The sound performance is excellent at stock configuration, 35 Db idle and just over 40 Db under load. You will hear this spin up a little, but in a good chassis, it will be heavily masked by the side panels and any soundproofing installed. We tested ours on an open air chassis, so it had our attention a little more than under normal circumstances.
Now for the overclock. We managed to screenshot this at it’s non-Turbo speed, 4Ghz. As a baseline overclock that’s a pretty good test and something we always try with these little coolers. It should provide an excellent stress test and hopefully give you an idea of it’s capability.
Temperatures are very similar to the stock configuration, showing that it was the PWM settings controlling the stock output to a certain degree. When asked, the NH-L9x65 draws more power and cools the 4Ghz base clock to 36ºC at idle and 80ºC under full load, pretty impressive stuff for a low profile cooler. The open air chassis will help here, no build up of hot air, but given the chance, this little cooler performs.
Sound levels are good, and again, remember this was tested on an open air chassis, so it was pretty exposed to the Db microphone. It was also just next to the GTX770 we use for testing. Though not an airflow monster, it still pushes air along with this three fan design, some of which will have been picked up by the test equipment.
Conclusion
Well what do we say about this cooler from Noctua? They don’t really have a bad cooler in their range, and it is getting a bit boring always saying they are excellent, but we can’t fault them when testing. The NH-L9x65 low-profile CPU Cooler is a new type of design from Noctua and it still seems to work. It performs really well and if you read around the internet, everyone else thinks so too.
If you need a low profile cooler for your server, mITX or HTPC, this will do you just fine. In fact, it will do you more than just fine, it does what a good product does well, high performance without the fuss.
Oh, and it is currently £34.99 on the Amazon UK site, making it a truly unbeatable price to performance and quality and for a low profile cooler, it has to receive an Editors Choice Award.
Noctua NH-L9x65 low-profile CPU Cooler Review
Package - 9
Performance - 9.5
Price - 9
Consumer Experience - 9.6
9.3
If you need a low profile cooler for your server, mITX or HTPC, this will do you just fine. In fact, it will do you more than just fine, it does what a good product does well, high performance without the fuss.