Trying to find a cooler that fits

[illyum]

I’ve had my pre-built Dell XPS for about 2-3 years and it works just fine, but I run always-on services on it that require a lot of cooling. Essentially I’m trying to find a cooler to replace my stock cooler with that fits on the pre-built case but I’ve had no luck. At first I was interested in Noctua’s NH-L9i however the compatibility list says the cooler can not handle the base clock of the cpu. Quite tired of my computer sounding like a jet engine but don’t have the experience taking systems apart and re-building them in a new case. Any suggestions for coolers that would be able to fit? I have an i7-8700 @3.20 with 1151 socket. 

[WoodenMarker]

The NH-L9i would be adequate but a larger cooler can be quieter. What's the distance between the socket and the side panel?

Where are you shopping / located? Budget?

[Bitter]

Does the stock cooler mount through the board to the motherboard tray or does it use a backing plate on the motherboard?

[illyum]

On 11/26/2021 at 8:13 PM, Bitter said:

Does the stock cooler mount through the board to the motherboard tray or does it use a backing plate on the motherboard?

Hmm, absolutely zero idea. Would I have to take the board out to see? Or could I just take the side panel off, swing the power supply out and just look at it that way?

[Bitter]

Can probably look at the tray from behind to see if it looks like standoffs are spot welded under the socket mounting holes... maybe.  Only 100% way to know is to pop the board out.

If there are case stabdoffs that mount the cooler then you have to either use a different case or cut those off to be able to use a regular cooler or find a cooler with the right threaded mounting bolts. If the socket backing plate is part of the CPU retention then you need to swap on a different CPU retention back plate from a different board. It could get complicated.