Noctua NH-L9A-AM4

As with many things you learn when you are young, my dad taught me how to ride the bicycle. I first started with a small red tricycle when I was a toddler and moved to a regular bicycle as I got bigger. I went through the typical phases of having training wheels and removing them soon after. Most of the bikes I had were hand-me-downs from my sister, so I had the unfortunate time of riding around on a white and pink bicycle. Thankfully, this was just a short time in my life and I grew taller than her. However, even my current bike is a hand me down from my father. A few weeks back, I finally brought my bike to my new place so that I could ride around the neighborhood. I still really enjoy riding a bike. Even though a car is faster, leaves you less sweaty, and can carry more than just yourself, there is something novel about riding a bike to go places. It might just be the simplicity of the machine, the wind in your face as you zoom down a hill, or the fact you can stop whenever just to take a look at your surroundings. All in all, as much as I may like driving and going places quickly, I also like returning to a simpler method of traveling. Nowadays, cooling options for CPUs are either liquid or air cooling. While a lot of people like the benefits or appearances of a liquid cooler, whether a custom loop or an all-in-one, there is something to like about the simplicity of a hunk of metal and a fan attached to it. Obviously, there is more engineering involved to air coolers than what I described, but a fan and heatsink is the simpler cooling option. Today, we have the Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black, which is a very short and compact air cooler. How does it perform, and can it keep up despite its smaller size? Let us read on to find out!