Today we’re looking at the latest air cooler offering from Montech, the NX400. We’ll be looking at the ARGB version of this air cooler, but if lighting bothers you – there’s a non-ARGB version available as well. Both ARGB and non-ARGB versions are available in either black or white.
Features overview
Packaging
The cooler arrives in the box shown above. The inner contents are protected by soft coverings and foam padding, ensuring the product arrives undamaged.
RAM Compatibility
The NX400 features complete RAM compatibility, as it does not overhang or interfere with DIMM slots in any manner. This means that all sizes of DDR4 and DDR5, no matter how tall, can be used with this cooler.
Pricing
Montech’s NX400 air cooler is priced rather reasonably – at the time of this writing, the non-ARGB versions of this cooler are available in black or white for only $25.99 USD from Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/MONTECH-NX400-ARGB-Thickness-Corner-Cover/dp/B0F8ZQ4BY2
Hardware Overview
Mounting hardware is included for modern AMD and Intel-based platforms. Unlike other coolers which have one set of mounting bars for AMD systems and another for Intel systems, the mounting bars included work on both platforms – which might prevent confusion amongst users new to building PCs.
Heat is transferred from the CPU into the heatsink via four direct-touch copper heatpipes.
Here’s two photos showing the design of the heatsink’s fins
The heatsink is cooled by Montech’s newly released E28 “Cooling Hero” fan.
This E28 fan, as the name implies, is a little thicker than standard PC fans at 28mm (versus the typical 25mm). It operates at 800-2000 RPM, has FDB bearings, and can produce up to 85.09 CFM of airflow and 3.35 mmH2O of static pressure.
AMD Ryzen installation
The installation of the cooler is relatively simple. To start, AMD users will want to remove the default mounting brackets.
The next step is to apply the mounting standoffs.
You might notice that I accidentally installed the Intel standoffs in this photo. This shouldn’t be a problem on AMD systems, as the Intel standoffs are just slightly shorter than the AMD standoffs – and honestly work well with either system. Using the AMD standoffs on an Intel system, however, may present issues as the AMD standoffs may be too tall.
Set the mounting bar on top of the standoffs, and secure them with the included screws – shown above. Afterwards, apply the included thermal grease on top of the CPU.
The next step is to take the single tower heatsink and press it on top of the CPU, then secure it using a screwdriver. Finally, attach the E28 fan to the cooler using the included fan clips and connect the PWM and ARGB cords to your motherboard.
Performance, Noise Levels, and Thermal Benchmarks
Today’s review is the first I’ve performed using AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X 16-core CPU, and as such this review will focus on how well a basic single-tower cooler can handle AMD’s flagship CPU. It might seem a little odd to pair such a high end processor with a low end air cooler, but you might be surprised at how well it does!
Noise Levels
The peak volume of this cooler’s fan measured at 45.3 dBA from ~1m away. I also tested the noise levels while the Ryzen 9 9950X CPU was limited to a 150W workload, which reduced noise to 42.4 dBA. More common workloads, like gaming, will run at less than 40dBA.
To give you an idea of how these noise levels compare to other coolers, I’m including my latest chart for Tom’s Hardware from my review of the Sudokoo Proteus 360 AIO – please check it out to support my work at Tom’s Hardware!
Maximum “Stock” Performance – 200W
For users who don’t wish to overclock or enable PBO, this is probably the most important test – can the cooler keep the CPU under it’s TJ Max (peak temperature) of 95 degrees C (203F)? The answer is yes! During this test, Montech’s NX400 peaked at a maximum of 92.5C – averaging 91C.
PBO/Overclocking thermal performance
While the NX400 can certainly handle the stock, out of the box, performance of AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X – if you’re looking to push the CPU to its limits, you’ll probably want something stronger – the cooler was only able to push an additional 11W of CPU power with PBO enabled, averaging 206.8W during testing.
150W Thermal performance
Limiting CPU power consumption to 150W reduces temperatures dramatically, dropping to 72.7C.
100W Thermal performance
Finally, we’ve tested this cooler with a limit of 100W. This is more or less to emulate common workloads like gaming, which will typically use less than 100W. The CPU’s temperature ran at a chilly 57.6C in this test.
Conclusion
Montech’s NX400 air cooler provides essential cooling performance capable of handling any AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPU at “stock” settings. With a price starting at $25.99 USD (for the non-ARGB versions), you won’t find many alternatives cheaper than this.
For those interested in purchasing this cooler, Amazon and NewEgg links are provided below
https://www.amazon.com/MONTECH-NX400-ARGB-Thickness-Corner-Cover/dp/B0F8ZQ4BY2
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16817959012