SILVERSTONE NT06-PRO Low Profile CPU Cooler with Thin 120mm fan

Pros: Best cooling efficiency and low noise for low profile (tiny case) setups.

Cons: none

Overall Review: I fit mine in a Silverstone SG05 case.
It fits perfectly, as if it was designed with this case in mind.

I recommend
1) connect whatever you need to on the motherboard before dropping the main part on.

2) I used very low profile ram, you could use regular ram without a tall heatsink but the low profile makes it a lot easier to install I think. I recommend crucial ballistix sport VLP 1.35v 1600, this stuff overclocks great @1866, 1.5v, 9/10/10/27
Because I used low profile ram, I also managed to fit a 25mm tall F-12 noctua fan underneath.

3) This advice might save you hours of frustration. After attaching backplate to motherboard, test different facings of the metal parts you put on the posts to see which combination makes the crossbar fit well. There are 3 possibilities:
1) wide part on both facing CPU
2) narrow part on both facing CPU
3) 1 narrow + 1 wide facing CPU

A tutorial video on the youtube incorrectly states that only #2 is correct. I found #3 worked for me with MSI Z87I AC gaming motherboard.

Pros: Includes rubber isolating stickers for the fan to keep vibration noise to a minimum
The cable for the fan is a sleeved black cable rather than just the colored exposed wires

Nice thin fan at 20 mm that moves a decent amount of air all while being very quiet compared to my old cooler.

Having the option to put the fan underneath rather than just on top makes this a great cooler for small form factor builds that may not have a lot of height room like mine.

Great cooling performance thanks to those 6 heat pipes and a good performing 120 mm fan as shown below:

SILVERSTONE NT06-PRO (Fan underneath)
• Idle Average: 100.4 °F
• Load Average: 130.1 °F
• Noise: Like a small breeze

Cooler Master Vortex Plus (Old Cooler)
• Idle Average: 109.4 °F
• Load Average: 167.9 °F
• Noise: Like a hair dryer

Cons: The heat sink was bent right out of the box. I was able to very gently bend it back to its original parallel state with its base. I don’t know who is to blame for this but it is unacceptable in regards to the good quality I was expecting.

One of the plastics clips that attaches to the back plate was broken right out of the box. Thankfully this wasn’t needed for an AMD platform so I didn’t need the clip but still I expect better.

Overall Review: Overall despite the slight damage to my unit this is a great cooler for a small form factor build. If it will fit a bigger cooler with a bigger fan is always better when you’re working with a small form factor system. Basically if your case can accommodate a cooler with a 120+ mm fan get it, don’t waste your time and money on one with a smaller fan, they’re just loud and inefficient.

CPU: AMD A10-5800K @ 3.5 GHz
Mobo: AsRock FM2A85X-ITX
Case: LIAN LI PC-Q11B
Thermal Compound: Artic MX-4
Stress Test: Prime95 for 10 minutes