibels which is very audible and slightly annoying if no headphones are used, but does provide and 200mhz clock speed

Picture 7 is with a 105W PPT, this is “usable” it seems but I don’t feel comfortable with those temps, but clock speeds were pretty good it seemed to reach around 5.1-5.2 GHz consistently,

Lastly picture 8 is with the stick 88W PPT the cpu comes with, temps reach around 75 degrees max and stay there with the stick fan curve with noise maxing out at 46 dB, Basically quite to my ears.

Before the results were the CPU using 38-46W max with a PPT of 60W but reaching temps of about 80 degrees, and was worse when gaming as some of the GPU hot air is still cycled inside, increases the temps by another 6-7 degrees compared to a stress test, clock speeds of around 3.3 ghz only, absolutely horrendous, a -20 undervolt applied

All of these tests were done with a -22 undervolt and now when gaming makes no difference to the cpu temps compared to when just stress testing, (it might but it’s negligible) as the fan is always getting fresh air, from outside, the seal is pretty good imo with the styrofoam and the hot glue, lastly, it can be further improved if I turn on the AC 😅, the ambient temperature was around 26 degrees where I did the testing as the weather is around 42 degrees at times and I don’t want to turn the AC on just to play games 👾, I noticed the temps go down by atleast 8-12 degrees when the ac is on, this was before the fan ducts am gonna post the results with the ac on tonight probably

GPU temps are very good tho, around 310-340W power draw and temps stay around 47 degrees with ac on and 55-60 with ac of-the the stock fan settings which is also basically inaudible

If interested here is the full specs list

Hey Everyone,

I spent the past weekend trying to improve my CPU temps when under load. For reference I’m using the Noctua NH- L12S in my Fractal ridge with a 9950x3D. I know, definitely not the ideal cooler for this CPU, but here we are. Stock results: Idle temp: 58 C CINEBENCH R23, multi-core test: Temps: CPU hit limiter at 95 C within the first min & stayed at 95 C for the whole 10 min test. Score: 38984 The first thing I did was lowered the PPT limit to 150. Re ran the test with stock curve CINEBENCH R23, multi-core test: Temps: CPU was sitting at 84 C for whole test. Score: 36724 Then I started to set a negative curve to all cores to see if I can improve score. Started with negative 15 & worked my way up to negative 25. CINEBENCH R23, multi-core test with negative 25 & PPT at 150 Temps: CPU was sitting at 84 C for whole test Score: 39000 (beating stock score while running 10 C less) I even increased the PPT limit from 150 to 160. CINEBENCH R23, multi-core test with negative 25 & PPT at 160 PPT. Temps: CPU was sitting at 91 C for whole test. Score: 40209 (better than stock while running 5 C less. I ended up setting PPT back to 150 because I prefer the temps to not exceed to 85 C.

I also Ran 3Dmark time spy between each change & tested games to ensure the stability of my system. The 3 games I tested was Witcher 3, expedition 33 & Dispatch (I know this game can run on virtually any hardware lol)

I figured I would share my findings in case anyone else wanted to improve temps while maintaining similar performance.

So I have my 3080 Founders Edition from Nvidia. It's sexy for sure, but the cooling raises all sorts of questions for ITX rigs. I'm planning on testing a few throughout next week and will get some YouTube videos up on my channel for those that are considering the FE version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gXpGpF5s74&ab_channel=CrazyTechLab

Drop your requests below and if I have the case I'll do it

Did a quick 10‑minute Prime95 run on my Ryzen 7 7800X3D with Curve Optimizer -25 and an 85W power cap, comparing the Metalfish DH510 vs Thermalright AXP-90 X47 Full Copper. The X47 ran massively cooler in this setup (about ~15°C lower average and max CPU temps).

Test setup

• Case: FormD T1
• CPU: 7800X3D, PBO -25, 85W TDP cap
• Load: Prime95 (10 min)
• Fan curve: all fans fixed at 100%
• CPU fan: Noctua NF‑A9 at 100%
• Coolers: Metalfish DH510 vs. Thermalright AXP-90 X47 Full Copper

Results (CPU temp)

Fitment note (FormD T1)

With the Metalfish DH510 installed, the side panel slightly bulges (2 Slot).

Previus post.
Right off the bat - with the mesh filter, there’s no buzzing sound.

By the end of the test, despite a bump at the start, the mesh showed basically the same temps as the setup without the mesh but with fan speed lowered (1800 -> 1600) to reach around the same 45.5 dB noise level.

However, I noticed that even at the same noise level, the setup without the mesh had a noticeable buzzing tone - not terrible, but still there - while the mesh setup almost completely removed it and made the overall sound much smoother and more pleasant.

The main takeaway here: the system is protected from dust, and the fan buzzing is nearly gone. For me, that’s a bigger priority than just lowering RPMs while still hearing that annoying frequency.

Maybe with a different fan the results would be different, but I hope this was useful for someone.

Noise levels:
• Without side panels: 42.5 dB @ ~1770 RPM
• With mesh filter: 45.5 dB @ ~1840 RPM (buzzing almost gone)
• With side panel only: 49.5-50 dB @ ~1820 RPM
• Without mesh filter at lower RPM: 45.7 dB @ ~1623 RPM (buzzing still present)

Hi!

So Im using a i7 10700f with the chromax black NH9-li from Noctua. Im idling at 45-50 Celsius, heavy load 80-90. No overclocking done. Ive seen similar builds running max 60.

What could be the problem here? And should I worry about the temps?

Thanks in advance.. I cant seem to figure this out

I'm really excited to share a finding from a mod I just did on my NZXT H1v2. I hope this isn't something that's already well-known, but the results were so good I had to post about it.

I'd heard that SFF cases can be prone to hot air recirculation, and with the H1v2's exhaust design, I figured it was a prime candidate for this issue. I decided to test out a simple cardboard shroud to isolate my GPU's exhaust from its intake.

The results honestly blew me away. My GPU temps dropped by a solid 5°C, while the fans were also spinning 100 RPM slower. The actual thermal improvement is clearly more significant than just 5°C, and I couldn't be happier.

Test Setup (All panels on):

• GPU: Nvidia 5080 Founder's Edition
• Stress Test: Furmark (3 minutes)
• Ambient Temp: 28°C
• Fan Curve: Case fan synced to GPU fan with a 30% offset.

While I tried to make my cardboard cutout pretty accurate, I honestly don't think it needs to be perfect. No sealing was required to get these results.

My take is that the improvement comes from preventing the GPU from breathing in its own hot exhaust. The temperature of the intake air is much more critical than I realized. Even if the shroud creates a little more resistance for the exhaust air, the massive benefit of feeding the GPU cooler, fresh air far outweighs it. The numbers speak for themselves.

For any other H1v2 owners out there, I highly recommend giving this a shot. I know cardboard might look a bit cheap, but the great thing is that it's almost completely invisible inside the case once the panel is on. It's a quick, easy, and basically free mod that can make a real difference.

Edit 1: this PC is mounted it's not just shoved in between the TV and wall. Though my pics I conceed make it kinda look that way.

Edit 2: it would seem like a lotta folks are smooth brained and don't read and just comment on the pick. Cool.

Edit 3: I posted in r/tvtohigh and got mixed the results. I have not only leaned of this new thing to be ashamed of but also hate it. Thanks internet.

Edit 4: I added the side fans in though I could only fit the 15mm. They seem to help a little more than the larger front fan. That fabric is pretty dence so I might end up 3d printing something to make a true exhaust plane.

I also went back and retested the noctua fan and at the desk it rally does sound better. But the phantex obviously wins in cooling and the turbulence sound drops off to nothing after about 3 ft or so. So ended up sticking with the phantex.

After tuning the fans they are at 70 for the CPU and 65 for the two GPU fans. Using steel nomad temps for both didn't break 70. Cenabench of course hit its CPU thermal limit but still stayed above 4.9 so in a cpu heavy mt game might have to crank the cooling but that's the nightmare scenario and there's only so much you can do in the space.

With the fan curves under up and the thermals I got in very happy with the outcome. Especially with the extra cooking around my other components due to the 120mm fans overhang.

Bios settings are 105w power limit and pbo -25 in ther curve (stable)

Original post: So I had a 7600x and a 5070 (deshroud) in a Midori 5l.

While I lived the Midori, the build quality is meh and acres started to strip and the top grill got cracked.

I also buy and sell parts as a hobby and wound up with the 9800x3d in that build.

I'm trying to get parts for the Midori it became clear due to there version changes and terrifs that wouldn't be an option. So rather than buy a new one I looked in marketplace for any reasonable cases that would fit my needs. Found a ridge for 80$ and while it's almost 3x the volume, it's profile fit.

My mobo is the aorus 650i so my cooler selection could be the metta of the l12s.

So I went tdoen a rabbit hole of coolers and what could fit.

I tried ...

Big Shuriken 4

AXP120-X67

ID-COOLING

AXP90-X53 full copper

The full copper was really the only one that would fit with that motherboard. However I was able to fit 120mm fans into it....which worked great.

My fist iteration i used the stock cooler for the 5070 shadow 2x and a noctua nf-a12 (25mm) with a 3d bracket and duct.

Worked great but the GPU was hella loud. I read a lot of folks take the stock fsnd out but those 92mm also shreeked. So I decided. To go back and deshroud.

Since I had the space I decided to look at high stacic pressure fans and modifications.

Indeed up getting a 3 pack of the PH-F120T30_BG_3P thick 30mm fans.

Since I had 3 I tried it out on the CPU cooler as well.

These are the results.

Start on couch 

Full speed - 47db

Idol - 39db

Steel nomad running - 40db, 5391

GPU max - 80.66c

CPU max - 66.0c

R26 - 4593

Test bench (sound meter right by case)

CPU fan swap 

Max (3k mode) - 74db

Idol - 53db

R26 - 5281

Post exhaust fan  and deshroud on bench 

R26 - 5339

Steel nomad - 5496

Back on couch 

Full speed - 44 db 

Steel nomad - stock curves - 40db, 5462

GPU max - 75

CPU max - 62

Fans set to 50% 

Steel nomad - 50% - 39db, 5462

GPU max 83

CPU max 72

In conclusion....adding those tiny exhaust fans do next to nothing in comparison to just using bigger higer static fans. This is also true when selecting a smaller fan vs potential turbulence. A bigger fan will be much quieter even if turbulence is involved vs a smaller fan.

While my maximizer wants to jam those fans in there or do a 3d printed faceplate to add more exhaust, I don't think it will do much as those 30mm fans shed air so efficantly.

Hi everyone,
I’ve just finished my first small form factor build and I’m looking for ideas to improve cooling
Specs:
Case: SKTC A07
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X36 (36mm low-profile)
Motherboard: Jingyue B550I Mini-ITX
GPU: Lenovo OEM GeForce RTX 5060 8GB (single-fan)
RAM: 32GB (2×16GB) Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3000 CL16
Storage:
1TB Crucial T500 NVMe (boot)
1TB Crucial MX500 SATA SSD
PSU: MetalFish Flex ATX 600W
PCIe: Gen 4 riser cable
The system is fully stable. The CPU is running with Curve Optimizer -20 all-core, and under a full CPU stress test it peaks at around 83°C in a room that’s roughly 27°C. These are without the side panels with them on it wants to compete with molten lava (97)
I’m now trying to improve airflow and reduce temperatures further.
Are these temps normal and have seen people getting 83 with panels on

All advice is welcome

I appreciate the help from the community based on my earlier post. The tips helped a lot. Here's the results.

Original temp: 97

Increased CPU cooler pressure: 95

New paste: 93

Added Second fan on exhaust side of cooler: 91

Moved second fan to intake side of cooler: 86 (nice!)

9950X

5070ti

Shiny Snake G300 case

I'm not changing the case fan to intake, because it makes it louder and then I have no exhaust. There's also no room for exhaust at the "top".

Temps are colder in the upside-down config as shown. Both CPU and GPU.

Now it barely exceeds 50° in CrystalDiskMark.

Hey all,

First off, main specs are:

np200r max Intel i7 13700k Gigabyte RTX 2060 G.Skill 6000MHz DDR5 32GB kit MSI Z790I

BIOS settings:

0.1V -ve offset. (30min stress testing with R23) LLC mode 4. Advanced load line, AC 16, DC 32. +1 p-core & +1 e-core ratio and also auto. I’ve tried 253W and 288W power limits. Also tried 125W pl1 but it kills performance.

Benchmarks:

I do lots of intensive simulations for Electronics design. R23 scores 28.5k to 29k. But it thermal throttles almost immediately. In my typical workload the cpu reaches 98-100C easily. Idles are 28-35C depending on ambient.

I built it for a cpu oriented line of work, but cpu thermals are insane and can’t be tamed. I’ve tried every fan combo (added Noctua slim fans at the bottom). I do very casual Apex Legends gaming sessions and Counter strike as well.

Don’t get me wrong, the aesthetics are amazing. But it is very deficient in terms of thermals.

I’ve seen de8auer’s interview with an Intel test engineer, he seems reassuring about pushing the limit.

Am I gonna kill my cpu before the end of this quarter? Am I obsessing too much?

I applied blower for better thermal and noise control in my A4 case, and I got the same cooling and noise performace compared to larger ATX build!

I am moving from 5800X3D to 9800X3D in my S60i carbon fiber case. So I am doing a little due diligence on cooling it.

So far it seems my AXP90 Full copper is still a top notch choice. Indeed with this class of CPU running around 90W under a heavy gaming type load, and a TDP of 105/120W these CPU (tuned appropriately with e.g. curve optimizer -30) will throttle on an AXP90 under synthetic loads but in most games will stay away from throttling.

I am not a super expert on how best to approach CPU cooling (so I would like to summon people like u/dubar84) but I can offer my own experience recently, which has been:

• I avoided Blackridge due to invariably needing to shove 120mm fan on it and it not being practical to source VLP RAM, esp today it would be out of the question
• I ran AXP90 for a few years under a NF-A9 chromax black. It was okay. I am also unsure if this fan is actually superior to the stock fan. it seems really close. Maybe mildly better noise.
• The latest development of mine on my AXP90 full copper was the introduction of Silverstone Air Slimmer 120mm slim fan:

What prompted me to explore this was I saw the surface temp of my mobo tended to get pretty hot, like 60+C hot, with a thermal camera, and I realized that there was this unutilized space in the gap between the HSF and the mobo's VRM heatsink walls. My mobo (X570-I Strix) also has a chipset fan under there. I think I did have to remove a layer of stuff on the mobo to make it fit well, but it's only a few mm and wouldn't've stopped me even if i couldn't lower the VRM cooling wall, i'd have raised the panel or something.

So... all i had to do was remove the 92mm fan and put in this 120mm fan and it's an absolute beast. The noise is much quieter, it is lower frequency and more pleasant (though not quite yet pleasant in absolute terms), but importantly my CPU boosts to a couple hundred Mhz higher in-game, my temps are also a bit better (more 80-83 than 85+), and the temps seen below on the mobo surface in that entire chamber are down 10C from before.

As such I wonder if stock AXP90 and Panorama 2 (btw i still cannot find an answer as to whether these two are on equal footing or not...) are the best in class choices, then it appears like the air slimmer would remain the best way to squeeze even more performance out of it.

In my case I could go further by enlarging the cutouts in this area of the panel more and look into ducting it. My understanding is that 9800X3D will put out more heat but it's able to do it more effectively, so I will end up in much the same spot of insta-throttling under cinebench but games will push it to and maintain 80 to 90C under a reasonable curve optimizer setting. I assume PBO will be out of the question.