Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler Review

Admin Cooling 6624

First up, stock single fan performance. Below we have the CPUID showing 3.3Ghz stock and 3.6Ghz Turbo clocks.

cpuid-NH-U9S-St

30°C at idle is pretty respectable for such a low footprint cooler, 67°C under load at 3.6Ghz isn’t too bad either. It is a significant improvement over a low profile cooler, so if you have a small form factor chassis, it’s a good performer and no throttling was observed.

chart created with amCharts | amCharts

chart created with amCharts | amCharts

Sound levels are excellent considering we are at the TDP limit of the NH-U9S. 34.7 Db idle and 36 Db load are excellent, almost inaudible during normal usage, and using the MicroCool Banchetto 101 Open Chassis that’s quite something.

Next, overclocking.

cpuid-NH-U9S-OC

Next, the single fan overclock temps. With 43°C as a starting temperature at idle we had some concerns around the installation of the cooler. We repeated our burn-in procedure to ensure we hadn’t missed anything and check the mounting. The results remained the same and at 102°C full load, the CPU was throttled at 4%. This would have been disappointing for a larger cooler, but it is to be expected with a cooler of this footprint.

chart created with amCharts | amCharts

Next, overclocking sound performance and dual fan set up.

Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler Review

Package - 9.2
Performance - 8.5
Price - 9
Consumer Experience - 9.2

9

If you want big block CPU cooler performance in your small chassis, this maybe for you. From a consumer experience point of view, there isn’t anything bad about this cooler, and there is a lot good about it, though go for the two fan option, and you will sleep well at night.