Which cooling solution would be better?

[Gerr]

Building an ITX pfsense router using a Pentium Gold G5400 CPU in a Silverstone ML06B case.  I am reusing this case from a previous project and it already has a Cryorig XT140 slim 140mm fan acting as intake just above where the CPU cooler is.  There is still room to put an Intel standard cooler underneath.  So that is option #1, just use the stock Intel cooler that came with the G5400.

 

Option #2 would be to use my spare be quiet Shadow Rock LP cooler without a fan.  This is because with its stock fan, it is 75mm high and my case can only supports a 70mm high CPU cooler.  What I would do here is just remove the fan that came with this cooler and rely on the 140mm Cryorig XT140 that is attached to the case just above it.  There will be around 5mm of space between the bottom of the fan and the top of the heatsink.

 

I am leaning towards option #1 as I don't foresee the G5400 being stressed much by pfsense, but thought I would ask here anyways.

[3 Lions]

Just use the stock cooler. 

[RadiatingLight]

Usually I'd say that neither is ideal, but since you're only cooling a pentium, the stock cooler should be totally adequate.

A heatsink with no fan is a bad idea, especially since as a router, it might be tucked into a corner and forgotten, accumulating dust.

[SupaKomputa]

Pentium gold for a router would not be hot.

[Bitter]

Stock cooler, if unhappy with temps undervolt the CPU and use prime95 to verify stability. Should be able to shave a bit of heat off the CPU and a few watts off the same time by undervolting. That CPU is pretty overkill for pfsense unless you're routing 10Gbps traffic? You could probably underclock it via ratios and undervolt, if your board supports all that. With just undervolting I think you could get it down to under 50W TDP and likely nearer to 40W which the stock cooler would handle just perfectly fine.

[WoodenMarker]

Either works. If you're not going to miss having a spare SRLP for a spare project, you can use that for lower noise.