Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
Both the coolers we tested today need to be placed in the intended context, these are small form factor coolers intended to be silent, and not intended as products to overclock your system with (which we did). In that respect both coolers perform really well, and gosh they operate so silently. Given the size of both coolers, it is hard to believe how well they perform though. I mean, these units are give or take 95x95mm and at default clock frequencies both can tame the beast that is the Core i7 4790K well. Hey it's Noctua, a company that has grown a name based solely on their quality products and after sales. We stated this before, but I don't think we have ever tested one product that we didn't like. As such it should be no surprise it is the same with the products tested today.
Aestethics & Design
For both products honestly, the looks remain trivial. We stated many times that Noctua could really use a change in their color scheme in regards to their products. The brown/beige colors simply are not in line with today's high-end preferred and colored products. Despite the colors the end-users are willing to look away, as the quality of the coolers themselves are just too good, which matters more. Noctua, how about a black cooler with darker brown/beige fans? We do understand the dilemma at hand for Noctua though, Gigabyte uses Blue, ASUS ROG used Red and each company really has their own house color design and thus trademark for company branding. Also with that market growing, we would REALLY like to see Noctua engage the AIO Liquid cooler segment, an area where they could be very popular with their low-noise and high quality fans.
Performance
Both coolers perform excellent within their respective range. The 95mm based NH-D9L simply is a good product (within its segment). Combined with overclocking it'll run out of juice fast though. But overall definitely recommended. The winner from the two has to be the NH-U9S though, it packs a little extra bite and allows our 4790K processor to run at 1.3 Volts / 4600 MHz. Granted the temps are borderline, but for its form factor, I seriously like it. As shown, we also tried a dual-fan config on the NH-U9S and that really makes it an awesome cooler. Keep in mind though that in a lot of mITX configurations, the second fan would likely not fit as depending on the arrangement it would block a DIMM or PCIE slot. So our advice is to focus on the single fan perf primarily. For those that have the space, awesome perf is what we see.
Pricing
We all know that one thing that Noctua is not, is cheap, well... their product pricing I mean. Mind you that the prices below are suggested prices (MRP). Shave off another five bucks for each cooler once they are available in good volume in e-tail. The manufacturer suggested retail prices are as follows:
- NH-U9S: EUR 54.90 / USD 59.90
- NH-D9L: EUR 49.90 / USD 56.90
How cool is that ?
Both coolers receive our recommended award, they perform well with a default clocked processor and both of them are just amazingly silent in operation. But my preference definitely goes to the NH-U9S, it packs that little extra bite that I like as this incredibly small product even allowed for a nice overclock on a processor that has a reputation to run very hot. Installation is simple as mounting kit is superb, sturdy and easy to install. Sure the motherboard will need to come out, but the mounting design and ease of use in installation is AAA grade. Even a Philips screwdriver is included in the kit. The noise levels are great, heck even if you can't PWM control the fans, small resistor wires are included to force the fans at low RPM. The looks and aesthetics, well you either love or hate the Noctua design colors I guess, there is nothing in-between it. Overall we like the Noctua D9L and really like NH-U9S, the last one is the performance winner (in this small form factor category). Both products can be found in the stores as we speak and are covered by a 6-year carry in warranty. So once again two thumbs up for Noctua.
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