ASUS China General Manager, Tony Yu, has demonstrated passive cooling of a Ryzen 9 9950X processor using a Noctua NH-P1 cooler inside a new ProArt series chassis.
The ProArt chassis, designed for workstations and content creators, prioritizes quiet operation over flashy aesthetics. While the case itself features pre-installed fans (which contribute to airflow), the CPU itself relies solely on the large Noctua NH-P1 heatsink for cooling.
With a default TDP of 170W, the 16-core Zen 5 processor reached 225.8W package power while maintaining a stable 95.2°C temperature during the demonstration (with the case open). The Noctua NH-P1 is typically not recommended for such high-power CPUs.
While this setup isn't ideal for the Ryzen 9 9950X, Tony suggests that lower-power processors like the 9800X3D (120W TDP) should perform well under similar passive cooling conditions. The CPU performs particularly well in gaming workloads where the TDP is significantly lower than in stress tests.
