Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler

Today we review the Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler, it doesn't seem that long ago since we looked at the U12S and U14s. Glancing back over them there's no denying they left a very positive mark, and with this is mind I'm very keen to see what a downsized 92mm...

Somewhere along the line, heatsink manufacturers decided to toss volumetric size restrictions out the window. Consumers now frequently fawn over utterly gigantic CPU coolers that are quiet and cool extremely well, but don't really fit inside anything less than an E-ATX case. The other half of the problem with big heatsinks is that motherboard makers only have so much wiggle room with respect to where they can locate the CPU socket and memory slots. Sooner or later, these three volumetric spaces overlap and the headaches start... I'm sure many of you have faced the situation where a new heatsink forces you to sacrifice half the memory slots or downgrade to IGP graphics just to get the computer up and...

When we look at the broad picture, Noctua seems to know CPU cooling well, both big and small. The Noctua NH-U9S is again a similar story, demonstrating excellent build quality and aesthetics. All of the design choices were optimized for a low noise and...

When it comes to performance the NH-U9S performed at the top of the air coolers we have tested lately, even with the low noise adapter in use the cooler had very respectable performance. If you wanted to add even more performance you can add a second NF-A...

Jumping right into the performance aspect as I like to do, the Noctua NH-U9S holds its own in a very crowded market. Featuring a 90mm PWM fan it is obviously not meant for massively overclocked systems though in my testing it was able to handle a 4770k...