Imitation not recommended: A piece of paper can make Alder Lake CPU coolers quieter

Imitation not recommended: A piece of paper can make Alder Lake CPU coolers quieter

Imitation not recommended: A piece of paper can make Alder Lake CPU coolers quieter

Depending on the product positioning, Intel offers several different original coolers for the 12th Gen Alder Lake desktop CPUs.

But compared to the more stylish Laminar RH1 model, the materials and noise control of the entry-level Laminar RM1 radiator are far from ideal.

Interestingly, a modder accidentally discovered that, while not reducing the temperature, only a slight modification can significantly improve the noise of this radiator.

Patrick Bene detailed his unique retrofit experience in a blog post , noting that the 12th Gen Core i9-12900 / 12900F boxed CPU cooler has a Blu-ray trim, and the i7, i5 without the -K suffix , i3 models are different.

On a whim, he tried adding a cylindrical paper wrap to the i5 boxed radiator on hand, and verified different heights from less than 1 inch to more than 3 inches.

Turn out:

● Minimize the noise level of the radiator by wrapping only 1 inch. At this time, the maximum temperature of the CPU will increase from 80°C to 85°C.

● If you wrap a 0.4-inch circle of paper, it can also reduce the noise to a certain extent, and the temperature is 82 degrees Celsius.

● After some trade-offs, the 1.7-inch ‘fairing’ is the best option. At this time, the temperature remains the same as before the modification, and the noise is reduced by 6dB.

However , PC Gamer pointed out that this modification method may have a greater impact on the VRM power module around the CPU – it will run hotter because of the reduced airflow.

In addition, Patrick Bene also mentioned in the experimental conclusion that doing so is just for fun and has little practical significance.

If you want to improve the temperature/noise performance of your Alder Lake CPUs, there are actually many inexpensive third-party coolers out there.